But here is the most important thing the Bush administration got wrong. The Bush administration claimed that, postwar, Iraq would become a shining example of democratic capitalism, serving to transform the region and be a U.S. ally helping to check the influence of Iran.
I was for the Iraq war because we couldn't allow a country that had WMD to cavort with terrorists. Turns out they didn't have WMD (though I suppose they might have shipped some out to Syria before we overran them). Oops. I call that a major error. I listened to Richard Perle on NPR this morning. I was aware of a generally increasing feeling of irritation and then almost rage. He is just chillin' outside of DC these days; has a gig at AEI. He basically said "oh well. Everybody thought Sadam had WMDs. I guess we were wrong. I was against the occupation, you know." Without Iraq, remember, we do not get Obama and everything that follows from that; how catastrophic that is, remains to be seen. Iraq has to go down as the biggest. Mistake. Evah.
What to do? Not much, except never listen to the neo-cons again: Most of them are liberals anyway. Don't assume the world is pining for democracy. Some bits are; mostly it's not. --ts
"Without Iraq, remember, we do not get Obama and everything that follows from that"
Why are you so sure we wouldn't have gotten Obama?
I know he had opposed the Iraq War and this gave him credence with the anti-war left, but seems to me he had a lot more going for him in 2008 (in the minds of Democratic voters) than that.
And he wasn't Hillary.
Posted by: Miriam | March 21, 2013 at 01:55 PM