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Hoyer not sorry about Iraq vote |
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By Mike Soraghan
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Posted: 11/08/07 10:02 AM [ET] |
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House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the number two Democrat in the House, says he stands by his vote in favor of the 2002 “use of force” authorization that led to the war in Iraq. “Removal of Saddam Hussein was an appropriate policy,” Hoyer said at a breakfast meeting with reporters Thursday sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor. “I still believe that.” But he added that he would not have voted for it if he had known “how incompetently it would be executed.” Hoyer stated that he supported the resolution in 2002 because he believed it would bring Saddam to the negotiating table, and because millions of people had been murdered in Africa because United Nations resolutions had not been enforced. He added that the concept of a “preventive strike” was a dangerous policy should it be adopted by China, India, Pakistan or other nuclear powers. Hoyer is one of a small group of lawmakers who voted against the 1991 Gulf War and for the 2002 use of force. Unlike the 2002 vote, however, Hoyer indicated he regrets the 1991 Gulf War vote. “If I had a vote to take back in 26 years, I would take back that vote,” he said. |
