Anti-War Democrat Visits Iraq ... Now Says We Should Stay

Yet another enlightened soul who once opposed the mission in Iraq has somewhat changed their mind after finally visiting the country.

It's amazing what happens when you actually listen to what the military has been saying all along. Just ask U.S. Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA). After visiting Iraq, and speaking with US and Iraqi troops he is finally convinced that we need to stay a little longer.

The Olympian:

U.S. Rep. Brian Baird said Thursday that his recent trip to Iraq convinced him the military needs more time in the region, and that a hasty pullout would cause chaos that helps Iran and harms U.S. security.

"I believe that the decision to invade Iraq and the post-invasion management of that country were among the largest foreign-policy mistakes in the history of our nation. I voted against them, and I still think they were the right votes," Baird said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C.

"But we're on the ground now. We have a responsibility to the Iraqi people and a strategic interest in making this work."

Baird, a five-term Democrat, voted against President Bush ordering the Iraq invasion — at a time when he was in a minority in Congress and at risk of alienating voters. He returned late Tuesday from a trip that included stops in Israel, Jordan and Iraq, where he met troops, U.S. advisers and Iraqis, whose stories have convinced him that U.S. troops must stay longer.

It almost makes me want to create an "enlightened" tag with all the converts lately.