Reply #63: On the war:

[ellisonz]

I question the judgment of those who led us into this conflict that has made us, on balance, not more secure, but less. Although we may have won the war, we are failing to win the peace.

I believed then and I believe now that removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq was a just cause. But not every just cause requires that we go to war, especially with inadequate planning and without maximum support.

The Bush administration led us into war without convincing evidence that an imminent threat existed, without a strategy for securing nuclear, chemical and biological materials, without a plan for financing reconstruction, and without a clue how to consolidate the peace or unite the Iraqi people in support of democracy...

...Preemptive war against tyrannical dictators is not a comprehensive strategy for addressing the threat of terrorists, tyrants, and technologies of mass destruction pose in the 21st century.

http://www.crocuta.net/Dean/Transcript_of_Foreign_Policy_Speech_at_DC_June25_2003.htm