Is it possible that he could have had long-standing resistance to military action against Iraq, but reluctantly voted for action after 9/11 based on the bush administration push with claims of WMDs, etc? Yes. Seems he DID have a different idea in his initial work with Lugar, and before the unfortunate vote (see below).

I wonder if this is what he’s meant all along, but hasn’t been able to explain for reasons that can’t fit into a sound bite for these gotcha moments.

And if he seems defensive, perhaps that’s because holding up his vote for the Iraq War (2003) as evidence of being some kind of unilateralist warhawk is inconsistent with his record and reputation. No one insinuates this with Bernie, and really shouldn’t with Biden either.

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References below pulled from citations 121 & 127 as seen on Joe Biden’s Wikipedia page on January 8, 2020: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Biden

https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/13/world/confrontation-gulf-congress-acts-authorize-war-gulf-margins-are-5-votes-senate.html



https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-aug-24-na-foreignpol24-story.html