Howard Dean has an increasing problem with his past statements, recorded for posterity in the nation's news agencies, Lexis/Nexis, etc. Here is Dr. Dean's message to President Clinton regarding Bosnia, which appeared in US Today:
We must give, and have given, this policy with our allies and with the United Nations every opportunity to work. It is evident, however, that the cost in human lives in allowing this policy to continue is too great. In addition, and perhaps more importantly for the United States, we are now in a position of ignoring, as many did in the 1940s, one of the worst crimes committed in history. If we ignore these behaviors, no matter where they occur, our moral fiber as a people becomes weakened. As the Catholic Church and others lost credibility during the Holocaust for not speaking out, so will the United States lose credibility and our people lose confidence in themselves as moral beings if the United States does not take action.Amazing! Replace "Bosnia" with "Iraq" and you basically have President Bush doing what Dean suggests. Glenn Reynolds boils it all down for us at Instapundit:
Since it is clearly no longer possible to take action in conjunction with NATO and the United Nations, I have reluctantly concluded that we must take unilateral action.
Hmm. Sounds a lot like the situation in Iraq under Saddam, except that with Iraq (1) the human rights abuses were worse; (2) the failures of the UN and the international community were greater; and, oh yeah, (3) there was a Republican president. I wonder which one of these factors made the difference in terms of Dean's positions?Point made.
