Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Dated January 26, 2005 at 1:30 pm
****************************************
Why Cong. Dan Lipinski opposed the War.
***************************************
Watch Cong. Dan Lipinski [D-Western Springs; 3rd Cong. Dist.] on “Public Affairs,” tonight at 10:00 pm on Cable Ch. 21 [CANTV], throughout the City of Chicago, debate and discuss the issues with show host Jeff Berkowitz. A partial transcript of the show is included below. For more about the show, the Congressman and the 3rd Cong. Dist., including additional partial transcripts of the show, see the blog entries below this one
***************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: …On the War, if you had been there in the fall of 2002, would you have voted to authorize the President to take military action in Iraq?

Cong. Dan Lipinski: No, I would not have.
************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: You would not have voted for that because why?

Cong. Dan Lipinski: I didn’t think the Bush Administration had made the case for the War at that time. I think we see subsequently that we weren’t ready to go ahead and do this job. Now, should Saddam Hussein have been, you know—is it a good thing that Saddam Hussein is out of power? Yes. Would I say that at no time would I have authorized War against Iraq? No. If I believed that the Administration made a good case in showing—

Jeff Berkowitz: So, you didn’t think that they made a case for weapons of mass destruction at the time in 2002?

Cong. Dan Lipinski: I thought that the evidence was still shaky.

Jeff Berkowitz: If it was stronger, would you have then voted to support that—stronger evidence of weapons of mass destruction?

Cong. Dan Lipinski: If there were stronger evidence of weapons of mass destruction and I was convinced that they had a real plan for post war Iraq—those are the two keys.

Jeff Berkowitz: And, were you convinced at the time that they didn’t have a real plan?

Cong. Dan Lipinski: I was—

Jeff Berkowitz: In the Fall of 2002, before we knew what we know now.

Cong. Dan Lipinski: Honestly, I was hoping that they did.

Jeff Berkowitz: Okay.

Cong. Dan Lipinski: I heard very little from them about it.
********************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: Do you support Peotone or not support Peotone, that is, an airport at the south suburban site?

Cong. Dan Lipinski: Yeah, a third airport. It all comes down to-- if there is going to be a major airline—either a commercial passenger airline or a, you know-- someone who moves cargo—if they are going to come in, and they want, they are committed to this airport, then I think we should go ahead and build that airport…
*************************************
Jeff Berkowitz, Host and Producer of Public Affairs and an Executive Recruiter doing Legal Search, can be reached at JBCG@aol.com
***********************************************