Rubio’s response gains respect

     Marco Rubio has gained my undying respect by his gutsy handling of Mike Wallace’s grilling on Fox News Sunday, May 17. Wallace insisted that Rubio “admit” that “based on what we know now” it was a mistake to invade Iraq. Rubio refused to play the game. Presidents have to make decisions based on what they know at the time, and based on what he knew then, Rubio insisted, Bush made the right decision.

       What people seem to forget is that Resolution that Congress made regarding the invasion of Iraq cited many factors that justified the use of military force. The issue of Weapons of Mass destruction was only one. (If memory serves me, there were 23.) First off, Saddam refused to comply with UN Resolution 1441, the conditions of the 1991 ceasefire, and for 12 years refused to allow U.N. weapons inspectors access to crucial armament facilities.
     Other reasons listed were the attempted assassination of President George H. W. Bush, the firing on coalition aircraft enforcing the no-fly zone following the Gulf War, Saddam’s paying bounties to the families of suicide bombers, his using the proceeds from the “oil for food” program to purchase long range missiles.
      Many people will say now that they disagreed from the get-go with Bush’s decision, but that is simply not true. His approval rating hit almost 90 per during and shortly after the invasion. Bush’s success was a political disaster for Democrats in this country.
     The real disaster for world peace was President Obama’s refusal to negotiate a post-war alliance. His political base was intent on one thing: destroying George Bush’s legacy, so they intentionally abandoned Iraq and the Middle East to chaos.