Who voted to authorize force in Iraq October 2002?

Which U.S. Senators voted for the resolution that authorized the use of force in Iraq? 29 Democratic US Senators, and all but one (R-RI, Chafee) Republican. The full roll call on H.J.Res. 114, 107th Congress, A joint resolution to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq, is here. The vote count was YEAs 77, NAYs 23.

Below is a list of the Democrat Senators who vote YEA. I wish everyone voted NAY, but note that, in additional to Hillary, a number of very good people voted YEA at the time. Obama did not vote on the resolution, because he was a member of the Illinois State Senate, rather than the U.S. Senate, at the time. Congressman Jim McGovern, a leading critic of the Iraq war, recently discussed Obama's 2004 comments on the Iraq war in this Huffington Post blog, which includes this 2004 Obama quote "I'm not privy to Senate intelligence reports. What would I have done? I don't know." I think that was an honest answer.

Here are the Democratic Senators who voted YEA on October 2002.

Baucus (D-MT), Yea
Bayh (D-IN), Yea
Biden (D-DE), Yea
Breaux (D-LA), Yea
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Carnahan (D-MO), Yea
Carper (D-DE), Yea
Cleland (D-GA), Yea
Clinton (D-NY), Yea
Daschle (D-SD), Yea
Dodd (D-CT), Yea
Dorgan (D-ND), Yea
Edwards (D-NC), Yea
Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Hollings (D-SC), Yea
Johnson (D-SD), Yea
Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Landrieu (D-LA), Yea
Lieberman (D-CT), Yea
Lincoln (D-AR), Yea
Miller (D-GA), Yea
Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Reid (D-NV), Yea
Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Schumer (D-NY), Yea
Torricelli (D-NJ), Yea

Follow James Love on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jamie_love

Comments

[Wordsmatter]

He made this statement shortly after the Washington Post broke the story about the classified 2002 NIE on Iraq having been read by only 6 Senators. It was kept in a vaulted room, and none of their aides had access. Senator Bob Graham actually changed his vote to "Nay" because of that document, because it contradicted so many of the administrations' claims. He insisted that his colleagues READ the report, warning them that if they didn't, then "blood will be on your hands." When asked if she had read it, she simply stated: "I'm not going to say anything about that, just let the inspectors do their job, okay?" I decided to find out if she read it, and travelled to New Hampshire to ask her the question in a town hall (b/c you never see her here in NY). After first claiming that she had been "briefed" on the document, which was a false statement, she finally admitted that she hadn't read it. Obama has mentioned this several times during debates, but it is clear that he must tread carefully, since if he makes too much of it, he risks offending his similarly negligent colleagues.
I think that he made the comment about not being privy to intelligence reports for the purpose of prodding the press to ask her if she had read the damn report. The failure to read this report should of course be considered criminal negligence. -By the way, she wasn't just duped by the neocons, passively voting for the War. She WAS ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN THE DUPING!!!! In her influential speech, she claimed that the link between S. Hussein and Al Qaeda was "indisputable." That is not a mistake, that is a LIE. The fact is that virtually all middle east policy analysts and experts denounced any link as fantasy AT THE TIME, a fact that she knew. She bears a significant amount of responsibility for this catastrophe. Even partial responsibility for the destruction of a culture and over 1,000,000 people really should leave the Presidency out of reach.

[Doofus]

Let's not forget all those patriotic Repos

who made it all possible (with a little help

from a few Demo friends, to be sure):

Murkowski AK

Stevens AK

Sessions AL

Shelby AL

Hutchinson AR

Kyl AZ

McCain AZ

Allard CO

Campbell CO

Grassley IA

Craig ID

Crapo ID

Fitzgerald IL

Lugar IN

Brownback KS

Roberts KS

Bunning KY

McConnell KY

Collins ME

Snowe ME

Bond MO

Cochran MS

Lott MS

Burns MT

Helms NC

Hagel NE

Gregg NH

Smith NH

Domenici NM

Ensign NV

DeWine OH

Voinovich OH

Inhofe OK

Nickles OK

Smith OR

Santorum PA

Specter PA

Thurmond SC

Frist TN

Thompson TN

Gramm TX

Hutchison TX

Bennett UT

Hatch UT

Allen VA

Warner VA

Enzi WY

Thomas WY

[OSUMercutio]

You cut out the last line of the quote

. In an interview reported by the New York
Times on July 26, on the first day of the convention, he reiterated his
opposition to the war but declined to criticize Kerry and Edwards, saying he was
"not privy to Senate intelligence reports." He then continued: "What would I
have done? I don't know. WHAT I KNOW IS THAT FROM MY VANTAGE POINT THE CASE WAS
NOT MADE.'"
[Washington Post Fact Checker, 1/7/08]

[desmirl]

All those Democrat senators who voted 'aye' were caught up in the hysteria of the moment. One wonders how we might ever find and elect people who don't get caught up in the kind of out-of-control emotion and hysteria that resulted in the murderous, costly train wreck that Iraq has become. Oh, that's right. We have Obama, who knew the runup to the war was a scam perpetrated by the lying quartet of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Powell. Makes you wonder who was singing top tenor, doesn't it.

[eshalom]

My quarrel with Saint Obama on this issue is that in his campaign literature (I'm on his mailing list for some reason)and every time he speaks in any venue, he intentionally misleads the public by not mentioning that he was not a member of the US Senate at the time the resolution was passed. He also doesn't mention his later acknowledgment that he wasn't privy to intelligence reports and can't say how he would have voted had he been eligible, and he fails to mention his support for the war since he became a US senator. This has been a deliberate, calculated, poll-driven attempt on Obama's part at every opportunity to mislead the public and garner votes.

[tonyroma]

Why don't you finish the REST of Obama's reply to the question from 2004? This is why the Bill Clinton comment on Barack's anti-war stance being a "fairy tale" is so disingenuous and patently false.

Obama finished his remarks with the paraphrase, "But from where I was standing the case for war WAS NOT MADE(!) (emphasis mine) Is this ambiguous or contradictory to anything he said before or after this interview?

Obama was against the war from the beginning, he waas against the war in 2004, but understood that the troops needed to be supported because it was not their fault they were caught in Iraq, and he's against the war today. Anyone saying anything different is either ignorant or simply unable to discern the obvious truth.

[belikejeanvaljean]

Hillary didn't even read the intelligence report (NIE)!! GWB was talking war and she voted for his resolution without doing her homework? Or maybe she didn't want to read it...

She also strongly supported the war itself for several years afterwards in numerous statements she made. She hasn't apologized for her vote.

Obama, knowing he was planning to run for the U.S. Senate, took the risky and politically unpopular position of speaking out against going to war with Iraq before the resolution was passed. He could have remained silent but he did not.

I knew, as did many of my friends, both Dems and GOP, that this would be a mistake and we were horrified when the resolution passed and we then went to war. We didn't even need any NIE to tell us this would be a grave mistake for our country.

Face it - either Hillary went with the politically correct winds, she is really a hawk, or she is just plain stupid (which I don't believe). We don't need another warmonger or sellout for a president, especially one who compromises on the most serious issue of war.

[urbanrevolt]

I haven't supported any of them since that vote, as I said I wouldn't before it.

No one in the Senate listened when the anti-war crowd spoke or wrote or said "WE WON'T SUPPORT YOU IF YOU VOTE FOR IT." They ignored us as bad as the media. I don't expect them to give shit now, 'cause it's not politically expediant (exactly why they ignored us the first time around), but if the Dems put someone up who voted for the AUMF, they don't want our votes.



Besides, they can replace my vote with Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter or one of the people they (Remocrats) are more interested in, than the people who weren't with this war, and don't have to protect the other liars.

[army193]

Congressman Jim McGovern

For god sakes lets forget the past and move on...Lets forget 9/11 lets forget the Iraq War resolution, lets forget Atty General scandal shit lets forget everything, hold know one accountable(typical BS Washington style) except you and me jail us and fine us take our vote away.

[ebbtide]

other Senators who voted NAY

Daniel Akaka (D-HI)
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Lincoln Chafee (R-RI)
Kent Conrad (D-ND)
Jon Corzine (D-NJ)
Mark Dayton (D-MN)
Richard Durbin (D-IL)
Russell Feingold (D-WI)
Robert Graham (D-FL)
Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
James Jeffords (I-VT)
Edward Kennedy (D-MA)
Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Carl Levin (D-MI)
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Patty Murray (D-WA)
Jack Reed (D-RI)
Paul Sarbanes (D-MD)
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Paul Wellstone (D-MN)
Ron Wyden (D-OR)

These are the names that should be lauded instead of setting up fallacies ad populum in the blog. These are the brave statesmen who had the intelligence to see what was about to come down. These are those whose judgement was finely honed and tuned. Kerry lost the election and did not address the war in Iraq during his campaign because of his stupid vote. An issue so gravely serious as the deaths of Americans in Iraq because of the lies Bush told, and Kerry could not bring forth his ideas to the voters because he voted for it. It is still going on, that war.

SHE VOTED FOR IT. Not only did she vote for it, but she supported it for two years. Lack of judgement, did not read the NIE, yet said it was the hardest judgement of her life, and went on cheerleading with McCain for Bush's folly---recommending at one point that we send MORE troops.

Obama was not a Senator but he did make a firm, definitive statement about being AGAINST THE WAR . Trying to pin it on him be expecting him to be clairvoyant and citing that he said he did not know, is plain stupid logic also.

SHE VOTED FOR IT There is no way around it, although she has tried at least six waysf to make it go away and off her resume.

[Macready]

I'm with you ebbtide .. .we should praise the Senators who had the courage to stand up and say NO to the Iraq war . . . hillary voted for it ...she also voted agaist and ban on landmines and cluster bombs, when the chimp called the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organisation . . . hillary screamed even louder . . . this woman follows the herd . . . she is also a bona fide hawk . . . the information was out there . . . the anti-war movement knew what the chimp and co were up to . . . they knew he was lying; the French, the Germans, the Canadians, New Zealand did not buy into the chimp & cheney's lies . . . they knew what was going on . . . tony bliar the chimp's pooldle dog .. . did not have enough backing from the Labour Party, (he had none from the Lib Dems), so he crawled to the Tories so that he could play with the chimp . . . just because more Senators supported the illegal invasion of Iraq than opposed . . .doesn't help hillary's position . . . in fact it reinforces what I and others have said about her . . .she follows . . .she does not lead . . .she lacks moral intergrity . . .

[Chachi]

Obama was against the war? That's the biggest fairy tale I ever heard.

I don't know if he ever said something against the war because all I remember is a bunch of people like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Luis Farakhan (hint, hint) who were making statements against the war in '02.

[urbanrevolt]

What are you hinting, Chachi?

[tompoe]

Let us not forget there were huge populations around the world that did not have access to the intelligence reports, but knew the difference between lies and truth. For example, Rumsfeld was doing the "we know where the WMDs are" trick, yet would not inform the inspectors, did not use preemptive strikes to wipe out the WMDs. War criminals from the start, eh?

[Spenser23]

Just 3 points:

1) Though Obama was not in the Senate at that time and didn't have a chance to vote against it, he gave a speech against the war two weeks before the vote. Check out what he said then, which looks extremely prescient in hindsight:

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Barack_Obama's_Iraq_Speech

2) You quote him selectively from 2004. Immediately after your quote he said that from his perspective, the case had not been made.

Why would he say all this? John Kerry was the nominee then, and he had supported the war. Obama was being diplomatic, not wanting to harshly criticize his own party's nominee. Kerry knows this and has said so. I'm not sure what people think he is supposed to have said, "I think my party's nominee was dead wrong on the biggest vote of the last several years?"

3) This is important to me not because I like arguing about whether people were right or wrong in the past, but because I want to know as best as possible what kind of judgment a candidate will exercise in office. To me, Sen. Clinton keeps showing that she is far too ready to be the hawk, for whatever reason. I am much more confident in Obama's ability to judge the best course of action in the next major national issue or controversy -- a capacity for judgment that no amount of "experience" can give a person.

[inthenitemare]

Thank you Spenser23. Very few people bring up point #2. They just keep repeating that same old tired line "But he said he didn't know what he would have done" over and over.