But we were lied to. It’s not about what we believed. I agreed with the conventional wisdom that Saddam probably had WMD’s, but I don’t think he ever posed an immediate threat to our safety the way al Qaeda does now. In order to try to convince Americans that Saddam was either (a) a bigger threat that al Qaeda or (b) associated with al Qaeda, the president and his administration lied. They lied to the American people, they lied to the U.N., and they lied to Congress. In the past year there has been so much time and money spent on this Iraq war that there have been substantial cutbacks in the effort to keep us safe from the people who have already attacked us.

In the past year, we’ve been told again and again that the president and his administration knew that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. What this latest report shows is that he didn’t know shit. Bush may have believed that Iraq was a threat, but, unlike may of his programs, warfare should never be “faith-based”.

Were we lied to? I repeat my insistence that every credible person believed there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The only people who didn’t believe they were there were Green Party members who would salt their fries with Anthrax just to prove that Iraq was safe.

Need I bring up:

Iraqi national resentment, lack of cooperation from the locals. Not to mention the fact that the robber barons we’ve placed in charge of the reconstruction can’t do anything right.

The total abandonment (again) of Afghanistan, which is slowly turning into an anarchist narco state and rape utopia, kind of like before the Taliban took over. And it’s doing this in spite of Bush’s repeated promises that we would act differently than last time.

The fact that, no matter how you slice things, we were lied to brazenly about why to get involved in Iraq. If you’re going to hold Clinton accountable to the blow job thing, it’s far worse to ignore the lying, dissembling, name calling and utter disregard that characterized the bushies in the lead up to this war.

The international support immediately after 911 and during Afghanistan has been utterly eviscerated. This isn’t because those Dirty Euros hate America, it’s because they fear our, no, not our, the republican’s president.

The manipulation of public opinion by shamelessly using wartime resources to promote the Bush agenda (Jet landing, anyone?). If Clinton did that, he would have been impeached inside of two weeks.

Finally, Fuckface Bin Ladin is still on the loose. What the hell is that about?

….

If Iraq has been a short term failure, the Bush Foreign policy program is a long run disaster, and nothing, not even the unlikely event that Iraq ends up not turning into a theocracy, will change that. This isn’t being unfair or intellectually dishonest, this is simply looking at reality and admitting that we’re fucked. And we didn’t have to be fucked. If the Bush boys had listened to reason and acted, in bush’s words, with Humility, we might be in a much better position.

1)our troops are committed and are dying 2)the war was divisive for our country and the world 3)a brutal regime has been toppled 4)a sponsor of terrorism has been uprooted 5)we have an opportunity to create a society that does not foment terrorism.

I think we’ve accepted a short term loss for a long term gain. I think the benefits clearly outweigh the losses.

The rate of civilian deaths, murders, and the deaths of our troops is bad enough, but things are getting worse all the time. You do realize that the moment we leave, Iraq is going to be Iran II: Iran Goes West.

We were specifically lied to about our reasons for making war. This wasn’t about freeing the people of Iraq until it became apparent that we might not be facing at a credible threat after all. oops. And besides, if we’re so into freeing people and helping like, why did we not get involved in Liberia when they were begging us to? Why haven’t we done more for North Korea?

Furthermore, Saddam is still alive, Osama is still alive, and the terrorism issue isn’t going to go away. By every single measure, this entire exercise has been bungled, and now we, with the lives of our soldiers, potential terror victims, and with our economy, are the ones paying for it. We have incredible expenses that are being paid for on credit since the only thing the Bush team can come up with is more tax cuts.

Oh, and have you paid attention to Afghanistan lately? We’re fucking it up there too. Outside of Kabul, it’s pretty much the same as it was under the Taliban, except where it’s total anarchy.

And oh yeah, this wasn’t fought over WMD fucking programs. We are specifically told that there was an immediate, credible threat, and everyone who demanded more proof was ridiculed. We were right, and this situation is a mess.

Anyway, this was a mistake, and no matter how nice it was that we “Got rid” of Saddam, we haven’t actually succeeded, and things aren’t better there, and the people currently in charge are not the right people for the job.