Originally posted by Hangtime
Look.. we keep trying to 'excuse' the war in Iraq.. that's not abnormal. We'd all like to think our national policy is based on nobel goals. But, honestly; is that why our government got jiggy with Saddam?
Simple answer as to why we were 'jiggy' is IRAN. When Saddam was attacking our enemy, we didn't mind and helped. The enemy of our enemy is our friend. Not always the most enlightened policy, but it works.
Should we not have helped the Russians against Hitler because of Stalin? In 41-45, Stalin was seen as the lesser threat so we helped the Russians, later he became our enemy again as our national policy changed and he was seen as the greater threat. Stalin eventually killed many more people than Hitler killed, so does that somehow make the US government responsible for those deaths? I don't think so.
Given what we know about Castro and Cuba, was JFK wrong to not back the Bay of Pigs invasion? Given the history of North Korea, its' starving people and nuclear threat, was Truman wrong to not let Macarthur bomb the Chinese and perhaps win the Korean war? Our hindsight on these events doesn't mean we are somehow smarter than they were.
Hindsight is always 20-20 - and whining about a policy AFTER action taken doesn't work out as planned doesn't indicate enlighted leadership or greater intelligence. 'No plan survives contact with the enemy' - Senators and Congressmen who stand up in front of the cameras now telling us they were 'deceived' or that they wouldn't have voted for the Iraq war if they knew then what they know now are (IMHO) just pandering idiots.
Leaders are often called on to make decisions based on imperfect data. If you're the POTUS, you are responsible for and your decisions will affect a lot of lives. You look at the threats and make the call. Given 9/11 and the intelligence they had on Iraq, it was hard NOT to go to war, and let us remember the vast majority of politicians from BOTH parties were all in favor at the time.
EagleDNY
$.02
