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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forumsfrom the New Yorker - "The Iraq Mess: Place Blame Where It Is Deserved"
June 13, 2014
The Iraq Mess: Place Blame Where It Is Deserved
Posted by John Cassidy
With Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city, firmly under the control of a jihadi group so extreme that it was denounced by Al Qaeda; with government forces battling for Tikrit, the birthplace of Saddam Hussein; and with the religious leader of Iraqs Shiites issuing a call to arms at Fridays prayers, we have reached the moment that skeptics of the 2003 United States invasion warned about all along: the implosion of the country, and, possibly, the entire region. The state of Iraq is in imminent collapse, Faisal Istrabadi, formerly a senior Iraqi diplomat, said on Thursday.
<snip>
Elsewhere in Washington, the blame game has already begun. This is the education of Barack Obama, but its coming at a very high cost to the Syrian people to the Iraqi people, to the American national interest, Doug Feith, the Under-secretary of Defense for Policy from 2001 to 2005, told Politico. The President didnt take seriously the warnings of what would happen if we withdrew and he liked the political benefits of being able to say that were completely out. Senator John McCain, whom the President telephoned on Friday, has called on Obama to fire his entire national-security team, claiming, Could all of this have been avoided? The answer is absolutely yes.
McCain is right; it could have been avoided. If, in the aftermath of 9/11, President George W. Bush had treated the arguments of Feith, McCain, and other advocates of the Iraq War with the disdain they deserved, we (and the Iraqis) wouldnt be where we are today.
<snip>
The Iraq invasion and occupation was ill-conceived, ill-executed, and ill-fated. It had terrible consequences not just for Iraq but for many other countries. It illustrated the limits of American military powerthe opposite of what it was intended to doand it helped accomplish what Osama bin Laden could never have achieved on his own: drawing the United States and its allies into an open-ended global battle with militant Islam. When you hear Feith and other architects of the Iraq invasion criticizing Obama for cutting and running, it is well to remember that.
Kennah
(14,234 posts)And so it goes...
Benton D Struckcheon
(2,347 posts)It's worse than that. Baghdad won't fall; the Shiites are the majority after all. What you're looking at here is a long bloody conflict. It ain't 1975; it's more like 1963 with Obama in JFK's position. Having been handed Iraq and having withdrawn, he is now being asked to get back in.
Unfortunately every time anything happens anywhere in the world it's still the US everyone looks around for. So let's tally up the world situation:
- Ukraine is every day calling for more help from the West, which is spelled U S when you get down to it.
- Thailand just had a coup,
- Libya's fallen apart,
- Syria continues to be a disaster,
- the Central African Republic's got troubles,
- as does Mali
- and Nigeria; in short, the international situation is desperate, as usual.
- and we just sent an aircraft carrier into the Gulf in case the "military option" needs to be exercised in Iraq. It's named the George H. W. Bush. You cannot make this stuff up.
I hope no one ever names a carrier after Dubya; the poor thing might sink and need to be lifted from the ocean floor with a giant tarp.
Kennah
(14,234 posts)Too late. It was called RMS Titanic.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)Damn bridge would surely fall. CIA George H Bush pushed for Saddam to be in Iraq. He fired off Desert Storm and George W invaded Iraq. Saddam kept his finger hold on Iran. Now we have major problems with Iraq and Iran. Humpty Dumpty has fallen off of the wall and can't be put back. The blame needs to placed squarely on the Bushes' shoulders.
Hekate
(90,616 posts)elias49
(4,259 posts)sometimes what it takes is a dictator to keep the trains running on time. This mess is worse than anything Saddam could have conjured up.
I still remember the first night when CNN showed Baghdad lighting up. I couldn't believe my eyes.
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)that started this whole decade plus of death and injury.
Iliyah
(25,111 posts)Bush Adm cut taxes for the rich. No money for two wars, and they were never put on the books. Today, we the middle class and poor are paying dearly for that bullshit.
Heard on KNX Los Angeles, Bob S recording kept saying that the GOP are divided but "will" make gains and/or probably take control of congress - WHAT kind of bull shit is this, and no, they are wrong just like their polling.
Uncle Joe
(58,328 posts)Thanks for the thread, scarletwoman.
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)It gives a very succinct overview of how this mess came to be. The invasion was bad enough in itself, but on top of the original inexcusable agression was piled one boneheaded move after another - all leading, inevitably, to the situation we see today.
Uncle Joe
(58,328 posts)was a "What if the corporate media" hadn't worked so diligently to saturate the air waves and news print with pro Iraq War propaganda, all based on lies to brainwash millions of Americans?"
However, overall I thought it was a great, and balanced article.
Peace to you, scarletwoman.
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)The corporate media is the sea in which we all swim. And like a fish unaware of the water surrounding it, I hadn't noticed that particular lack of notice.
Cha
(297,029 posts)Last edited Sun Jun 15, 2014, 03:18 AM - Edit history (1)
"McCain is right; it could have been avoided. If, in the aftermath of 9/11, President George W. Bush had treated the arguments of Feith, McCain, and other advocates of the Iraq War with the disdain they deserved, we (and the Iraqis) wouldnt be where we are today."
"The Iraq invasion and occupation was ill-conceived, ill-executed, and ill-fated. It had terrible consequences not just for Iraq but for many other countries. It illustrated the limits of American military powerthe opposite of what it was intended to doand it helped accomplish what Osama bin Laden could never have achieved on his own: drawing the United States and its allies into an open-ended global battle with militant Islam. When you hear Feith and other architects of the Iraq invasion criticizing Obama for cutting and running, it is well to remember that."
Oh, we do.. Remember the Big ol Cans of WhoopAss we had posted on DU back in the day? To signify what would Happen if bush Bombed Iraq like a fucking idiot? I do.
thanks sw
fireflysky46
(224 posts)mnhtnbb
(31,381 posts)Why and how the mess in Iraq came to be needs to NEVER be forgotten.
fireflysky46
(224 posts)mnhtnbb
(31,381 posts)or in the "urgency", it will be forgotten and repeated.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)and whitewash the truth about how Iraq came to be in the state it's in.
We must never be content to let lying liars distort the truth about the debacle they were complicit in creating.
ljm2002
(10,751 posts)...but I must disagree with your statement.
Right now the Republicans are trying to pin blame for the Iraq debacle on Obama and his administration. Given their skill at molding the narrative, we need to pay attention when they start stuff like this. It would be foolish in the extreme to let such a narrative go un-answered.
My motto on stuff like this is: Don't start shit, and don't take shit.
Translated to the current situation: don't start the blame game, and don't let the other side pin it on you, either. Especially when the blame belongs SQUARELY on the shoulders of GWB and his administration.
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)Fight back with the facts - always!
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Well done, scarletwoman!
Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)alsame
(7,784 posts)call McCain on Friday? I hope he told him to STFU, but I doubt it.
Amonester
(11,541 posts)tell mcinsane he still is a liar.
GreatCaesarsGhost
(8,584 posts)General Tommy Frank's opinion of Doug Feith.
Solly Mack
(90,762 posts)malaise
(268,844 posts)Thanks
Response to scarletwoman (Original post)
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