Good Intentions and Roads to Hell

In response to my statement that Saddam Hussein "managed to keep Iraq under control, which is a hell of a lot more than George W. Bush can say for himself," r. scott kinzie wrote:

"I imagine the Bush administration could keep better control too if they resorted to the tactics Saddam used to maintain control. When you say 'at least' he kept control, aren't you forgetting how he did it?"

Your point is well taken, r. scott, and merits further discussion.

Saddam Hussein was a despicable tyrant, and in no way do I condone the iron-fisted manner in which he ruled his country. But at the end of the day, I think it's fair to say that America has done more physical damage to Iraq than Hussein ever did.

THIS IS NOT THE FAULT OF OUR TROOPS!

THIS IS NOT THE FAULT OF OUR TROOPS!

THIS IS NOT THE FAULT OF OUR TROOPS!

Have I made that message clear enough? Our troops are doing the best job they can, given the situation they're facing. And they're doing a lot of great things for the Iraqi people that aren't making the news. But the sad truth is that under Saddam, you could drive from downtown Baghdad to the airport without your car getting bombed. (Yeah, under Hussein, an innocent Iraqi might get pulled over by authorities and taken off to some prison to be tortured and interrogated. But hey, that happens now too, doesn't it?)

Our troops did not create the situation they're in. The architects of their quagmire were William Kristol, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Kagan, Dan Quayle, Bill Bennet, Jeb Bush, Dick Armitage, Steve Forbes, and the rest of the members of the neo-conservative think tank known as the Project For a New American Century that began pushing for military action to change the regime in Iraq in the nineties during the Clinton administration.

(An aside: one has to wonder what kind of self-respecting "think tank" would take on Dan Quayle as a member. Quayle must have been the "tank.")

These characters so resolutely believed in their group think hegemonic ideology that they refused to listen to wiser, cooler-headed experts (like Colin Powell) who told them that war--especially "optional" war that involves invasion and occupation of another country--produces unintended, unpredictable, and unfavorable consequences.

And our troops, and the Iraqi people, and the American taxpayers are paying the consequences for the blind hubris of our national leaders.

Another aside: lest anyone think I'm some kind of way left leaning liberal, I’m not. I recently turned fifty, and the first Democrat I ever voted for was John Kerry. I didn't like him all that much at the time, and I still don't.

Lesser evils, you know?

JLH