Tricky Dick 2.0 wrote a WSJ op-ed recently insinuating that
the situation in Iraq now is Obama's fault. While I tend to agree that
Obama's cabinet was a bit too eager to put Iraq in the rear view mirror
without sufficient monitoring of the screwed up Maliki regime (easy to
say in hindsight though), blaming Obama for what has recently transpired
is like blaming the plumber for not fixing the toilet you clogged fast
enough.
Obama never supported the Iraq invasion, when Dems like Hillary,
Pelosi, and Biden caved to the post-9/11 mania. When he took office in
2008, the majority of his voters wanted us out of Iraq, especially
because the Surge and Sunni Awakening seemed to put us on better footing
to do so. Clearly we could have done more to ensure a better
functioning state of Iraq, but I don't think it was feasible to have
maintained a Korea-like long-term military presence there as McCain
types claim that they advocated all along (even if that would have
prevented the
ISIS-led Sunni offensive).
For Cheney and other Bushies to tsk tsk Obama, while totally
dismissing their past mistakes and role in the current mess, is a level
of gall that I cannot possible hope to comprehend. Let's remember that
the premise for the neocon War on Terror was basically: states that
harbor terrorists are equivalent enemies to the terrorists themselves,
and forcibly removing threatening regimes and replacing them with
western democracy/freedom will make us safer. Well, Al Qaeda and Shia
militias were not able to exist in Saddam's Iraq. Our flawed occupation
allowed jihadists to congregate in Iraq, and enabled a state sponsor of
terrorism, Iran, to indirectly kill Americans and gain more influence in
the region. The regime change in Baghdad that we orchestrated has
replaced a brutal, corrupt Sunni Ba'athist dictator with a less brutal
but more corrupt and sectarian Shia gang. Well, at least the Kurds got
semi-autonomy. So the Bushies' hubris and incompetence pretty much
negated their own vision for national security, to the tune of over $1T
in costs, tens of thousands of US troops killed/wounded, and hundreds of
thousands of Iraqis dead.
While Cheney types never really acknowledge or
apologize for the fact that there were no WMDs, they keep trying to
twist the record by claiming that they made "the right call" at the
time, given the facts. The whole world wanted Saddam gone and there was
virtual consensus that he had weapons. Sure, Saddam had few
international friends, but I think most of us would have preferred him
in power a little longer vs. breaking int'l laws and condemning Iraq to
civil war. And maybe there was near consensus among the ignorant
Congress (after sufficient bribery and intimidation), but the UN and
international community was far from convinced about Saddam's arsenal
and collaborations with Osama. But rather than face up to the truth,
it's easier for the Bushies to retreat to their self-righteous dream
world and dump their garbage on the black Muslim socialist instead. I
suppose I am not surprised with this behavior, but I am surprised that
the MSM would continue to give these discredited, disgraceful failures a
podium from which to white-wash their transgressions and disseminate
more BS.
With all the Iraq stuff still fresh in the headlines in 2004 (but
apparently unable to penetrate the Bush bubble), remember how
infallible, god-anointed Dubya couldn't even cite a single
mistake
during his presidency when asked by the media? These are the people who
bullied us into Iraq, who are mostly responsible for the current chaos
(at least from the western side of the equation), and who have the nerve
to criticize others about it now.
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