I guess this whole Iraq war was a mistake eh?
No weapons of mass destruction to be found... It was a victory to get rid of Saddam and his regime, I suppose. Hopefully the elected government will be able to govern. That remains to be seen. I wonder how many of those people who currently criticize the war were critical of it before the decision to go to war though. It's a lot easier in hindsight. My biggest complaints are:
1. The war was not conducted very well, but considering how little I know about military compaigns (notwithstanding plenty of games of Risk, Axis & Allies and Starcraft), I can't really say very much about how it should have been done. I've heard that they should have had a larger ground force, etc. I'll leave that to the military minds.
2. Bad intelligence. We were informed that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. That was wrong. But whose fault was that? I suppose the ultimate responsibility falls on the big guy in the White House, but the axe should probably fall on someone lower down. Pretty big mistake, this one. It's not totally clear to me where the blame should lie though.
3. Bad publicity. That torture scandal was a huge mistake. I'm thinking that much worse things were probably done in Vietnam, but I could be wrong about that. In the current times, the public tolerance for this sort of thing is a lot lower, though. And information is much more readily available.
I remember that at the beginning, I was in favor of the war. Knowing what I know now, I wish it had never happened. Did anybody out there expect these dire consequences before the decision was actually made? If so, congratulate yourself. It's too bad there weren't more of you in the government at the time...
10 comments:
FRANK! You sound like an American! 95% of the world and the United Nations were against the Iraq War before it started. There were unprecedented protests all over the world! I mean, how do Americans justify this War on Terror when your government are the worst offenders! Not to mention that Saddam Hussein wasn't even responsible for 9/11! Do Americans even talk about Osama Bin Laden anymore? And he's not even Iraqi! The power of the US media machine at work! There are a ton of great documentaries on the subject - did you see Fahrenheit 9/11, or what about Bush's Brain - there are so many that will give you a view, that isn't part of the US military machine (cuz yes, it is all related!)
Hey shellz.
Yes i watched fahrenheit 9/11 (it was OK, but I thought Bowling for Columbine was a lot better). I guess this blog post was mostly aimed at the US government who seemed to back the war at the time (both democrats and republicans). I remember that there wasn't a lot of dissent at the time from congress, etc. If they really wanted to, they could have stopped it. Correct me if I'm wrong...
To continue the last comment, I was mostly trying to comment on the fact that all of these Americans are currently criticizing Bush and the war heavily (his approval ratings are horrible right now). It's just surprising since they seemed to be in favor when the war started, and only changed their tune when things didn't go their way. As far as justifying the war on terror, I'll have to make a new post about that later. Are you of the opinion that the war against the Taliban was justified ?
As far as the US media machine goes, I don't really watch the news any more or read newspapers. The only news I get is from online and from listening to NPR (which I think is mostly balanced.) BTW, is being an American that bad? Just curious. I did say that the Iraq war was a mistake at the beginning. Shellz, you clearly fall into the category of people who opposed the war from the beginning, which means that this post wasn't really meant for you I guess. Anyway, good discussion is always welcome! I haven't seen Bush's Brain by the way. My view on Bush: He made many mistakes. He's not part of an evil conspiracy and he is not a nefarious mastermind. He's not a brilliant leader. He might be a puppet; that's the part I'm not sure about...
There are many theories, however according to the latest national poll, more than 60 percent of Americans assumed Iraq must have possessed WMA...despite the UN inspectors' negative report. I believe that before the war, majority of Americans must have thought Iraq as a major threat, next to "intangible" Osama.
I see your point, Frank. There was enough support to go to the war in the US, despite the opposition from rest of the world. Now, they cannot find WMA, so voices of those who opposed the war got louder...many Americans are also 'changing their tune'.
Shellz, I assume all this documentaries reflect Democrats' idea (I watched only F9/11), who
supported the war in the beginning.
It's not fair to say it's all Bush's fault. Congress made decision and Democrats agreed. I heard that John Kerry was one of the strong supporters for the war.
I agreed that US media manipulates many people's views, however they show both extremely biased democratic view and extremely biased republican view. Both of them are nonsense to me.
I'm against war in any form...it's a whatever you resist, persists kind of attitude. When you put energy into something (even if it's a "war on drugs" or a "war on poverty") you only increase the energy in that area. Instead of getting less drugs or less poverty, you get more. It's the divine law of attraction. Like attracts like.
I agree Kay...I don't think it is all Bush's fault - and yes, had Kerry been elected, he probably would've gone to war too. And I don't have a solution either, it's just so sad and complicated.
Hmm shellz. That's interesting. You oppose the war on drugs or war on poverty? Do you mean only a military war? How about Nancy Reagen's 'just say no' policy in the 80s which you could call an ideological war. Surely you must allow for political movements to occur? Also, some wars I think are unavoidable. (ie: World War II). Or at least you could only avoid them by giving up something that I would refuse to give up like freedom or what have you.
Frank, you raise a good point. I told-you-so's with 20-20 hindsight, as gratifying as they must feel, are just nonsense.
Just to clarify, I think there were a lot of people who opposed the war (including myself). The reasons given were that no WMDs had been found, and/or that there was no UN co-operation. To say after the fact, "see, what'd I tell you, now you've spawned a new crop of islamic fundamentalist terrorists", that's something a politician would do. (or Michael Moore...)
Thank you Thomas. So did you like any of Moore's movies? I thought Bowling for Columbine was very good. Fahrenheit 9/11 I thought was pretty good but I didn't like some things I saw there.
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