Bereuter (R) waffles on Iraq war
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2004 1:18 am
Bereuter says going to war in Iraq was wrong
BY LORI NITSCHKE
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Doug Bereuter now says it was wrong for the United States to go to war in Iraq.
The Republican representative for Nebraska's 1st District has sent letters to some constituents telling them that he has changed his mind about the war.
"I've reached the conclusion, retrospectively, now that the inadequate intelligence and faulty conclusions are being revealed, that all things being considered, it was a mistake to launch that military action, especially without a broad and engaged international coalition," he wrote.
Bereuter, who will retire Aug. 31, voted in 2002 to give President Bush authority to launch a military action in Iraq.
Bereuter, who is taking a job with the Asia Foundation in San Francisco, was traveling Wednesday and was unavailable for comment.
He expressed his new view on the war in a letter that a spokesman said was sent Aug. 6 to constituents who had contacted him over the last two years about military action in Iraq.
His staff declined to say how many of the letters were mailed.
Bereuter represents much of southeastern Nebraska, including Lincoln.
"I felt I should send you a forthright update of my views and conclusions on that subject before I leave office," he wrote.
In his letter, Bereuter chided the Bush administration for not adequately preparing to take over Iraq after the first military strikes.
"Our country's reputation around the world has never been lower and our alliances are weakened," he wrote.
Bereuter has been a strong proponent of international cooperation during his 26 years in Congress.
Bereuter said he voted for the war resolution in October 2002 largely because of the possibility that Saddam Hussein's Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and could share them with terrorists.
Yet even at the time, Bereuter asserts in his letter, he questioned whether "incontrovertible evidence" showed a link between Saddam and al-Qaida, despite "the intimations of various administration leaders like Vice President Dick Cheney."
As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Bereuter was involved in re-examining intelligence conclusions.
"Knowing now what I know about the reliance on the tenuous or insufficiently corroborated intelligence used to conclude that Saddam maintained a substantial WMD arsenal, I believe that launching the pre-emptive military action was not justified."
In his letter, Bereuter said belief that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction factored into much of Bush's congressional support for military action.
Among the other members of Congress who supported the resolution is Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate. Kerry said recently that he would have voted to allow the use of force in Iraq given what he knows today.
"The world is no doubt safer from attack and subversion now that Saddam has been removed from power," Bereuter wrote.
But he expressed worry about what's ahead for Iraq and the United States.
"Now we are immersed in a dangerous, costly mess and there is no easy and quick way to end our responsibilities in Iraq without creating bigger future problems in the region and, in general, in the Muslim world," he wrote.
BY LORI NITSCHKE
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Doug Bereuter now says it was wrong for the United States to go to war in Iraq.
The Republican representative for Nebraska's 1st District has sent letters to some constituents telling them that he has changed his mind about the war.
"I've reached the conclusion, retrospectively, now that the inadequate intelligence and faulty conclusions are being revealed, that all things being considered, it was a mistake to launch that military action, especially without a broad and engaged international coalition," he wrote.
Bereuter, who will retire Aug. 31, voted in 2002 to give President Bush authority to launch a military action in Iraq.
Bereuter, who is taking a job with the Asia Foundation in San Francisco, was traveling Wednesday and was unavailable for comment.
He expressed his new view on the war in a letter that a spokesman said was sent Aug. 6 to constituents who had contacted him over the last two years about military action in Iraq.
His staff declined to say how many of the letters were mailed.
Bereuter represents much of southeastern Nebraska, including Lincoln.
"I felt I should send you a forthright update of my views and conclusions on that subject before I leave office," he wrote.
In his letter, Bereuter chided the Bush administration for not adequately preparing to take over Iraq after the first military strikes.
"Our country's reputation around the world has never been lower and our alliances are weakened," he wrote.
Bereuter has been a strong proponent of international cooperation during his 26 years in Congress.
Bereuter said he voted for the war resolution in October 2002 largely because of the possibility that Saddam Hussein's Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and could share them with terrorists.
Yet even at the time, Bereuter asserts in his letter, he questioned whether "incontrovertible evidence" showed a link between Saddam and al-Qaida, despite "the intimations of various administration leaders like Vice President Dick Cheney."
As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Bereuter was involved in re-examining intelligence conclusions.
"Knowing now what I know about the reliance on the tenuous or insufficiently corroborated intelligence used to conclude that Saddam maintained a substantial WMD arsenal, I believe that launching the pre-emptive military action was not justified."
In his letter, Bereuter said belief that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction factored into much of Bush's congressional support for military action.
Among the other members of Congress who supported the resolution is Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate. Kerry said recently that he would have voted to allow the use of force in Iraq given what he knows today.
"The world is no doubt safer from attack and subversion now that Saddam has been removed from power," Bereuter wrote.
But he expressed worry about what's ahead for Iraq and the United States.
"Now we are immersed in a dangerous, costly mess and there is no easy and quick way to end our responsibilities in Iraq without creating bigger future problems in the region and, in general, in the Muslim world," he wrote.