There is an excellent new book, ‘Confronting Saddam Hussein: George W. Bush and the Invasion of Iraq,’ by Melvyn P. Leffler. I strongly recommend it.
The excerpt below is the conclusion:
Twenty years have passed since “shock and awe.” Twenty years have passed since the worst foreign policy decision in American history. Twenty years have passed since the arrogance, bombast and gross incompetence of Donald Rumsfeld. Twenty years have passed since the greatest journalistic failure in American history, led by The New York Times and its leading access reporter of that era, Judith Miller. Twenty years.
The Iraq War was the most significant event of the new millennium, and it devastated America. It was a foolish and unnecessary war. Its consequences will play out over the balance of this century.
Never again.
Steve, excellent as always. I have two questions:
1. Will the right people read this book? It seems to me that the people most likely to read this book are the ones that already realized what and clusterf**k this was.
2. If you had a crystal ball, and could see what the world would have been like if those hanging chads in Florida had counted and Gore was president, how much of this would have been avoided? How different would the world be? (perhaps this could be a future post?)
I get heartsick readying about what really happened in Iraq—so many terrible acts done in the name of “democracy”. The events and revelations about the Abu Graib prison were enough to make me want to hide in shame. For the first time in my life I am “pro” war after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, and am torn between supporting the police and despising the racism of so many obvious killings by those “in blue”. It’s a confusing time for us pacifists. The world really has turned upside down. How does one deal with a “terrorist”? Undermine the cause by treating people fairly at the start. Well, there’s my Pollyanna rant for the day. Thanks for the reminder of how we often have gotten things wrong, Steve. Now, it’s back to living with as much kindness and fairness I can muster.