] If they say yes, supporting the war was a mistake, they
] are declaring that in a test case of the most important
] decision a president must make—when to go to war—they
] got it wrong. And if they try to explain their way out of
] this by talking about how the Bush administration
] "deceived the American people," they sound like George
] Romney, who was laughed out of the 1968 presidential race
] for saying he had been "brainwashed" into supporting the
] war in Vietnam.
]
]
] On the other hand, if they say no, I don't regret my
] support for this war, the question naturally arises:
] Well, if everything you're complaining about doesn't
] change your mind about the war itself, why are you making
] such an unholy fuss? Apparently, if you had been
] president, we'd be in the same mess.
]
]
] Like mice frustrated in a maze, the candidates seek
] escape routes out of this logical trap. Sometimes they
] say that the current mess is not the result of the
] decision to go to war. It is the result of Bush's inept
] leadership during the war and/or the postwar occupation.
] He should have waited longer for diplomacy to work. He
] should have insisted on the participation of other big
] countries instead of going it virtually alone. He should
] have been better-prepared for the challenges of
] rebuilding. He should not have been blindsided by
] continued opposition after the official fighting stopped.
]
]
] But the resolution these gentlemen supported gave
] war-making authority to George W. Bush, not to some
] idealized, all-knowing president such as themselves. The
] resolution did not say, "This authorization to start a
] war is valid only when used in conjunction with at least
] two other countries large enough to spot on a
] medium-sized world map." Nor did it tell Bush to wait
] until … until … until when? The resolution gave
] George W. Bush the authority to decide when the waiting
] for friends to join in or the foe to back down had gone
] on long enough. If Bush bungled this authority,
] entrusting him with it was a big mistake.

Good breakdown of the logical fallicies of the Democratic candidates positions on Iraq. a quick read worth reading.

Iraqing Their Brains - How can the Democratic candidates escape the trap they set for themselves? By Michael Kinsley