UPDATE BELOW
Re: The political cartoon above, Jim Wright of Stonekettle Station wrote a beautifully scathing post about the very subject of the cartoon.
I urge you to go to the link and read it.
Wright is a retired US Navy Chief Warrant Officer, who "...was a Navy intelligence officer working in support of the invasion force. There’s not much I don’t know about the events leading up to war and the aftermath of the invasion."
Wright spares no one his wrath in his stirring rebuttal to Mitt Romney's statement on the recent attacks in Iraq:
"Tragically, all we’ve fought for in Iraq, all that 4,500 American lives were shed to gain, is on the cusp, potentially, of vanishing." - Mitt Romney, “Ideas Summit,” 6/13/2014
Please do yourselves a favor and read Jim Wright's "Absolutely Nothing."
UPDATE
"THANK YOU, MR. BUSH"
Capt. Fogg of The Swash Zone has written about this subject as well. Don't miss his post either.
13 comments:
Interesting article and he is correct Why.
He pointed out something shocking, a president of the United States lied to the American People. That has never happened before and I am sure never again. He forgot to point out that the majority of congress voted for the action in Iraq, except the current SS who was for it before he was against it.
Bush also made the statement not to take our eye off Iraq or we would regret it. Now PRESBO and former SS said they was caught off guard, lot of that going around.
Announce when we are pulling out so the enemies can build up the forces and then you are surprised when they attack. At least he put fear into them by saying no boots on the ground now I'm off to play golf.
Stunning...
skud: "...except the current SS who was for it before he was against it."
At least Kerry had the courage to admit his mistake, something the Bushistas have NEVER done.
That doesn't wipe away the hundreds of thousands of deaths, but it shows some self-reflection on Kerry's part.
I was never for the invasion of a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, and I was labeled a "dirty f**king hippie" because I participated in marches against the war.
Who are the "dirty effers" now?
Skud... yes a majority of Dems voted for the war. And that does make it right.
The war was badly planned, badly gamed out and badly managed from the start.
Can you name one good decision regarding the war that the Bush Admin made?
They were wrong on WMDs.
There was no linkage between Al Queda and Iraq.
The military force was too small to secure the peace.
They did not secure the borders, allowing many of the bad guys, and to hear conservatives tell it, WMDs to be spirited away to Syria.
We were not greeted as liberators.
Oil did not pay for the war.
We fought the war with deficit spending.
We had no real plan for the inevitable toppling of Saddam.
Should I go on, or do you get the point?
I don't really care how congressional people vote on all the pre final vote tallies, which are mostly designed to score political points. Apparently you do.
In your shot at SofState Kerry, are you saying that anyone who changes his vote in these situations is bad, or are you just trying to score points?
Skud, like many conservatives, you are celebrating in what is seen as a defeat of President Obama. What solutions do you have, or are you going to dodge that question as most have done?
We'll await your answer...
I've advocated for a long time that the immediate and extended families of every single politician who votes for war should be immediately conscripted and sent to the front lines. It nauseates me to see a starchy prig like Mittens Romney castigating Obama. None of his five big, strong, strapping sons ever served, though each received a nice little trust fund of $20 million each. It's like the old folk and protest songs. The rich men declare the wars and the poor men (and women) fight and die in them.
David,
I never supported the invasion in the first place but a lot of people did.
The US intelligence was inept
There was a perception that we would be greeted as liberators which was not correct, again inept intelligence
I think toppling saddam was the only goal.
We cannot police the world and this invasion had no upside.
Of course congress voted because it was political. What isn't with those crooks. The American people are secondary and the only thing they are good at is wasting taxpayer money and trying to get more.
As to celebrating obama's defeat. He is very capable of showing his incompetence without any help from anyone. Name a foreign policy decision that has been good. Maybe Egypt, Syria, Ukraine, Russia find one.
The only thing he seems to be good at is blaming Bush and the GOP for his lack of leadership.
Skud, you criticized Obama for his actions regarding Iraq and proposed no solutions, or what you would do, or have done differently.
Why?
As to your stance regarding Iraq, I assume you are aware that your position, in conservative circles, is seen as non patriotic and unAmerican.
Those people that pushed that view, do not think you love America, or care about her future, simply because you opposed the war.
Why is that?
And now, those same people, are hammering Obama because he does not want to go back and "finish the job."
Is that what you are advocating?
There's really nothing to celebrate here. Anymore than the American lives lost and the incalculable harm done to Viet Nam between 1958 and 1975. It shall forever remain a mystery why the dems went along with it. Really. WTF could they possibly have been thinking?
I don't think that the war in Afghanistan was a particularly good idea. Basically, war never is a good idea unless it is waged to prevent genocide.
That said. God bless Jim Wright. That's the best rant I have ever read by probably the most qualified individual. I remember watching the Navy bombardment and shelling of Baghdad March 20, 2003. I soon realized that this type of television war fun had pretty much come to a close almost instantaneously. Fuck CNN. Bad publicity for the land of the free.
Razib Khan: “No matter what establishment voices assert, intervention in foreign lands in a ham-handed fashion to prop up our American values is bound to lead us down a path of tears. As Shadi Hamid states, the future of democracy in the Middle East is going to be illiberal. This may be inevitable. We don’t need to avert our eyes from it, and we need to acknowledge that so we were, so they will be. It took the Thirty Years war to finally purge the enthusiasm of sectarianism from the cultural DNA of Europeans (and even then, religious minorities were second class citizens for centuries). There will be no calm reasoning with Iraqis of any stripe because the march of history continues, and only sadness can convince all parties that moderation is necessary for the existence of modern nation-states. Intervention in some fashion may be inevitable in the world, but our goal should be to prevent hell, not to create heaven on earth. The former is possible, the latter is not.”
Stunning indeed Dave.
But I'm sure everyone is used to skudrunner's
"stun gun" by now.
Skud....sorry...your rhetoric sounds like a Walmart special on canned ham....cheap with actual contents unknown.
I can get the same TeaBag talking points down at the Kwik Trip when I pick up day old doughnuts. The doughnuts are much fresher than the Tea Bag Points.
okjimm, I'll be thinking of you today. Best thoughts going your way!
Thanks, Shaw. Playing the waiting game right now. That goddam Godot better show up soon!!
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