Reply #11: "Congressman...at least stop speaking in tongues." Editor to Ford.

[madfloridian]

It is “a time to break silence,” Congressman. Or at least stop speaking in tongues.

Dear Congressman Ford:

It was good to see you again Friday night (August 19th) at the University of Memphis Law School Alumni Association's annual awards dinner, where you were the keynote speaker.....I must say, however, that I left the banquet room even more confused than ever as to what exactly your attitude towards the Iraq conflict is today. More importantly -- despite your assertions to the contrary -- I had a hard time finding anything in your remarks suggesting that you have a clear idea of what our government's approach to Iraq should be going forward.

At least you made one thing perfectly clear: you in no way, shape, or form have any regrets about the support that you gave President Bush at the outset of this sad odyssey. "I support this war in Iraq,” you said forcefully. “I supported it from the very beginning for one reason. Saddam Hussein was a bad guy." Going forward, therefore, you’ll get no more pleading from me that you "do the right thing," and admit that your vote for the War Powers Act in October 2002 was a mistake. Because you clearly don't think it was…"

"But while I respect your clarity of expression in that regard, the rest of your speech left me, well, speechless. At one point, for example, when criticizing at length the Bush Administration's conduct of the conflict -- something upon which we do agree mightily -- you refer to "the erroneous point of view that we went to Iraq only because there were bad people (there)." And then, quite remarkably, you had this to say:

"If the new standard is ‘bad people’ for going to war, we're going to be busy for a long, long, long time. (Applause.) Because we can start at one tip of Africa and go to the other, we can start some places in Asia, and even there's a few friends in Europe along the way, if bad leaders, cruel leaders or leadership is now the standard for going to war."

"I'm sorry? I sat upright in my chair when you uttered these sentences, having just heard you say from the same podium, not more than five minutes earlier, that you supported the initial decision to attack Iraq "for one reason. Saddam Hussein was a bad guy."

SO much more of this powerful letter here.