We couldn't leave. The republicans wouldn't have any of that democrat cutting and running.
Didnt tough guy Dubya say to Iraqi militants āBring āem on?ā
BUSH Bring em on July 3 2003.
"There are some who feel like that, uh, if they attack us, that we may decide to leave prematurely. They don't understand what they're talkin' about if that's the case. . . Let me finish. Um, there are some who feel like, that, you know, the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is bring 'em on! We got the force necessary to to deal with the security situationā
Contrast that to what Joe Biden was saying in JULY 2003:
JOSEPH BIDEN [D-DELAWARE] Thursday, July 31, 2003
For me, the issue was never whether we had to deal with Saddam, but when and how we dealt with Saddam. And it's precisely the when and how that I think this administration got wrong. We went to war too soon, we went to war with too few troops, we went to war without the world, when we could have had many with us, and we're paying the price for it now.
We authorized the President to use force. Congress did it to give him a strong hand to play at the United Nations. The idea was quite simple. We would convince the world to speak with one voice to Saddam, and what we would be saying is, "Saddam disarm or be disarmed." In doing so, we hoped to make war less likely. If Saddam failed to listen and failed, we would act, but we would act, we hoped, not alone or not merely with the British.
But the administration, in my view, misplayed that hand. They undercut the Secretary of State, allowing our military strategy to trump our diplomatic strategy. The world was convinced, the world became convinced, in my view, even some of our best friends became convinced that we were determined to go to war no matter what Saddam did.
We insulted our allies and the U.N. weapons inspectors somewhat gratuitously, and we failed to be flexible in securing a second U.N. resolution.
For the price of a 30-day delay, I believe we could have gotten a majority, and I think many believe, including those at the State Department, could have gotten a majority-- that's my opinion. No one has told me that--we could have gotten a majority of the Security Council to go along with this.