By The Huffington Post News Editors
WASHINGTON — When Congress voted to authorize the Iraq War in October 2002, only seven Republicans voted against it — and they took heat for bucking their party. Looking back now, on the 10-year anniversary of the invasion, many of those Republicans maintained they were right all along and believe the war wasn’t worth the costs, both financially and in human lives.
In interviews with The Huffington Post, five of those seven Republicans explained why they broke ranks and opposed the war resolution, which authorized President George W. Bush to “use any means necessary” against Iraq. Two of those Republicans — Rep. John Duncan (Tenn.) and former Rep. John Hostettler (Ind.) — did not respond to interview requests.
“To me, it was about growing up in the Vietnam era and not wanting to go through that again,” said Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, who, in 2002, was the only GOP senator to vote against invading Iraq. “I remember the difficulty the soldiers had coming back here after Vietnam. They had the same issues: PTSD, re-immersion, alcoholism. You have to be prepared to take all that on.”