Mess-o-potamia
Aug. 24th, 2005 11:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pocket1_pitaI just can’t believe that there are still people who think this war was a good idea.
“It wouldn't have been enough to just say that they wanted regime change and in turn a whole ME revolution. I mean, that would have been enough for me personally, but it's too abstract of a concept to really use to justify starting this war.”
For me it’s not that this is an abstract concept, but that if they had stood up and said that this was why they wanted to invade Iraq, I would have opposed it strenuously. As it was I was only partially convinced. I just don’t think this is a good use of our tax dollars and the precious lives of American citizens. As it turns out Saddam Hussein was just not that dangerous.
In fact what we have done is turn a country suffering from a bad government, but basic security, into a hellhole on the verge of civil war with us defending a puppet government against an insurgency partnered with Iran. We are in the ridiculous position of trying to defend an appalling constitution. We can’t even secure the road between the airport and the capital. We have tried all the wrong military tactics with too few troops, too much propaganda and too little accountability.
Bush showed VERY POOR JUDGMENT in this situation. If he was duped along with everyone else, it was because he chose to value certain sources of information too highly, and to regard particular narratives regarding the ME and Iraq as truth. Other leaders may also have been duped by this narrative, but only the US valued that information and that narrative so highly and we so convinced that they invaded a sovereign nation, a member of the UN and took it upon themselves to decide what the govt of that country should be. He is the President. He is responsible. He does not get a pass on this one. How can you say that Cheney and the CIA bear the responsibility? Bush is the President.
If the people who made this war had been right, that would have been one thing. But they have been wrong about almost everything at every step along the way. This war was a huge mistake and it’s a huge disaster. It’s not going to turn around, we are getting spanked over there, and we need to step away from the propaganda and start getting real about what’s happening in Iraq.
We are not powerful enough to create a large self-sustaining democracy in Iraq. We don’t have the power to make another have a particular kind of govt by sheer force of will and force of arms. Some people in our govt thought that we were powerful enough to do that and they were hubristic and dead wrong, operating on ideology and facts hammered in round holes whether they fit or not. Any scrap of information that fit the mold was shined up and dressed in ribbons. any piece of information that didn't fit was discredited by any means necessary.
It's bad. It's dirty. We deserve better.
“It wouldn't have been enough to just say that they wanted regime change and in turn a whole ME revolution. I mean, that would have been enough for me personally, but it's too abstract of a concept to really use to justify starting this war.”
For me it’s not that this is an abstract concept, but that if they had stood up and said that this was why they wanted to invade Iraq, I would have opposed it strenuously. As it was I was only partially convinced. I just don’t think this is a good use of our tax dollars and the precious lives of American citizens. As it turns out Saddam Hussein was just not that dangerous.
In fact what we have done is turn a country suffering from a bad government, but basic security, into a hellhole on the verge of civil war with us defending a puppet government against an insurgency partnered with Iran. We are in the ridiculous position of trying to defend an appalling constitution. We can’t even secure the road between the airport and the capital. We have tried all the wrong military tactics with too few troops, too much propaganda and too little accountability.
Bush showed VERY POOR JUDGMENT in this situation. If he was duped along with everyone else, it was because he chose to value certain sources of information too highly, and to regard particular narratives regarding the ME and Iraq as truth. Other leaders may also have been duped by this narrative, but only the US valued that information and that narrative so highly and we so convinced that they invaded a sovereign nation, a member of the UN and took it upon themselves to decide what the govt of that country should be. He is the President. He is responsible. He does not get a pass on this one. How can you say that Cheney and the CIA bear the responsibility? Bush is the President.
If the people who made this war had been right, that would have been one thing. But they have been wrong about almost everything at every step along the way. This war was a huge mistake and it’s a huge disaster. It’s not going to turn around, we are getting spanked over there, and we need to step away from the propaganda and start getting real about what’s happening in Iraq.
We are not powerful enough to create a large self-sustaining democracy in Iraq. We don’t have the power to make another have a particular kind of govt by sheer force of will and force of arms. Some people in our govt thought that we were powerful enough to do that and they were hubristic and dead wrong, operating on ideology and facts hammered in round holes whether they fit or not. Any scrap of information that fit the mold was shined up and dressed in ribbons. any piece of information that didn't fit was discredited by any means necessary.
It's bad. It's dirty. We deserve better.
