1 Boring Old Man

The Chair recognizes Senator 1boringoldman:

Back in the early days before the War, I was told that Saddam Hussein backed al Qaeda in the 9/11 attack and that he was building Weapons of Mass Destruction to use against us. While I was skeptical, I had to accept that the President wouldn’t lie to us about such things. I saw those towers bombed like everyone else and felt an urgency to act. So I voted for the War and we summarily deposed Saddam Hussein. Then, I was told that there were no WMD’s. There were no ties between al Qaeda and Iraq. And there was still a War – against who knows what. At first it was touted to be Bathists; then they were called Insurgents; now they’re called al Qaeda. So finally, we had an Iraq Study Group of distinguished people who said "get out." Bush asked us for one more round – a "Surge" – to let the Iraqi government have time to … I forget what. I went along with that for a bit, thinking that maybe they needed time. But now, they’re all going on summer vacation, and our President is still saying we can win this unwinnable War and that we will need to be there for "years."

I call bullshit! Our President and Vice President are liars and have been from the start. They have lied to us. They’ve played on our patriotism, and conned us into supporting their misadventure long enough. We invaded Iraq for no valid reason that I can see. We’ve stayed in Iraq for no valid reason I can see. I’m ashamed that I went along with this folly. I’m sorry. I don’t care what does or does not happen with the "Surge." I don’t care because our cause is wrong. We let an Oil Executive and a weak, unprincipled, ineffectual President lead us into a War of Oil Field Acquisition that has failed – as it should have failed. We’ve thrown away billions of dollars, thousands of lives, our place in the world, and our Constitution for absolutely no reason. I didn’t know that earlier, because they didn’t tell us or I was afraid to vote my "hunch." But now I know. So I was wrong before. From this day forth, I’m obligated to do the right thing and vote against anything that prolongs this shameful blot on our history.

I’m voting against this War. And I’m hoping to have the opportunity to vote for impeachment of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney for betraying my trust and the trust of my constituents. We need a "Regime Change." The real issue on the table has nothing to do with Iraq. It has to do with America’s integrity. It’s time to reclaim it.

"You cannot know all of Medicine. It’s just too much to possibly learn. So, when you present your cases, I don’t want you to show off how smart you are. We all know you’re smart. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be here. What I want to hear is two things. First, that you’ve really investigated your patient’s illness thoroughly. No matter how sleep deprived and underpaid you are, every case is important enough for you to understand deeply. We didn’t draft you into medical training. You chose to be here and I want you to be here fully for every case. The second thing I want to hear is what you don’t understand about your cases. If you don’t know what you don’t know, how will I know what to teach you? Most medical errors are made by acting as if you know what’s going on when you don’t. The only solid anchor in Medicine is knowing when you don’t know something. Then you can go look it up. A corollary is knowing when you’re wrong and admitting it. If you know you were wrong, you can change courses. If you don’t, you follow your mistake to somebody else’s grave."