I have to confess that I did not watch much of the Iraq War debate. I cannot stand it: Enough of the stupidity and idiocies already. Here are my two simple observations:
(1) Democrats (and now more and more Republicans) have long complained that Bush "botched" the Iraq War. This is stupid and dishonest! It is not how the war is handled that matters, it is the decision to go to war! Once we invade Iraq, the quagmire we are now in is the only logical conclusion. This was an unprovoked war. It was illegitimate and illegal. It did not have the popular support in the region. Let’s face the reality: because of our long standing support for Israel and many repressive regimes in the region, Americans are widely hated in the Middle East. Even Bush Sr. was wise enough to understand that and resisted the temptation to go all the way to Baghdad in the first Iraq War. (Those who claim that terrorists hate us because of our freedom and way of life are absurd.) Thus for Democrats like Senator Clinton to claim that President Bush and the Republicans should take sole responsibilities for the Iraq quagmire is laughable. She, together with then prominent Democratic Senator Lieberman, was among the loudest drum-beater for the Iraq War. In fact, her position might even be to the right of many Republicans. It is politically convenient to wash hand now, but it does mean that it is right!
(2)It is often said, by many Republicans and some Democrats, that if we don’t take our fight to terrorists, they will swarm our shores to take fights to us. Well, this is again a politically popular argument in this country, but it is obviously racist. Let’s see. By conservative estimates, more than half million Iraqis have been killed violently since the Iraq War and more than two millions have been displaced. What crimes did these people commit? Now because we don’t want to get attacked in America, they should suffer? Also, many service persons killed in Iraq were killed by terrorists. Why is dying in a foreign country less tragic than in one’s own country?
By ordering the Iraq War, President Bush might have committed war crimes. Those who authorized and actively supported the decision (such as Senators Clinton and Lieberman) were his accomplices.