By Joe Carbonari
Today, Iraq looks like a mess – one that we helped make. Jeb Bush has had a hard time defending his brother’s actions. Was the decision to overthrow Saddam Hussein a mistake? Would Jeb have made the same decision, knowing what he knows now? Essentially, his answer is “no, but … we didn’t know then what we know now.” Really?
George W. Bush, and his advisors, led by Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz chose to believe, and sell to the American public, questionable “intelligence” that supported what they wanted to do – remove Saddam and makeover Iraq. The country was sold a questionable bill of goods, and we are still paying for it. Some people were just plain misled, others were disappointedly acquiescent. Colin Powell was fed a lie, regurgitated it, and was left hanging out to dry.
Supposed stocks of poison gases were functionally non-existent. Internationally lead investigators were discounted when they couldn’t find anything significant. A supposed nuclear program was also a mirage. The same is true of what were touted as ballistic missile assemblies. Dissenting intelligence reports, as disclosed even then, called these claims questionable. Responsible people turned their heads.
Many other countries didn’t believe and said so. We were warned of the disorder and dislike that would be engendered. We cowboy-ed on.
The Mideast is a tinderbox. We need calmer minds, deeper thinking and fewer cowboys.
By Tim Baldwin
President hopefuls mostly agree: the Iraq war was a mistake. Notably, Ron Paul said this 12 years ago, but hardly any politician listened to him and media scoffed at him. Rand Paul has a similar philosophy on foreign policy as Ron, so admitting that the Iraq war was a mistake is easy for Rand. On the other hand, Marco Rubio avoids admitting that the war was a mistake and blames not being able to see the future as justification for America’s intrusion. Like Rubio, presidential hopeful Lindsey Graham is using the war drum to advance his campaign.
War is the most serious decision any nation can make. War affects other nations and citizens beyond measure. What is worse, at large, people have very little knowledge on war issues and little power to stop government from engaging in war. Given the United States’ history of engaging in undeclared and secret wars, it is critically important that citizens be leery of politicians who favor aggressive and loose foreign policies.
Beyond politicians, private interests are at work to advance war. Unquestionably, international and domestic corporate interests can prosper during war. They can influence politicians to advance war. Such an unholy union of corporations and government works against liberty and constitutional government. Media rarely covers such stories, but they are real.
War is not a game. Politicians who treat war as such should never be elected to office.