Did Congress REALLY Vote For The Iraq War?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

43. The bottom line

is that Bush *could* have refused to go to war and let the inspections process finish on its own (and gotten some deserved credit for ensuring that Iraq was WMD-free and avoiding a costly invasion/occupation). He also probably could have gone to war without Congress saying or doing anything. The IWR gave a "fig leaf" or "veneer" of legitimacy to his eventual decision to invade Iraq but many Democrats whom voted for this did not express a burning desire to go to war with Iraq but, considering the time period and how ramped up everybody was about 9/11 and the "fog of fear" everybody was in at the time, I can understand why many Democrats, including Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, felt like they had to vote for it- to err on the side of caution if nothing else because, at least at that point, inspectors had not been in Iraq for several years. Personally, I couldn't understand how/why lots of people thought that Iraq could posed a serious threat to its neighbors, let alone us and didn't understand Bush/Cheney's obsession with Iraq and not someplace more volatile/unpredictable like North Korea. However, the IWR was ultimately more of a symbolic gesture and voting it down would still not have prevented Bush/Cheney from doing what they were ultimately determined to do IMHO. Invading Iraq was the wrong thing to do but Bush/Cheney were ultimately responsible for that decision.