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via Attaturk
In today's attempt at an ass-saving do-gooder lecture, Friedman, while admitting indirectly that the decision to go into Iraq was a disaster waiting to happen continues the "clap louder" defense of saying "it can still be saved".
His opening paragraph ...
Conservatives don't want to talk about it because, with a few exceptions, they think their job is just to applaud whatever the Bush team does.
Fair enough, but then this:
Liberals don't want to talk about Iraq because, with a few exceptions, they thought the war was wrong and deep down don't want the Bush team to succeed.
The latter, of course, is the defense that will be writ large by the Republicans as the entirety of their ill-conceived plan reaches the critical mass of complete failure. "It was because the liberals didn't clap loud enough".
Kiss my ass.
From its conception, to its planning, its selling, its implementation, reimplementation, redefinition, re-reimplementation, reorganinazation, and ultimate its retreat, this has been entirely a CONSERVATIVE PRODUCTION.
But here is a fact Tom. We liberals take no joy in being right, because you don't celebrate being right when its evidence is more than 1,700 Americans dead, tens of thousands wounded, as many as 100,000 Iraqis dead; with more than $300 Billion in costs eventually going down the toilet, and our Nation's reputation in tatters we liberals find little to celebrate.
No we get ANGRY!
Most simpletons would have difficulty conceiving this, which is why you may not grasp it. It is easier to hold faux victory rallies than to hold faux wakes.
It's hard to generate a lot of enthusiasm when you were right about disaster.
Yeah, the warm glow of "I told you so" isn't terribly comforting in these situations I'm afraid.
In today's attempt at an ass-saving do-gooder lecture, Friedman, while admitting indirectly that the decision to go into Iraq was a disaster waiting to happen continues the "clap louder" defense of saying "it can still be saved".
His opening paragraph ...
Conservatives don't want to talk about it because, with a few exceptions, they think their job is just to applaud whatever the Bush team does.
Fair enough, but then this:
Liberals don't want to talk about Iraq because, with a few exceptions, they thought the war was wrong and deep down don't want the Bush team to succeed.
The latter, of course, is the defense that will be writ large by the Republicans as the entirety of their ill-conceived plan reaches the critical mass of complete failure. "It was because the liberals didn't clap loud enough".
Kiss my ass.
From its conception, to its planning, its selling, its implementation, reimplementation, redefinition, re-reimplementation, reorganinazation, and ultimate its retreat, this has been entirely a CONSERVATIVE PRODUCTION.
But here is a fact Tom. We liberals take no joy in being right, because you don't celebrate being right when its evidence is more than 1,700 Americans dead, tens of thousands wounded, as many as 100,000 Iraqis dead; with more than $300 Billion in costs eventually going down the toilet, and our Nation's reputation in tatters we liberals find little to celebrate.
No we get ANGRY!
Most simpletons would have difficulty conceiving this, which is why you may not grasp it. It is easier to hold faux victory rallies than to hold faux wakes.
It's hard to generate a lot of enthusiasm when you were right about disaster.
Yeah, the warm glow of "I told you so" isn't terribly comforting in these situations I'm afraid.
no subject
I guess it depends on your definition of "compelling."
I've elaborated at some length in earlier entries (look around March 2003) why I supported the decision to invade Iraq, and I accept that there was a valid (but to me, unpersuasive) argument to remain at the status quo ante.
In any event, there are U.S. troops in Iraq now. What should be done with them?
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I have to admit that a part of is wondering why liberals who opposed the war from the start are constantly asked this question. It's kind of like asking, "Well sure you didn't make the mess, and were in fact wildly opposed to the actions that led to the mess in the first place, but don't you have some responsibility to help clean it up?" Ultimately it would've been nice if people had stopped to think about the repercussions of our actions before we started this Operation Righteous Vengeance, but...
To be honest I don't think there is a good way out of this situation at present, we've just mishandled it so badly from the start. I think it would help to stop labeling anyone with a negative outlook on the war's progress as a traitor, or trying to imply that they're against the troops and for the terrorists. It'd be nice to start listening to people who actually understand the country, the ethnic and religious groups, their history of interaction, etc. even if they don't tell us what we want to hear. It'd also be nice to roll back some of those retarded tax cuts and use some of that money to properly equip and arm our troops. Or perhaps we could try a little harder to track down those billions that just went missing in Iraq, that'd be cool too.
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no subject
Heh. Whereas I tend to wonder if I helped fund new gold plated bathroom fixtures at Haliburton HQ... ;)