by Zach Bigalke

Created on: February 27, 2007   Last Updated: April 19, 2007

On 16 October 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq. As House Joint Resolution 114, the measure passed the House on 10 October 2002 with a vote of 296-133 (3 no votes). 126 of the nay votes registered were voiced by Democrats, with only 81 House Democrats voting for the resolution. The next day, in Senate chambers, the proposal cleared the upper chamber by a vote of 77-23. Twenty-one nays were spoken by Democrats; the yeas, unfortunately, are a roll call of some of the most powerful Democratic senators in Congress. Current 2008 presidential candidates Hillary Clinton (NY), John Edwards (NC), and Joseph Biden (DE) all voted in favor of H.J.R. 114. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (SD) also ranked among the heavy-hitting Democrats to authorize Bush's reign of terror in Mesopotamia.

Why, less than two years after a bitterly-run partisan election in which many Democrats still felt (and still feel today) that Bush stole the election in Florida, did the Democratic minority not stand stronger against such heinous abuse of executive power? Over a year after the tragedy of 11 September 2001, clearer heads failed to prevail. The resolution preyed on the popular fear in American society that another terrorist attack was just around the corner. Fabricating myths of a strong al-Qaeda presence, growing arsenals of weapons of mass destruction, and Iraqi hostilities toward the United States (with the most recent example offered being the 1993 assassination attempt on former President George H.W. Bush), the President gained his rubber-stamp approval to attack Iraq by breeding unwarranted fear.
Ten years earlier, Bush's father and his Cabinet had shrewdly realized that Saddam Hussein was only a threat to the other nations of the region when he was let off his tether. If Hussein was watched vigilantly and prevented from hatching secret plans, he posed little threat to even its direct neighbors. The Iraqis were beat back easily from Kuwait, and the nation's infrastructure was still weak from its eight-year war with Iran. Only President G.W. Bush's State of the Union address following the terrorist attacks hinted of any threat from Iraq. The government planted its seeds carefully, slowly gaining popular will to converge on the crippled country and further obliterate its crumbling faade. And, on the opposite end of 2002, the gambit paid off as Bush was authorized to make war with Iraq, find the weapons of mass destruction,

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