The idea is to blame someone else for the mess we made. We learn that little trick at a very early age. I'm sure you can remember either being the accused or the accuser in a multitude of incidents as a child. We have all tried to deflect blame. However, as we grow older and mature we learn that everyone makes mistakes and honesty is an important value. We learn that if we make a mistake we should acknowledge it, learn from it and move on. Fortunately, most of our messes are small, impact on very few people and can most often be easily rectified. However, when you are the President of the United States and you create a false case to get the U.S. into an unnecessary war, your actions impact on millions and it is not easily rectified. In fact, those actions unnecessarily cost tens of thousand of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. George W. Bush and his war-mongering cheerleader Dick Cheney, along with his loyal band of NeoCons, blundered into perhaps the worst foreign policy disaster in the history of this country. It is no wonder then that the very same group is trying every which way to blame President Obama for the current Iraqi catastrophe and use an old childhood trick to blame the mess on someone else.
It is startling to listen to the words coming out of the mouths of the architects of our war with Iraq. First we have to remember some of the things this brilliant group told the American people. Remember they told us that Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons. We also remember that no evidence of any nuclear, chemical or bacterial weapons was ever found. This was to be the rationale for the war. Why than , if they weren't found, did we still go to war? Then we were told when we did invade we would be received as liberators and that the war would be a "cakewalk". Tell the parents, wives, husbands , sons and daughters of killed and severely wounded American soldiers about that "cakewalk". Finally, to listen to them, one would think that the war was a complete victory for the United States until the Obama Administration came in and messed it up. The fact that ignorance of Iraqi political realities, cultural and sectarian hatreds and history dictated American policy is ignored. This ignorance created a situation that spiraled out of control and foretold the current nightmare. When the Bush Administration disbanded the Sunni-led army and the Sunni-led government without a transition plan for equal Sunni and Shia representation it created a leadership vacuum, destroyed government services and sowed the seeds for a renewal of sectarian violence. When it allowed itself to be manipulated by Maliki's Shia-led government, it further antagonized the Sunnis. Finally, George W. Bush signed an agreement with the Maliki government to remove all American troops by the end off 2011. without leaving a transition force in place. President Obama and his team worked hard to negotiate the opportunity to leave a small force of some 10,000 troops in place to aid in security and training, however the Maliki government refused to negotiate a plan that would not place American soldiers at the mercy of the Iraqi Justice System. No American President would now, or ever has left troops in a foreign country under those circumstances.
In short, the Bush Administration left the Obama Administration a mess in Iraq. America has become war-weary and views the Iraq War as a mistake. They view it as a Republican mistake. It is not surprising, then, that the GOP is working hard to thrust blame for the war on the current administration. They are hoping that war-weary Americans will find any move made by Obama to somehow ameliorate the current crisis as distasteful, allowing them to shift responsibility. They are not just sitting around waiting for Obama to move, they are pushing every which way for him to use some form of force in the current crisis. They, of course, hope that any such move will make matters worse. Does that sound cynical? Well, just remember who you're dealing with. This is the same group who got us into a war for no discernible reason. This is the same group who cost this country dearly in blood and treasure. Yet, they walked away wealthier and convinced of their correctness. Am I cynical of their motives? You Bet!
Cross-posted on rationalpolitics.co