I worked as a congressional staff member during the protracted, nerve-wracking run-up to the Iraq invasion in 2003. Readers will recall a time of peak national hubris, with the White House, congressional Republicans and most of the press fairly bawling for war. It was then that I began to understand that Democrats were afraid of Republicans.
Given how pitifully weak the justifications were for an unprovoked invasion of a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, it was striking how many Democrats were swept along by it, more from conformity than conviction. Even those who opposed it usually advanced tepid, process-driven arguments. Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, no one’s idea of a Squad progressive, was among the few Democrats who denounced the Iraq misadventure in hard-hitting and memorable terms. Why were Democrats pulling their punches?
