They believe in the United Nations, and Kofi Annan, the maker of international legitimacy.
They believe that the UN inspections worked.They believe that SCUD missiles fired at U.S. troops minutes after the war began don’t change anything;They believe that 3 liters of sarin gas used against U.S. troops doesn’t change anything;They believe that finding evidence of mustard gas doesn’t change anything.
They believe that the war in Iraq conducted by a Republican president was unjustified because it lacked UN approval;They believe that the “military action” in Kosovo conducted by a Democratic president was justified without UN approval.
They believe that this war was motivated by greed and oil;They believe that when France, Germany, and Russia opposed the war, they were motivated by principle, and not by sweetheart oil deals or Oil-For-Food kickbacks;They believe that US oil prices are too high, and that the administration failed in its responsibility to do something about it.
They believe that the Iraq war was unilateral.They believe that the participation of Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Georgia, Honduras, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, and Ukraine does not change the fact that the war was unilateral;They believe that multilateralism can only be achieved with the participation of France and Germany;They believe in multilateralism.
They believe that the U.S. may only legitimately use force for humanitarian ends in one place if it does so in all places where aid might be needed;They believe that the U.S. may not quell threats in places where the cost is relatively low unless it is willing to use force in places like North Korea, where the cost in lives would likely be very high;They believe that a humanitarian action is only truly humanitarian if there are no strategic interests to muddle the altruism.
They believe that President Bush lied.They believe that Prime Minister Blair lied.They believe that when Hillary Clinton and Dick Gephardt voted for the war based on the same intelligence relied upon by Bush and Blair, they made reasonable decisions based on the intelligence available at the time.
They believe that the administration did not make the case for war;They believe that the administration offered many different reasons but could not offer a coherent message explaining the need to go to war;They believe that the administration made perfectly clear that the only reason we were going to war was because of the threat from WMDs.
They believe that there were no WMDs.They believe that finding sarin gas is 14th page news;They believe that if the sarin gas is old, then it really isn?t a WMD we were looking for;They believe that it wasn?t really sarin gas;They believe that sarin gas isn?t necessarily a WMD.
They believe that there was no terrorist connection to, or threat from, Iraq.They believe that members of Abu Nidal in Iraq would not have committed terrorist acts if we had not invaded;They believe that al Qaeda operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would not have committed terrorist acts if we had not invaded;They believe that Saddam?s terrorist training camp at Salman Pak?complete with a Boeing 707 plane used for hijacking drills?did not exist or posed no real threat;They believe that it was merely a coincidence that the pharmaceutical factory bombed by President Clinton in Sudan was using al Qaeda funds and a uniquely Iraqi formula to produce VX gas;They believe that we are responsible for bringing terror on ourselves.
They believe that the prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib is widespread and is probably the tip of the iceberg;They believe that Abu Ghraib proves that the America?s occupation is no different than Saddam?s tyranny;They believe that any attempt to suggest that there is a moral difference between a regime which systematically killed 300,000 people and tortured countless others and a regime which punished the acts of Abu Ghraib is illegitimate.
They believe that soldiers deliberately target women and children;They believe that the soldiers abuse and kill Iraqis because they are racists;We support our troops.
They believe that no one should question our statement that we “support our troops;”They believe that the best thing that could happen for this country would be for Bush to lose in November;They believe that the best way for Bush to lose in November is for the Iraq effort to go poorly, even if that means that more Iraqis and troops will die;They believe that most of the troops are minorities and the poor;They believe that when the word “heroes” is used to describe our troops, it should always be enclosed in scare quotes.
They believe in quagmire.They believe that when fringe Iraqi groups attack hard targets and are soundly defeated with relatively low Coalition casualties, that this is inescapable evidence of crisis;They believe that Iraq is Bush?s Vietnam.
They believe that Vietnam is the lens through which all wars should be viewed.They believe that soldiers in Vietnam were baby killers;They believe that John Kerry is a hero for his service in Vietnam.
They believe that because John Kerry is a hero, he necessarily has the national security expertise necessary to be commander-in-chief.They believe that any attempt to question his national security expertise based on his voting record, including his decision to vote against a supplemental bill used to buy the soldiers body armor, is an unfair attack on the patriotism of a hero, who by virtue of this honorific has the expertise to be commander-in-chief.
They believe in the trinity: NPR, CNN, and the New York Times. They believe in Ted Kennedy, Tom Harkin, John Kerry, and all the DNC, and we look for President Clinton yet to come. Amen.
This is a modified Liberal Creed by Robert D. Alt.
