Does it matter whether one was against the war

[laureloak]

to start with or turned against it later? Why?

[CubsFan1982]

1. It doesn't matter a whole hell of a lot to me.

If they're against it, that's good enough for me.

[knowbody0]

2. to me, no

we've been saluting our flag all of our lives. we were attacked and looked to our leaders to protect our nation. they had to lie in order to invade Iraq. but supporting an administration that has innocent blood on their hands for no "good" reason is treasonous to me. but that's just me. kinda like the German people who figured out Hitler was not relocating Jews, but killing them, and did not cry out -- they share the guilt.

[PowerToThePeople]

3. as long as they are able to learn from their mistakes. n/t

[Ladyhawk]

4. I've decided it doesn't matter.

Although I was against the war in Iraq from the beginning, I was a johnny-come-lately to the Democratic Party. It took me awhile to catch on that * was a bad, bad man.

After the election, I was very angry with those who hadn't yet figured it out. Since then I've come to realize that we need to welcome anyone who sees the light.

Acting like assholes won't get our point across to those who don't see eye-to-eye with us. Granted, it's an exercise in futility for those who are too firmly entrenched, but for the sake of my conscience, I need to rein in my anger.

[laureloak]

13. I like your point of view. Welcome anyone who sees the

light. How do you feel about the Senators that voted to empower Bush to go to war as a last resort?

[Ladyhawk]

16. I feel they should have known better. Certainly, they had access

to the same information I did...didn't they? It was right after Powell's address to the UN that I decided the Bush Admin was full of shit. I was a Republican at the time. Surely the senators, whose job it is to search for knowledge, should have known that something fishy was up.

Still, I'm willing to support legislators who have seen the light and who are working to stop the war--yes, all two of them. ;)

Seriously, most of our senators and representatives are useless. They're still playing politics when they should be standing behind us as the opposition party.

[laureloak]

20. I can't hold fault with them. Bush is the one who abused

the authority. A Senator should be able to trust his President just as you and I should.

[shraby]

5. Many people believed what their

president told them..I did because he's is supposed to tell the people the truth. I really thought Saddam had that stuff because as a rule I just caught my news in bits now and then. Pretty much let the people we elect take care of things. Then I started checking on the internet for my news and boy did I get a surprise.
I think a lot are realizing what the story is, but because of the media, it has taken a lot longer than it should have. I can't fault the people for doing things the way they always have...trusting the media, their president, their congress. I can fault them for not opening their eyes after it was announced there were no WMDs.
Bush played our people like a bunch of suckers. Every day more are waking up and it's almost a tipping point right now then he'll be impeached along with a bunch of the white house and DoD for the lies. Once the can of worms is opened, it will ensnare a whole lot of miscreants.

[mike_c]

6. only if they cast votes that enabled it....

That matters-- it matters a lot.

[laureloak]

11. Did they vote for the war or to empower the President?

[mike_c]

22. splitting hairs, since either cause produced the same outcome....

eom

[Broken_Hero]

7. I would say, NO...but...

I'm biased in that thought. When the war against Iraq started i was all for it, because of these reasons.
1. They helped attack us on 9/11
2. They had Weapons of Mass destruction, and we got proof they plan on using it against us (usa).

Based on those two things, which all media outlets, and papers i read stated, i believed the war was just. Now after learning about no WMDS, and that Iraq had nothing to do in 9/11, i am shocked, and pissed that i was suckered into believing that the war was justified....now the reasons for war are this 1. Saddam was bad. 2. Liberate Iraqis 3. Bring Democracy to middle east...now based on those reasons, i wouldn't support this war, just like i do now, i don't support this war, this war is killing our soldiers for no reason, yet more death is what our president wants....i am against this war, but in the begining i was all for it, until i realized i got suckered into a big lie...

[kenny blankenship]

8. Because it tells a lot about the person's judgement and/or courage

[DELUSIONAL]

10. there was enough information BEFORE the war

to know it was wrong.

But it takes strength of character -- or one is just a stubborn brat -- to ignore "popular" opinion and look at the evidence first before supporting the military industrial complex.

NONE of the supposed hijackers were Iraqi --

and Scott Ridder (a weapons inspector who was IN Iraq) said that there were NO WMD -- which was the supposed reason for the invasion --

are two arguments against the administration.

Plus -- people should have learned with RayGUN and daddy bush -- that these people cannot be believed. ALWAYS look for supporting evidence from independent sources before believing anything the bush/GOP crime family tells you -- even if they tell us that the sun sets in the west.

It was very important for me that my husband after looking at the evidence joined me in the candle light vigil JUST BEFORE the invasion of Iraq.

But I can understand how some people are still naive and that they want to believe authority figures. However, I would question their judgment in other matters.

Some people who have had too much kool-aid are a lost cause.

But some people can be rehabilitated.

BUT some people are too lazy to think for themselves -- or to use critical thinking skills and they will be fooled time and time again. These of the sort of people I avoid -- and probably have on my ignore list if they are posting on DU.

[LSK]

18. that is true, but the info was BURIED

We all know how deceptive the MSM is. The leadup to the war had places like the Washington Post and NYT trumping up the threat of Saddam. At that point in time, I had already distrusted the MSM greatly and searched for the truth on the net. The same cannot be said for most of the people out there.

[wtmusic]

9. yes

because everybody who sat on their ass and did nothing was an enabler. Blood on their hands.

[laureloak]

12. Average American citizen included?

[wtmusic]

19. yep

it's civic duty to have a basic idea of what your government is up to. We pay *'s wages and at least in theory, we're his boss.

[laureloak]

21. You set a very narrow standard. How can an average

citizen know he is properly informed? It's impossible.

Many of my friends believe every word they hear on Fox. What about them? Shouldn't they be able to trust the media in a matter as important as war?

[wtmusic]

23. No one should be able to trust the media

and if you believe every word you hear on Fox, you're not only ignorant but lazy as well. There's is the narrow standard, not mine.

[Mutley]

14. I don't fault anyone for it.

I applaud them. It takes a lot of courage to stand up against something that most of the people around you support. I know, most of my family is conservative, but most of them have also realized that Bushco doesn't actually represent their "real" conservative views (as opposed to neo-con views). And most of them have also come around to the anti-war point of view, despite still considering themselves Republican.

I also don't fault the average American who doesn't really pay much attention to politics and current events. I was one of them until the months leading up to the 2000 elections. I was lucky to have a very political, liberal father who steered me toward what was really going on. I do think it is the responsibility of everyone who votes to be as informed about what is going on as possible, but the way the MSM and the government manage to hide these things can keep the accurate information under the radar of anyone who doesn't look hard enough.

I DO, however, fault those who are confronted with the truth, yet choose to stay blind to it. Once the evidence began to pile up and up that Bush and friends were lying through their teeth almost every single time they spoke to the public, there was just no longer any valid excuse. Many of my friends are apolitical and I try to tell them all the time what is going on, and they just shrug me off and tell me I'm being paranoid, or that they just don't care. It doesn't effect them. If I hadn't been friends with many of these people for years I probably wouldn't be able to hang around them any more.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

15. As long as we're all against the illegal actions in Iraq RIGHT NOW, and...

...that our numbers continue to grow, no, it doesn't matter.

[LSK]

17. I would say its just a matter of when you started to get educated

The more educated you are and more open minded you are, the more you are against the war. So its really a matter of when you started to become open minded and started to pay attention.