When you give a 19 minute floor speech about going to war, it can not be called a mistake. [View all]

[madfloridian]

When we invaded Iraq in 2003 they played it out on TV. They called it Shock and Awe. It was meant to strike fear. It did strike fear in other countries, but the hours of bombing and bragging on America's TV caused more than that. It caused rebellion to rise up.

That was a sad day in our nation's history. I had tears in my eyes, had to turn off the TV to avoid the celebratory atmosphere.

Senator Bob Graham warned his fellow Democrats that they would have blood on their hands over Iraq.

"We are locking down on the principle that we have one evil, Saddam Hussein. He is an enormous, gargantuan force, and that's who we're going to go after," Graham said on the floor. "That, frankly, is an erroneous reading of the world. There are many evils out there, a number of which are substantially more competent, particularly in their ability to attack Americans here at home, than Iraq is likely to be in the foreseeable future."

He told his fellow senators that if they didn't recognize that going to war with Iraq without first taking out the actual terrorists would endanger Americans, "then, frankly, my friends — to use a blunt term — the blood's going to be on your hands."

On October 10, 2002 Hillary Clinton gave a floor speech in favor of authorizing the use of force in Iraq. Here are the two parts of that speech from You Tube.

Part 1

Part 2

Here is the transcript of her floor speech that day.

The ending paragraph:

So it is with conviction that I support this resolution as being in the best interests of our nation. A vote for it is not a vote to rush to war; it is a vote that puts awesome responsibility in the hands of our President and we say to him - use these powers wisely and as a last resort. And it is a vote that says clearly to Saddam Hussein - this is your last chance - disarm or be disarmed.