Bob Graham, the late Florida senator and governor, was a man of courage and principle. He was one of the few senators to oppose the Iraq War in 2002, even though it was an unpopular position at the time. He warned that the invasion would be a costly mistake and would distract from the fight against terrorism. His words have since been proven true, with the war costing thousands of lives and trillions of dollars.
Graham’s decision to oppose the war was based on his careful analysis of the intelligence. He was “stunned” to learn that the Bush administration had never asked the intelligence community to formally assess whether Saddam Hussein actually possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).
Graham invoked his senatorial authority to order an official assessment, known as a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE). Three weeks later, the intel community complied. Graham read the 90 classified pages and saw there was no hard evidence that Hussein had WMDs. Indeed, Graham said later, the report featured “vigorous dissents.”
He also learned that the intel community had no sources inside Iraq, nobody on the ground who could verify the Bush-Cheney pre-war spin.
Despite Graham’s warnings, most of his fellow Democrats voted to give Bush the authority to launch the war. But Graham stood firm, saying that invading Iraq, which had no role in 9/11, would detract from the mission to find 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. It is wrong, he said, “to focus our military and intelligence resources on the wrong target.”
Graham’s words would stand the test of time. The Iraq War was a costly mistake that destabilized the Middle East and led to the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis. Graham took no pleasure in being right, but he believed that it was his duty to speak out against the war.
Graham’s legacy is one of courage and principle. He was a true profile in courage, and his example should inspire us all to speak out against injustice and war.
