Text of Congressional Joint Resolution Authorizing the War in Iraq
Why the surprise ? The Democrats in Congress allowed themselves, and their party, to be bamboozled by the Republican bluster and the threat of being denounced as "un-patriotic", or worse. Short-term, egotistical considerations (i.e. getting re-elected in the next election) and closed-minded objectives prevailed in the Dems' camp.
I, for one, never claimed that the Iraq folly was started by the fault of the GOP alone!
As to the text of the Resolution itself, I trust we can all agree that if the stated (and much trumpeted)
reason for invading Iraq had not been the alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction, but "Qaeda terrorists" instead, no Congress and no U.N. would even listen to the sales pitch!
As you may recall, perhaps, Secretary of State Powell argued in the Security Council almost exclusively the case for the existence of
WMDs in Iraq. And not of bin Laden and his Network.