Andrews won't admit Iraq war support was a mistake

by: Juan Melli

Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 02:51:54 PM EDT

Andrews, who announced two weeks ago that he would challenge Lautenberg in a June primary, was pressed during a conference call about whether he thought his support for the war was a mistake. He wouldn't answer directly.

"If we would have known the terrible cost in loss of life and limb, I think no one would have supported it," Andrews said Wednesday.

Andrews is a very smart person. He knows that war inevitably involves the loss of life and he understands the historical ethnic and religious strife in Iraq, so unless he's saying he didn't think this particular war would be like those in the past, this answer doesn't make much sense. But even more disappointing to me is the unwillingness to admit a mistake. People understand that politicians are human and screw up from time to time, and I think they're quite willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. But not giving a straight answer to that question suggests either an unwillingness to admit a mistake or the belief that it wasn't a mistake to begin with. Neither possibility is inspiring.