Hyde on Iraq: "I am afraid it is Vietnam again"

The AP interviews the outgoing representative for Illinois' 6th District, Henry Hyde:

As a member of the House International Relations Committee, he backed President Bush's decision to invade Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power. But Hyde, the committee chairman the last two years, said he was troubled from the beginning that the war lacked enough support from the international community.

"Right now, I think it's a question of saving as much honor as we can. But I am afraid it is Vietnam again," he said.

"We've had a failure of cooperation from other countries as well as from our opinion molders, so it hasn't been a positive thing for America."

Hyde believes pressure will build from the American people for Congress to withdraw funds for military operations in Iraq to stop U.S. involvement.

Hyde also reflected on the House of Representatives under the leadership of Denny Hastert:

"The issues of corruption ... were disgraceful, sickening and costly," he said. "I think the war might have been defended alone, but I don't think coupled with the corruption. We saw members of Congress with serious involvement. I just don't know what more could go wrong."