Clooney criticises Democrats who backed Iraq war

Oscar-winner George Clooney has lashed out at Democrats who voted for the war in Iraq and then claimed they had been “misled” by President George Bush.

The actor accused the politicians of “caving in” purely because they were scared of being branded unpatriotic, and said their actions “drove him crazy”.

In a mini-essay on blog site Huffingtonpost.com, Clooney declared himself proud to be a liberal and bemoaned the fact that it seemed to have become a “dirty word”.

“The fear of being criticised can be paralysing,” the star wrote.

“Just look at the way so many Democrats caved in the run-up to the war.

“In 2003, a lot of us were saying, where is the link between Saddam and Bin Laden?

“What does Iraq have to do with 9/11? We knew it was bulls***.

“Which is why it drives me crazy to hear all these Democrats saying, ‘We were misled.’

“It makes me want to shout, ‘F*** you, you weren’t misled. You were afraid of being called unpatriotic’.”

The actor, who picked up the best supporting actor Academy Award for his role in Syriana, said too many people ran away from the label liberal”.

“They whisper it like you’d whisper ‘I’m a Nazi’,” he observed.

“Like it’s a dirty word.”

He added: “It’s not merely our right to question our government, it’s our duty.”

Clooney signed off: “I am a liberal. Fire away.”