The Washington Times April 14, 2003
Anti-war grumps, whiners, et cetera;
Bloopers and blunders on the war in Iraq
"We've gotten rid of [Saddam Hussein]. I suppose that's a good thing."
Howard Dean, former Vermont governor
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"This nation is about to embark upon the first test of a revolutionary doctrine applied in an extraordinary way at an unfortunate time. The doctrine of preemption the idea that the United States or any other nation can legitimately attack a nation that is not imminently threatening but may be threatening in the future is a radical new twist on the traditional idea of self defense. It appears to be in contravention of international law and the U.N. Charter."
Sen. Robert Byrd
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"So, they haven't been able to confirm reports [Saddam] was taken to Tikrit, and then Mosul, and then hopefully Syria."
NBC's Katie Couric.
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"Insisting on a regime change before lifting economic sanctions goes beyond the legal mandate of U.N. policy and is not authorized by any U.N. resolution. We need to lure Iraqi compliance with a meaningful economic inducement, not merely threaten them with military force."
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.
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"In lieu of unilateral attack, we ought to support the reintroduction of an intrusive, unfettered inspection regime into Iraq, backed by a force of multinational soldiers."
NAACP Chairman Julian Bond
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"I think that it's very important to have as pillars of our foreign policy promoting democratic values [and] stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. But I think that there are other ways to go about it than to have thousands of people killed on both sides."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
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"I have not been a supporter of his. I did not vote for him. And I was very critical of what he did here ... And I must say that fortunately, he's president and I'm not. It appears as though he did the right thing and I didn't think he was doing the right thing."
Andy Rooney of "60 Minutes"
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"Iraq was not responsible for 9-11, for al Qaeda's role in 9-11, for the anthrax attacks on our country; this administration has not made its case for war. We must rescue this nation from a war that is wrong, that is unjust, that is immoral."
Rep. Dennis Kucinich
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"A direct attack could suck the oxygen out of just about everything else the United States was doing, not only in the war on terrorism but also in all other diplomatic, defense and intelligence relationships."
Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward
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"The recent government in America I just find disgusting. The idea that George Bush could run a baseball team successfully, he can't even speak. I just find him an embarrassment. I was over here when the election was on, and I couldn't believe it and I'm 76 years old. Then, when the Supreme Court came in and turned out to be a totally political animal, the last shred of any naivete that was left in me has gone. When I see an American flag flying, it's a joke."
Film director Robert Altman
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"For me as an American, the most painful aspect of this is that I believe that [the Bush] administration has taken the events of September 11 and has manipulated the grief of this country, and I think that's reprehensible."
Actor Dustin Hoffman
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"It's ludicrous to expect the whole world to follow what [George W. Bush and Tony Blair] want. ... America doesn't have the right to tell other people what to do. To say the whole world has to fall into line is you-know-what. I hope more people will rise up."
Director Spike Lee
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"[President Bush and his administration are] misguided ... and I think they are men who are possessed of evil. Mr. Bush is not a man of honor. I think he has a very selfish, arrogant point of view. I think he is interested in power. I think he believes his truth is the only truth."
Actor Harry Belafonte
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"With every passing day it is more evident that the allies made two gross military misjudgments in concluding that coalition forces could safely bypass Basra and Nasiriya and that Shiite Muslims in southern Iraq would rise up against Saddam Hussein."
R.W. Apple of the New York Times
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"Unilateral action on the part of the United States, or in partnership with Great Britain, would for the first time set our nation on the bloodstained path of aggressive war, a sacrilege upon the memory of those who fought to defend this country. America's moral authority would be undermined throughout the world. It would destabilize the entire Persian Gulf and Middle East region. And it would signal for Russia to invade Georgia; China, Taiwan; North Korea, the South; India, Pakistan."
Rep. Dennis Kucinich
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"As I explained to my mom in terms of the present war, we are living under fascist statism in the United States, with its related Imperialist ambitions running roughshod over peoples that have no desire to be 'democratized'... But our leaders gloss over the war and carnage by speaking of 'democracy' and 'unity' in pretty and tempting tones, and they assign the main propaganda duty to a soft-spoken Texan who can't possibly come off as anything but well-intentioned, laid-back and humanitarian. After all, if you are going to try and sell mass murder, do your best to see that the bulk of the target market buys the product."
Karen De Coster, self-described paleolibertarian freelance writer
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"The fact is the number of Americans in favor of going to war with Iraq plummets down to only 39 percent in the latest Zogby poll when the prospect of 'thousands of American casualties' is added to the question. And such a bloody outcome is very likely given the kind of urban warfare it's going to take to oust Saddam."
Columnist Arianna Huffington
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"Saddam would like to provoke the Israelis into nuking Baghdad. If the Israelis nuked Baghdad a few hours after the war starts, that changes everything."
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org
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"Across the Muslim world, a war that has not even begun is turning people against the United States. The danger is that many Muslims will see this war as an unprovoked attack on them and their religion."
ABC correspondent, John Yang
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"George W. Bush needs to immediately reassess his war plan, bring in more combat troops, and heed the advice of his fighting generals on the ground rather than his team of mainly chicken-hawk advisers and immediately readjust his tactics. He needs to get real and apply the lessons learned from the Russians in Chechnya and the Israelis in Lebanon."
Col. David Hackworth
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"Hopefully then, he won't make the same mistake of another Texas president who didn't sack his Sec. Defense and Joint Chiefs chairman straight away for their screw-ups an error so egregious it cost our country almost 60,000 American lives and LBJ his presidency."
Col. David Hackworth
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"As an American I've always been proud. I have a [U.S. flag] pin. I was embarrassed to wear it."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein
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"Yes, [President Bush] is racist. We all knew that, but the world is only finding it out now."
Actor Danny Glover
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"By some demented form of logic, the men, women and children of Iraq are relegated to 'collateral damage' as the dogs of war slouch toward Baghdad,"
Actor Martin Sheen
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"This nation will go into debt to destroy lives and people on the other side of the world while here at home we face a financial disaster."
Actor Ed Asner
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"Mr. Bush is a fictitious president waging terrorism."
Director Michael Moore
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"You can't beat your enemy anymore through wars; instead you create an entire generation of people revenge-seeking."
Actor George Clooney
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"In the name of fear and fighting terror we are giving the reigns of power to oil men more interested in a financial bottom line than a moral bottom line."
Actress Susan Sarandon
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"All the prowar experts say it's no problem, that Iraq sits on so much oil that it will eventually be a very wealthy country. But when Bush, Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld, and Meyers [sic] all say the same thing while not asking Americans to change our behavior, the question remains dangerously open. Is Iraq's oil for the Iraqi people or is it really for our interstates and the Indianapolis 500?"
Boston Globe columnist Derrick Jackson
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"... few could oppose those portions of the Bush doctrine that would extend the benefits of freedom, democracy, prosperity and the rule of law to the far corners of the globe. Unfortunately, these goals were overshadowed by an arrogant, go-it-alone stance and an aggressive claim to the right to use pre-emptive action against threatening states."
New York Times editorial
Copyright © 2003, News World Communications, Inc.
