"History books may not forgive Bush, Blair for Iraq actions"

[Bluebear]

..."Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof — the smoking gun — that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud," said the president, and the Republican columnists dutifully cranked out the requisite fear-mongering. By the time the Pentagon unleashed the first of its "shock and awe" air strikes against Baghdad, more than 80 per cent of Americans were convinced that the war was a necessary act of self-defence on the part of the U.S.-led coalition...



By July 2, 2003, the first signs of an emerging insurgency surfaced in the form of daring daylight rocket-propelled grenade attacks against U.S. convoys. With eight American soldiers killed in a single bloody 48-hour period, Bush uttered his now infamous "Bring ’em on" challenge to the Iraqi resistance fighters. As history has shown, the insurgents took Bush’s words seriously...


So let’s fast forward to the present to see where we’re at. Three years and five months into the occupation, 2,700 U.S. soldiers have been killed and another 24,000 seriously wounded at a cost of $400 billion. The insurgency is tying down more American soldiers in Iraq than were initially deployed to defeat Saddam. The so-called elected Iraqi parliament issues its edicts from inside the U.S.-protected Green Zone, and the Iraqi security forces remain unable to operate independently with any success. In recent weeks, sectarian violence has reached a record high, and the term civil war is being used on a regular basis to describe the clashes between Sunni and Shiite forces.
As for those WMDs, nothing was ever found to support the pre-war intelligence dossiers of the U.S. and Britain. Former U.S. deputy secretary of defence Paul Wolfowitz has subsequently admitted the exaggeration of Saddam’s capabilities was a PR plan to gain support for the war. Back in July 2003, British Prime Minister Tony Blair basically admitted the same thing. Promising a brighter future for Iraq in the days to come, Blair predicted, "History will forgive us."

However, when it is finally time for the victors to write the history books, given the present situation in Iraq, I’m not so sure that Bush and Blair will be forgiven.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Opinion/516663.html

[gatorboy]

1. Depends on who writes them... n/t

[Swamp Rat]

2. I'll be sure to get a history degree too.

:)

[Joe for Clark]

3. It won't matter who writes them.

This is the single dumbest thing the US has EVER done.

I mean Dumb with a capital D.

Joe

[Warpy]

4. Well, not if they're written by total morons

I think we can delete that "may." This is a foreign policy disaster unequaled in the modern world, and I can think of few parallels in the ancient world. The ancients had no rapid communication, so they can be forgiven a little more easily for accepting lies and getting it all wrong.

Historians (if there are any left when this madness has run its course) WILL condemn Blivet and Blair for the hideous miscalculation and waste of lives and destruction of a country that was no longer a threat to anyone.

I just wonder if historians will twig to Israel's role in all of it. After all, this debacle did Israel a great favor. It did nothing for the US or the UK and in fact put both countries in grave danger for the foreseeable future.

[mzteris]

5. read'em and weep....

Florida law bans different interpretations of history in schools...

Florida apparently is intent that only one view of U.S. - the sanitized, manifest destiny B.S. that has historically been taught in school - continues to be taught in schools. Jeb Bush is a slimy pigbeast. - my commentary. Now the story:

Published on Monday, July 17, 2006 by CommonDreams.org
Florida's Fear of History: New Law Undermines Critical Thinking
by Robert Jensen


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1656662&mesg_id=1656662

[Joe for Clark]

6. There is no one interpretation of history, really.

And I don't know for a fact what will be written 20 years from now.

I will say, guys I knew that graduated from Florida schools, probably couldn't find Iraq on a map.

SO, maybe some of what you say is true - but it SURE ain't true in California.

We really can find Iraq on a map -

Unfortunately.

joe