TOM DASCHLE, on the war resolution, back in 2002:

Daschle, D-South Dakota, said the threat of Iraq’s weapons programs “may not be imminent. But it is real. It is growing. And it cannot be ignored.”

Dick Gephardt:

“I believe we have an obligation to protect the United States by preventing him from getting these weapons and either using them himself or passing them or their components on to terrorists who share his destructive intent,” said Gephardt, who helped draft the measure.

So they didn’t think that Saddam was an “imminent” threat, but thought it was worth going to war to keep him from becoming one, eh? That’s just what Bush said.

So where’s the beef in the “Bush lied” argument?

(Hat tip to reader Daniel Aronstein).