What Every American Should Know About Iraq

[unhappycamper]

What Every American Should Know About Iraq
by David Michael Green | Jun 15 2007 - 9:06am


Some people think that anyone who disagrees with the American invasion and occupation of Iraq is either a bleeding-heart liberal appeaser, a George W. Bush hater, a blame America firster, an underminer of the troops, a traitor, or a geopolitical naif.

To those who see opponents of the war as fitting into one, several, or all of these categories, I say read this page. I will make no arguments herein, nor even commentary. I will twist no data nor spin any tales. I will even include some of the comments and arguments made by the administration and its supporters.

Instead of arguing against the war, I will try to offer a fairly complete account of the relevant facts one might wish to consider when evaluating America's policy in Iraq. Especially for those who continually claim that they, more than others, have the best interests of the troops at heart - but actually for all citizens in a democracy - it is incumbent upon us to educate ourselves about this most important of national policies.

Those troops are being maimed and are dying on our behalf every day. The very least we can do is spend a brief amount of our time learning about this question so that we can decide whether their continued sacrifices are justified.

~snip~

* George W. Bush gave twenty interviews in 1999 to Mickey Herskowitz, a friend of the Bush family contracted at the time to ghostwrite his autobiography. Bush was thinking about invading Iraq at that time, saying "'One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander in chief. My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it. If I have a chance to invade, if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I'm going to have a successful presidency." Herskowitz said that Bush's beliefs on Iraq were shaped by Dick Cheney's ideas, based on the power and glory Margaret Thatcher earned from her Falklands War: "Start a small war. Pick a country where there is justification you can jump on, go ahead and invade." Herskowitz also reports this interesting note from his interviews with Bush: "He told me that as a leader, you can never admit to a mistake. That was one of the keys to being a leader."


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[ginnyinWI]

1. that's it, in a nutshell

That quote says it all. I've heard it before on the internet and lefty radio, but why wasn't it trumpheted far and wide during the last election? Would the people have thought differently about *, or were they still too paralyzed by fear?

I guess that "small war" thing didn't work out so well, did it? :eyes:

[KharmaTrain]

3. He Probably Thought Iraq Was An Island

He heard about all the "ships of the desert". :sarcasm:

[pinto]

2. Green's put together a really clear, comprehensive -- and sad - time line.

A lot of the history has been overshadowed, to put it mildly, by the incessant spin.

Thanks for the post.

[pinto]

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[Karenina]

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