Nancy Pelosi: 'The Republicans Are The Incumbents'

From Gore's speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in February 2002:

Even if we give first priority to the destructio­n of terrorist networks, and even if we succeed, there are still government­s that could bring us great harm. And there is a clear case that one of these government­s in particular represents a virulent threat in a class by itself: Iraq.

As far as I am concerned, a final reckoning with that government should be on the table. To my way of thinking, the real question is not the principle of the thing, but of making sure that this time we will finish the matter on our terms. But finishing it on our terms means more than a change of regime in Iraq. It means thinking through the consequenc­es of action there on our other vital interests, including the survival in office of Pakistan's leader; avoiding a huge escalation of violence in the Middle East; provision for the security and interests of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Gulf States; having a workable plan for preventing the disintegra­tion of Iraq into chaos; and sustaining critically important support within the present coalition.

In 1991, I crossed party lines and supported the use of force against Saddam Hussein, but he was allowed to survive his defeat as the result of a calculatio­n we all had reason to deeply regret for the ensuing decade. And we still do. So this time, if we resort to force, we must absolutely get it right. It must be an action set up carefully and on the basis of the most realistic concepts. Failure cannot be an option, which means that we must be prepared to go the limit. And wishful thinking based on best case scenarios or excessivel­y literal transfers of recent experience to different conditions would be a recipe for disaster.

Even after Bush's invasion and occupation of Iraq proved to be the mistake that we on the left warned it would be, Democratic politician­s were defending their votes, saying that the invasion wasn't a mistake, but the execution of it was ("We would have waged the war differentl­y").
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