Matt Drudge is claiming to have uncovered a transcript of General Wesley Clark making the case for the Iraq War before Congress. Over on his weblog, Joshua Micah Marshall points out that Drudge's quote is an outta-context excerpt from a much longer speech that went in other directions.
I'm not sure why it's such a big deal to accuse politicians of changing positions. Everyone does…or should. You have to have a high degree of stubborn stupidity not to occasionally modify your view of some things, especially in light of new developments and new evidence. Is there anyone on any side of the Iraq matter who is not going to have to claim to have been misled at some point by faulty intelligence reports?
I don't get that Clark really changed his view but even if he did, I wouldn't assume that made it insincere or opportunistic or whatever. The guy changed his view, just as Bush seems to now be completely on the side of the Nation Building he once abhorred. I guess I'm more suspicious of the opposite, which is when a politician decides he's right and that's that, and no change in the events or facts is going to budge him from his position.