From F5, (Wichita):
June 26, 2014
The World Cup is in full swing now, and I like to spend
several hours a day watching the amazing display of athletic prowess. Those
guys really have game. I'm sure I would be even more a fan if I had played the
game or even just understood the rules. Still, I love it.
As much as I am into the games, however, the specter of Iraq
keeps shouldering its way into my consciousness. Reports of internal warfare,
religious animosity and political discord just throw me into the Wayback
Machine and names like Kirkuk, Mosul and Fallujah threaten to haunt my dreams.
It is a mess. It may have always been a mess, but it surely is one now. And
part of it is our fault.
When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, he needed his butt
kicked. George H.W. Bush, Stormin' Norman Schwartzkof and American air, land
and sea forces did it. But Bush I, no matter how much he loathed Saddam and his
regime, knew that worse conditions were possible. He declined to invade Iran
and end the regime.
No one ever accused Bush II of being as smart as his daddy
(or his momma for that matter). But Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld
convinced him that his daddy made a mistake in leaving Saddam in power. They
pushed W. to the point of invading Iraq.
The "evidence" of weapons of mass destruction was
enough to convince George W. that an invasion to depose Hussein would be a good
thing and also an easy thing. They believed that the war would be short and
relatively painless, that it would be welcomed by the Iraqi people and paid for
out of oil revenue. Some good people were taken in by these arguments. Some
good men were sent to do the work.
Of course, the invasion was botched. Not by the troops but
by the administration. The Iraqi army and police were dismantled. A new army
was built by American advisors using American equipment at a cost of upward of
$23 billion. After 10 years, a new government was established under
Western democratic principles. By 2012, the Obama administration (which had
inherited a war it didn't like) was ready to pull our troops out except for a
small "training" force and rapid response capability.
For the rest click here.
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