Bayh Lied. People Died.

For years now, sales have been strong for a bumper sticker that reads simply: Bush Lied. People Died.

You all know what it means. It refers to George W. Bush’s lies, claiming to have certain intelligence that Iraq under Saddam Hussein had so many weapons of mass destruction that Iraq threatened the entire world.

The truth is, though, that George W. Bush wasn’t alone in his lie. Many in Congress were complicit. They voted to support George W. Bush’s lie, and worked hard to make sure that Bush’s lie led us into war.

Among those was Senator Evan Bayh. Yes, I’m talking about the same Evan Bayh who is now supposed to be one of Barack Obama’s top three picks for the spot of vice presidential running mate.

Evan Bayh didn’t just go along with the rush to war in Iraq. Bayh worked hand in hand with George W. Bush, Joseph Lieberman and John McCain to organize the passage of a resolution allowing Bush to invade Iraq.

The transcript of Evan Bayh’s speech on the Senate floor shows how eager Bayh was to rush American soldiers into Iraq, and how thoroughly he was to repeat the lies of George W. Bush. Here are just a few selections of the kind of things that Bayh said that day:

“To those who say regime change is not an appropriate reason for acting, I say weapons of mass destruction and the regime of Saddam Hussein are one and indivisible. To remove weapons of mass destruction, we must remove that regime. To think anything else is to delude ourselves.”

“To those who say, what is the rush? why can’t we wait? I respond by asking the question: How long must we wait? Until the missiles have been launched? Until smallpox, anthrax, or VX nerve agent has found its way into our country? Is that how long we should wait?”

“We conducted a simulated exercise of a smallpox attack – I believe it was called Dark Winter – simulating a smallpox outbreak put into a ventilation system in a mall in Oklahoma City. The consequences were catastrophic: Tens of thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands of illnesses; civil law broke down. These are the kinds of consequences that would be all too real were we to stay our hand.”

Evan Bayh lied. People died.

Evan Bayh claimed that Iraq under Saddam Hussein had enough weapons of mass destruction to kill tens of thousands of people right here in the United States. The truth is that Senator Bayh had seen no evidence to back up that claim.

Evan Bayh didn’t just argue for a war in Iraq. Bayh argued in favor of a hurried up, rushed invasion – precisely the mistake that led the USA to become bogged down in an Iraq quagmire.

If Barack Obama chooses Evan Bayh as his running mate, Obama will be endorsing the historic mistake made by Bush and Bayh. Obama will be endorsing John McCain’s support for invading Iraq those six long years ago. Obama will be tossing away his initial opposition to the Iraq War, and saying, “Never mind.”

That, Mr. Obama, is a recipe for losing the election.

Read the full text of Evan Bayh’s speech on October 8, 2002.