W. Va. Sen. on Iraq: 'My Vote Was Wrong'

AP ^ | 03/27/04 | AP

[Pikamax]

W. Va. Sen. on Iraq: 'My Vote Was Wrong'

Saturday March 27, 2004 3:31 PM

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller regrets his vote to authorize a war against Iraq.

``If I had known then what I know now, I would have voted against it,'' Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said Friday. ``I have admitted that my vote was wrong.''

The Democratic-led Senate approved the war resolution 77-23 on Oct. 11, 2002, one day after the U.S. House approved a similar resolution.

``The decision got made before there was a whole bunch of intelligence,'' said Rockefeller, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. ``I think the intelligence was shaped. And I think the interpretation of the intelligence was shaped.

``We had this feeling we could be welcomed as liberators. Americans don't know history, geography, ethnicity. The administration had no idea of what they were getting into in Iraq. We are not internationalists. We border on being isolationists. We don't know anything about the Middle East.''

Rockefeller also said he is disturbed at the failure to involve the United Nations in creating a new government and finding peace in Iraq.

Many of the senator's feelings were strengthened last week during a weeklong trip with four other Democratic senators to Iraq and four other Middle Eastern nations.

In Iraq, the senators visited a team of researchers investigating the presence of weapons of mass destruction.

``They have three million pieces of paper,'' Rockefeller said. ``But it is a sham. There is nothing to point to any weapons of any kind.''

Rockefeller said the influence of terrorist groups, such as al-Qaida, is growing in Iraq. He estimated that only about 5 percent of insurgents in Iraq are recent arrivals, with the rest ``homegrown.''

[ken5050]

Dems collectively crawl further out on their limb...

[snooker]

12 years of searching and Rockefeller still can't find any intelligence.

I think we the citizens deserve a refund of his salary

[risk]

What do W. VA. voters think about their choice now?

[blastdad51]

What is Rockefeller useing for a fig leaf these days?

[mewzilla]

What did Rockefeller know about Oil For Food, and when did he know it?

[cricket]

Yeah! Another Dimrat comes forward in support of the terrorists!

Who will they pledge their allegiance to. (nevermind, they don't say 'the Pledge')

[avg_freeper]

So he can now say that he "Voted against it after he voted for it".

[Cultural Jihad]

"... Americans don't know history, geography, ethnicity. The administration had no idea of what they were getting into in Iraq. We are not internationalists. We border on being isolationists. We don't know anything about the Middle East.''

Ah, the Democratic Party claiming that inscrutible little brown people on the other side of the world are incapable of self-governance and liberty.

Iraqi crowd stomps and spits upon the fallen statue of a West Virginia Senator.

[speedy]

Another vote to restore Saddam Hussein. What else does this sorry pile of excrement regret supporting?

[Valin]

12 years of searching and Rockefeller still can't find any intelligence.

Wouldn't that require some intelligence on the part of the searcher?

[Helms]

We need to kick @SS. Lets blow out old Jay Rockefeller and his Party in November. WMD's Will Be Found.

[TrueBeliever9]

Rockefeller also said he is disturbed at the failure to involve the United Nations in creating a new government and finding peace in Iraq.

The democrat mantra "United Nations" their answer to all problems! Ignorance has a remedy - they could investigate the history of the UN and its peace keeping forces! Start with Uganda! For UN Selective Peace Keeping don't forget to take a long and thoughtful look at New Sudan

[cricket]

"12 years of searching and Rockefeller still can't find any intelligence."

Ahhh yes!

Save for Zell, 'In search of intelligent life in the Democrat Party' is a empty exercise. . .

[TrueBeliever9]

I always thought it so curious when Rockefeller picked up and moved to West Virginia! The plan for WVA has only begun to unfold over the past decade!

[Valin]

Ah, the Democratic Party claiming that inscrutible little brown people on the other side of the world are incapable of self-governance and liberty.

Well you know they dress funny, don't speak merican, and eat strange foods. They're just happy singing and dancing all day, more than content to leave the big stuff to others.

[Valin]

I think he when there originaly as a vista volunteer.
But don't quote me on that.

[arasina]

What did Rockefeller know about Oil For Food, and when did he know it?

That needs to be repeated about not only Rockefeller, but quite a few other Dims as well. And I still believe there has to be a connection to Marc Rich and the Clintons with oil kickbacks and Saddam.

[hgro]

One of the things Americans have to put up with is the moronic ramblings of the grandson of one of America's robber barons. Just like the current Kennedys - he is at the bottom of the gene pool.

[arasina]

Who, me? Vote for the war in Iraq and now admit I did it only because of the 2002 elections?