Nevada Democrat Erin Bilbray says she would have voted in favor of Operation Iraqi Freedom if she were in Congress at the time.
That marks a departure from her prior support for anti-war causes. "We are sending more sons and daughters out and we can't even respect the ones that come before us," she said at an anti-Iraq war event in 2007.
She also said she believes Edward Snowden—who fled to China and Russia after leaking huge amounts of National Security Agency information and is considered by many to be a traitor—a "hero," aligning her with pundits and politicians who overwhelmingly opposed, in their words or votes, the war in Iraq.
Bilbray took those two positions at a forum held by Veterans in Politics International on April 5.
She also expressed her support for maintaining military bases "across the country," by which she may have meant "across the world."
"We have to have a strong military, and we have to have bases across the country. When it comes to the war, we need to be very cautious, but I do believe that if I were sitting in Congress at the time I would’ve voted for the war."
"I would say, with the information that I have right now, I’d be more likely to go on the hero side right now, but I don’t think that we can make a definitive answer on that."