Lessons not learned from Iraq

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It is not often that I agree with an opinion by Tucson Citizen editor Mark Evans, but this is one of those occasions on which we can agree. The Iraq War will shame the nation forever – Caveat Lector:

On Dec. 15 the Iraq War officially ended. There’s a reason there is no rejoicing in the street, no parades, no banner headlines proclaiming VI Day.

The war was the most shameful escapade in American history.

We must all wear the cloak of shame. It’s all of our faults. America is a democracy and we let this happen. We held no one accountable. In fact, we rewarded with reelection those responsible for the most colossal, most egregious intelligence failure in American history.

There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. There was no conspiracy between al Qaida and Iraq. There was no clear and present danger to the country.

At best, we sent young men and women into harm’s way on a mistake, at worst, on a lie.

Yet rather than outrage, there’s a shrug of the shoulders. We’ve even refused to pay for it. We’ve insisted on tax cuts rather than a tax increase to pay for the $1 trillion cost of the war. Apparently, we needed the tax savings to buy a new flat screen TV or the maintenance fee on a timeshare. War? What war?

The best most of us could do about the war was to put a magnetic yellow ribbon on the back of our cars and trucks because you have to support the troops; they were just following order after all.

Perhaps. But the crass and craven men who gave them those orders had neither the honor nor the courage to admit their mistakes. No one was fired or drummed out of public service forever for their incompetence. There is no honor in American government anymore, only corrupt Machiavellian ambition.

But blame and shame cannot lie solely with the Bush administration and the Congress.

No, this is the shame of a nation.

We’re a democracy. We let this happen.

Shame on all of us.

Have we learned our lesson from the Iraq war? The answer, sadly, is a resounding "no."

The Three Stooges who were the Washington, D.C. patrons of Ahmed Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress (the organization that provided the false intelligence to bait he U.S. into war)  — Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Joseph Lieberman — were all reelected during the course of the misbegotten war. John McCain was even made his party's nominee for president in 2008.

These Neocon war mongers were all vociferously upset that the U.S. will not continue to occupy Iraq forever— despite the SOFA Agreement negotiated by President George W. Bush to leave Iraq by December 31, 2011, and carried out by President Barack Obama. These Neocon war mongers are now advocating for the next Neocon misadventure — a war with Iran.

Each of the Republican candidates for president, with the lone exception of Ron Paul, have adopted the Neocon position on foreign policy and are advocating for a war with Iran. Willard "Mittens" Romney has signed up many of the Neocon advisers to the Bush-Cheney regime that lied this nation into an unnecessary war. If you liked George W. Bush, you're going to love Willard "Mittens" Romney. Newt Gingrich has many of the other Neocon advisers not committed to Romney.

The only certainty is that if this nation is foolish enough to elect a Republican president in 2012, we will have returned the Neocons responsible for the misbegotten war in Iraq to power and this nation will be led into war with Iran in short order.

As Mark Evans writes, "the crass and craven men who gave [the] orders had neither the honor nor the courage to admit their mistakes. No one [has been] fired or drummed out of public service forever for their incompetence" and lies. As a nation we will be forever shamed if we reward these Neocon war mongers by allowing any of them to ever serve in public life ever again. They must be held accountable.