I know that in the world of 24 hour news, this is becoming old. But I couldn’t resist throwing this in. After all, it is not just Cheney who is still claiming that going into Iraq was a good idea and that the current violence is all Obama’s fault:
But the real reason I’m posting this is to get you to go read this interesting article that presents evidence that the current violence in Iraq is actually by design! In fact, splintering various Arab countries and getting Islamic factions to fight against each other was the plan, which was promoted by hawkish neo-cons including Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, John Bolton, and even Dick Cheney, and by hawks in Israel as a way to keep their enemies weak.
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It’ an intresting article for sure, but somewhat hard to buy. First, it starts with the theory that an Administration that did almost nothing correctly has planned this result all along.
Second, I don’t actually buy that chaos ad infinitum works for an imperial power (this is the only piece of evidence that Bush et al may have done this on purpose). Divide and conquer, certainly, but no empire wants chaos after the conquest, this is why the Macedonians, Romans, Spanish and British built up infrastructure after their conquests. At that point I couldn’t help but think of the “what have the Romans ever done for us?” bit in Monty Python’s The Life of Brian. I’m in no way suggesting the people of Iraq have a similar “except for the bridges, schools, clean water, law enforcement… what has the US done for us?” moment, which is why the Bush Administration was garbage at empire building while Romans were quite good at it (for a while).
Third: That Map. I get that we are painting neocons as evil and ignorant and blinded by their ideals and/or ingenious masterminds, but realizing that map is completely ridiculous. Maybe you could see that as some combination of realizing US strategic goals while undoing some of the horribly contrived borders from when the British Empire was falling apart, but you’d also have to look at it as completely alienating every ally (save maybe the Kurds and Yemen) that the US can claim in the area.
I just don’t see it. If this was the Bush admin’s plan the entire time, why negotiate the withdrawal of US troops? Wasn’t the point to create some sort of oil colony? Wouldn’t that require stability? Isn’t it far more likely that the administration that mismanaged everything from natural disasters to the economy to the firing of US Attorneys was simply incompetent? That instead of having an intimate understanding of the region’s ethnic tensions in fact believed they could create a western democracy in a region that had no experience with such a system? I’m completely willing to believe that Bush and those around/behind him were up to some pretty evil stuff, but it would take a lot to convince me that this was all planned. Particularly to ensure a state of affairs that doesn’t seem to benefit our interests in the region (or even at home) at all.
I think it goes without saying that it’s a conversation starter though!
I don’t see any conflict between the Bush administration being incompetent and them wanting chaos. After all, they were pretty good at creating chaos. They were also good at winning elections. They just weren’t very good at governing (or more likely, just not the least bit interested, since government was the enemy).
But I completely agree with your last line — thanks for developing the conversation.
Iraq Study Group Report.
And, seriously, how long should we have occupied Iraq? Until Israel ceases its occupation of Palestine? Until all Middle East countries forsake their religious establishments in favor of secularism? Hasn’t happened in the U.S., yet.
“I don’t think Americans are concerned if we’re there for one hundred years or a thousand years or ten thousand years.” – Sen. John McCain
Whatever Obama’s failings may be, at least he’s no McCain. What a disaster it would have been if that hothead had been elected President.