The lies that led to Iraq

Pretty devastating. Don’t miss that American flag.

The Discussion: 13 Comments

I truly believe that the Iraq invasion will go down as the biggest single blunder of modern American foreign policy – though calling it a “blunder” trivializes the tragedy and the criminal culpability of the men who planned it.

June 1, 2005 @ 10:05 pm | Comment

I agree with you other Lisa, but I don’t think you put it strongly enough. It is really not a blunder when it was an intentional act based on lies and policies that are not motivated by the best interests of all the American people. I would call it murderous folly at the least.

June 1, 2005 @ 11:07 pm | Comment

With you,both.The Great American Disgrace.No lessons learned from 3 decades ago.More youth wasted on another crazy war.

June 2, 2005 @ 1:10 am | Comment

Oops,that should read ,agree with you,both.

June 2, 2005 @ 1:12 am | Comment

Why haven’t the people who (re-)elected this craven crew of scoundrels marched on the White House and demanded their hides?

It’s going to take a generation of hard work to undo half of what these moneyed clowns have wrought in a few years.

My latest Amazon.com lifeboat washed ashore bearing a copy of “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” by Thomas Frank.

Anyone else here read it yet?

June 2, 2005 @ 8:22 am | Comment

Shanghai, haven’t read it but “Kansas” created quite a stir when it came out.

Latest out of Kansas, if you haven’t heard, is the decision to teach “intelligent design” along with evolution in the classroom…

June 2, 2005 @ 12:46 pm | Comment

I am coming to believe that the u.s. will eventually establish a democracy in iraq. Anyway, what can iraqis now do other than with a democracy? Even if this system is not going to work there. However, a dysfunctional democracy is also a democracy!

June 2, 2005 @ 3:35 pm | Comment

I’ve read sections of it, and I believe it is the most important book to come out in years. The concept is simple and bold: The Republicans’ policies go directly against the middle and working class citizens (tax cuts for the rich, destruction of work /bankruptcy protection, support for anti-labor corporations like Walmart). But through the very cynical and brilliant use of wedge issues, notably gay marriage and abortion, they win them over to their side, brainwashing them into believing these are the issiues they’ll focus on after being elected. Then, as soon as they’re in office, they pull the rug out from under the stupid masses, conveniently letting the social wedge issues drop while pushing hard on the policies that harm workers. It’s an insidious game and the GOP has mastered it.

Leo, I really wonder if Iraq will ever have a Democracy, functional or otherwise. My bet is on an Iran-style theocracy which will be just as much a headache for us as Saddam was.

June 2, 2005 @ 6:16 pm | Comment

Richard and Leo:

A democarcy i think is very far-fetched because Iraq did not even have a funtional state now to even begin with. I think a Shia theocracy is still not so bleak. What i am worried now is another lawless failed state like Somalia and Afghanistan or the ethnic violence in the former Yugoslavia as Iraq may split into three separate Sunni, Shia and Kurdish states.

June 3, 2005 @ 8:51 am | Comment

better a Saddam than another theocracy that oppresses women, imo.

June 3, 2005 @ 12:40 pm | Comment

Apart from morality or humanity, is Iraq war good or bad for the people and national interest of USA?

From the result of that general election, it seems to me more than half of Americans who voted think it is not that bad for them.

June 4, 2005 @ 8:49 am | Comment

Bing, the war is bad for everyone in every way. The removal of Saddam might have been a good thing for Iraq and the world if it had been done correctly, with international resources and a solid plan to keep the country functioning. The way we did it, it was a worthless endeavor resulting in immeasurable bad will and the destruction of America’s reputation, let alone all those lives needlessly wiped out.

June 4, 2005 @ 11:31 am | Comment

Bing, if you look at public opinion polls in the US now, something like 60% (?) of Americans think that the war is not worth it. The support for the war has dropped steadily since Bush’s reelection. A percentage of the people who voted for Bush did so because of a traditional American reluctance to change leadership in the middle of a war. Never mind that they voted for the guy who’s responsible for the mess in the first place (I never said this was a logical tradition!).

June 4, 2005 @ 9:31 pm | Comment

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.