I'm sure "Worse than Watergate" (written by John Dean) was discussed on this forum at length when it was first released, but I am just getting around to reading it and thought I'd post for anyone new to dKos.
To avoid having to return to Congress for more debate on Iraq, Bush had pushed for and received authority to launch a war without further advance notice to Congress but with conditions:
"...on October 10, Congress overwhelmingly approved a resolution authorizing a war with Iraq. But there was a kicker in the authorization: Congress conditioned its grant of authority on a formal determination by the president of the U.S. that there continued to be threat that could not be dealt with through diplomacy and that his actions were consistent with the war against those involved in 9/11--a detail unreported by the news media.
(snip)
This joint resolution begins with 23 "whereas" clauses, which are not uncommon but are a bit excessive in this instance. These clauses are introductory or prefatory statements meaning "considering that" or "that being the case." They are, however, only legalese window dressing, opinions at best, and not a part of the operative provisions.... One questionable clause reads "the risk that the current Iraqi regime will either employ WMD to launch a surprise attack against the U.S. or its Armed Forces or provide them to international terrorists who would do so, and the extreme magnitude of harm that would result to the U.S. and its citizens from such an attack, combine to justify action by the U.S. to defend itself." At the time there was anything but agreement in Congress that Iraq possessed WMD or that Saddam would give WMD to others if he had them, for Bush had failed to provide such evidence; obviously, he did not have it.
(snip)
On March 18, 200, Bush sent his formal "determination" to Congress. His letter merely tracked the exact language of the statute (citing the various whereas clauses), making that language his determination.
(snip)
With one pathetic (yet false) exception, this report explains that the president made his determination by inexplicably relying on alleged congressional findings of fact, which did not exist......Bush, like a dog chasing his tail who gets ahold of it, relied on information the White House provided Congress for its draft resolution, then turned around and claimed that this information came from Congress."
When asked if he regrets his vote authorizing the war in Iraq, John Kerry expresses disappointment in the rush to war. He cites minimal diplomacy and the lack of reliable coalition partners as his main concerns. Kerry voiced real concern about this action before he voted for it, giving an eloquent speech during debate that has received fairly limited public airing. I'm wondering if this under-reported caveat in the authorization is an ace Kerry is holding back for later use. John Dean states "the evidence is overwhelming, certainly sufficient for a prima facie case, that George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney have engaged in deceit and deception over going to war in Iraq. This is an impeachable offense."