www.balloon-juice.com/?p=9942
And I don't say that to provide people with an easy way to beat up on me, but I do sort of have to face facts. I was wrong about Iraq possessing WMD I was wrong about Scott Ritter and the inspections. I was wrong about the UN involvement in weapons inspections. I was wrong about the broader impact of the war on the Middle East. I was wrong about the number of troops needed to stabilize Iraq. I was wrong when I stated this administration had a clear plan for the aftermath. I was wrong about the ease of bringing democracy to the Middle East. I mean, I could go down the list and continue on, but you get the point. If you took all the wrongness I generated, put it together and compacted it and processed it, there would be enough concentrated stupid to fuel three hundred years of Weekly Standard journals. I am not sure how I snapped out of it, but I think Abu Ghraib and the negative impact of the insurgency did sober me up a bit. War should always be an absolute last resort, not just another option.
If it helps, even as a totally knee-jerk liberal, I got these wrong too: I was wrong about the Doctrine of Pre-emptive warfare. I was wrong about Iraq possessing WMD I was wrong about Scott Ritter and the inspections. I was wrong about the UN involvement in weapons inspections. And mostly: I was wrong that Bush/Cheney were competent. That's what I get for trusting that at least Republicans would run a war well.
March 21st, 2008 at 6:46 pm DougJ Says: Also as someone who was against the war and never really trusted Bush/Cheney, I have to say I was wrong not to be more against the war. I was wrong not to distrust Bush and Cheney even more than I did.
March 21st, 2008 at 6:47 pm Soliton Says: I'm really not sure how anyone could have listened to Bush during the Y2K campaign and come away with the idea that he had a clue.. When I figured it out was watching a campaign event where Bush said (speaking of libruls) "They think Social Security is a federal program".. And the crowd cheered like he had said something really intelligent.. Bush was always painful to listen to, agreed, he's gotten worse, but his speechifying was pathetically garbled at best. And people seriously compared him to Churchill and Lincoln among others..
March 21st, 2008 at 6:52 pm R Stanton Scott Says: That much stupid concentrated in one place could be used simply to generate inane political commentary--but unless controlled would result in a stupid bomb that would rip the fabric of the universe.
March 21st, 2008 at 6:55 pm Dug Jay Says: Since you acknowledge that you were utterly wrong about virtually everything, why on earth should we believe that you all of a sudden are "right" now? I rather suspect that you still don't know shit from Shinola.
March 21st, 2008 at 6:56 pm matt Says: I was wrong that we would be greeted as liberators. It just didn't last that long after it was clear there wasn't a plan, looting, ect.
March 21st, 2008 at 6:57 pm demimondian Says: Actually, Cassidy, the Doctrine of Preemptive War is pretty well debunked by Iraq. If there were any test case which would have made it look good, it was the 2003 invasion--and it didn't. It showed that Howard Dean, professional DFH was right: we can sweep across the sand, driving all before us like cattle, but we can't hope to hold the territory we capture unless there's some deep offense committed towards us as a nation. That's why we're still in Afghanistan, and will be there for the foreseeable future, but why we need to be out of Iraq. That's the difference between a massive retaliation (Afghanistan) and a preemption (Iraq).
As for myself, I can proudly say that even in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 I never trusted Bush, I never once believed the rationale for war against Iraq and when I saw Powell go before the UN I thought he was full of shit.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:02 pm Ted Says: War should always be an absolute last resort, not just another option. After 9/11, and Afghanistan going reasonably well at first, you had the GOP proclaiming our omnipotence, and capability to do just about anything with our military. The actual idea of knocking over Saddam and releasing the inner Jeffersonian democracy in Iraq was, and still is, a nice idea. So, John, I don't think many here will fault your intentions in what you supported. Hopefully this country will now realize that it is not omnipotent, our military can really only destroy (which is what it was designed to do, after all), and that we really needed a humbling wake-up call about these facts. I really hope we're entering an era where people here realize there are only two (with a possible third) acceptable conditions for us to go to war: 1 This country (its mainland, offland states, or territories) are under attack by a foreign aggressor.
Posted by John O under Political | Tags: Andrew Sullivan, Balloon Juice, fuck you! an honest conservative, and a dishonest, or at least painfully un-self aware conservative.
Cassidy Says: Actually, Cassidy, the Doctrine of Preemptive War is pretty well debunked by Iraq. If there were any test case which would have made it look good, it was the 2003 invasion--and it didn't. The basis of modern military doctrine is grounded in multiple things, but two of the most important are overwhelming firepower and surprise. A pre-emptive strike is nothing more than "attacking at dawn" while everyone is in their sleeping bags. Essentially, maintaining a pre-emptive strike option as part of tactical doctrine only serves to enhance your warfighting capabilities. From the example you used, you are discounting several things, the most important being that the invasion and war in Iraq was an overwhelming success militarily. The problem began with the nation building, occupation, stupid political tricks, etc. From a tactical standpoint, the pre-emptive strike did exactly what it was designed to do. The second part you mention, regarding holding the territory, I do agree with, but as noted, I'm seperating the war from the occupation. There is actually a really good book, A Tale of Two Quagmires, that discusses very concisely the relationship of public opinion and ongoing military action.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:09 pm Greg Says: John, you're a credit to bloggers everywhere. "If you took all the wrongness I generated, put it together and compacted it and processed it, there would be enough concentrated stupid to fuel three hundred years of Weekly Standard journals."
March 21st, 2008 at 7:11 pm libarbarian Says: Since you acknowledge that you were utterly wrong about virtually everything, why on earth should we believe that you all of a sudden are "right" now? I rather suspect that you still don't know shit from Shinola. Translation: "You were an idiot when you agreed with me, so why would I now credit the opinions of a man I know to be an idiot?"
March 21st, 2008 at 7:12 pm Xenos Says: While we are making confessions, it is clear that I was consistently wrong about the eight years of the Clinton presidency. I still think they were unfairly and illegaly persecuted, but their character was every bit as bad as sane Republicans said it was. Now we are in agreement about Obama, I really hope these streaks of bad judgment have come to an end.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:13 pm John D Says: From the example you used, you are discounting several things, the most important being that the invasion and war in Iraq was an overwhelming success militarily. The problem began with the nation building, occupation, stupid political tricks, etc. From a tactical standpoint, the pre-emptive strike did exactly what it was designed to do. Are you really having issues grasping the difference between "pre-emptive war" and "pre-emptive strike"?
March 21st, 2008 at 7:14 pm demimondian Says: Cassidy, you're using a different definition of doctrine than I am. You won't find a bigger fan of the notion of overwhelming force and surprise than me, and I completely agree that those worked (particularly the former, as there wasn't too much of the latter) in Iraq. The Bush Doctrine, though, was that preemptive war was a valid diplomatic tool. It may be, but not for us--we need to be motivated to no...
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