Reply #36: Kerry didn't vote to invade [View All]

[kiahzero]

Claiming that he did is deceptive.

I also disagree with your fundamental premise that war can never be "done right" - this implies that war must always be "done wrong." Let's ignore for now the fact that there must exist a correct way to manage a war.

The person who said this (I read elsewhere it was Atrios) made a valid point - if the Bush team weren't completely incompetent, good could have come out of this. The sanction regime was rightly condemned by many - it hurt innocent Iraqis while entrenching Hussein. Meanwhile, if we lifted all sanctions and allowed Hussein back into the world community, he almost certainly would have become a threat. There were two options - reforming the sanctions (a questionable proposition - it's very difficult to get economic sanctions to only affect the ruling class, rather than the general population) and somehow removing the Hussein regime.

If I recall correctly, Kerry's position was undermining Hussein by supporting groups within Iraq - a reasonable plan, since it would simply be hastening an Iraqi effort to free themselves from Hussein. Now, that's not what ended up happening, because Bush wanted war. However, it's not unreasonable to do the best in the circumstances you find yourself in - if the occupation had been handled properly, things in Iraq would almost certainly be better now, and it's possible that Iraq might end up being better off after the invasion than before.

However, because of the incompetence of the Bush Administration, the best we can hope for now is Iraq NOT turning into a failed state terrorist haven.