10 lessons we should learn from Iraq

[Hamlette]

(1) It seems to me that our country went slightly crazy after 9/11, and one of the manifestations of that craziness was a tendency to say, about anyone who suggested stopping to think about much of anything, that that person just hadn't absorbed the lessons of 9/11, hadn't been there, hadn't fully grasped how horrific it was. Anyone who has even the slightest iota of this tendency should, I think, engrave on his or her forehead: When something truly awful happens, and you find yourself in the presence of real danger, it is more important than ever to stop and think clearly about what you are about to do.



(3) One of the greatest strengths of our country is the fact that we allow debate and dissent. This means that if we choose to do so, we can debate policies before we adopt them, rather than first adopting them and only then, when it is too late,

(4) When the rest of the world thinks you're crazy, it's worth entertaining the possibility that they might be right. We should not defer to their judgment mindlessly, but we should have what Jefferson called "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind."

(5) Beware of movements built on contempt. Many of the people who pushed for war had spent decades expressing their contempt for what you might call standard foreign policy --

(8) Never underestimate the value of an exit strategy.

(9) In wars, there are very few do-overs, and in occupations there are almost none.

http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2007/07/lessons-learned.html

[mdmc]

1. nice find

I think there is only one lesson - avoid war with Iran...

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. 1. Don't invade innocent countries.

2. Don't invade innocent countries.
3. Don't invade innocent countries.
4. Don't invade innocent countries.
5. Don't invade innocent countries.
6. Don't invade innocent countries.
7. Don't invade innocent countries.
8. Don't invade innocent countries.
9. Don't invade innocent countries.
10. Don't invade innocent countries.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Saddam may have been wrong on a lot of things.... but he was

right when he warned us not to get involved....