Being Correct About Iraq Isn't Fun

Juan Cole posted an excellent piece up over at Informed Comment where makes a very precise critique of a couple of pundits who were sniping him at the beginning of that ongoing debacle wrapped in a catastrophe and covered with quagmire we know as the (ILLEGAL, dammit!) invasion of Iraq.

Juan's critics are well-known pundits. One of them now works for the Los Angeles Times, the paper which let Robert Scheer go exactly because he was critical of the war.

It matters little that two of his critics now admit that the war was a mistake -- and this is Professor Cole's money observation -- it matters little they do not, just as Bush, Cheny, Wolfowitz, et. al. still do not, can not or perhaps dare not comprehend why they were wrong.

They were wrong not only because they were ignorant, which could be forgiven, but because they were deliberately ignorant! This applies, of course to Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, et. al.

Don't get me wrong -- it is a good thing to recognize and admit that you have made a mistake. But until you at least make an attempt to understand why you made the mistake it really doesn't mean very much.

Glen Greenwald the same day also had an excellent piece on almost the same subject with a long quotes from a cogent, in fact prescient Op-Ed by Jim Webb in September, 2002.

It cannot be over stressed that as, Cheney, Bush, Rice, Powell, et. al. were blathering about mushroom clouds WMDs and smoking guns and the O'reillys, Limbaughs and Coulters were frothing rabidly at the mouth over the liberal wimps -- at the same time, wise words were being spoken in (albeit almost empty) halls of Congress by people like Senator Byrd and excellent analysis's of national security situation were being made by people like Jim Webb:

Other than the flippant criticisms of our "failure" to take Baghdad during the Persian Gulf War, one sees little discussion of an occupation of Iraq, but it is the key element of the current debate. The issue before us is not simply whether the United States should end the regime of Saddam Hussain, but whether we as a nation are prepared to physically occupy territory in the Middle East for the next 30 to 50 years. Those who are pushing for a unilateral war in Iraq know full well that there is no exit strategy if we invade and stay. . . .

The problem now is the failure in Iraq is so obvious that even a blind man could see it.

The problem with that is that those who saw the catastrophe coming and dared speak out and protest are going to smeared, vilified and shafted -- in fact, made responsible for the failure!

The logic, such as it is, will be that "we" would have won if only the liberals and the "cut and run" people had been patriots and at least kept our filthy mouths shut. We will be called traitors it will be our fault that "3,000 died in vain".

When something gets blown up on American soil by a special ops unit or by freelancing terrorists, they will shout "Al-Q did it!"

It will be our fault because we did not "fight them over there so we wouldn't have to fight them over here".

And some of us will then go to the camps as the Ground Law is suspended, martial law is declared and the Supreme Hole ascends his throne of blood and excrement.
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Sorry folks, I seemed to have slipped into Third Galaxy mode there somewhere. It was purely unintentional and I really really REALLY don't believe think or imagine that shit like could ever come down -- after all, America is the "City on the Hill", spreading light and peace and democracy!

That is why we can be trusted to never never destroy the world with our magnificent array of Weapons of Mass Destruction, unless of course our Decider in Chief Decides it to do it or the Great Potato tells him to in order to pave the way for the Second Flowering of the Holy Idaho!