March 19th was the nine year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. If you are one of those people who feels disappointed in Obama because of some vague feeling that he hasn’t changed things enough, I just want to remind you of how much at least one thing has changed from just nine years ago:
“Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof — the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.” — George W. Bush (10/7/02)
My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we’re giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence.” — Colin Powell, United Nations Speech (2/5/03)
“My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.” — Dick Cheney (3/16/03)
“The area in the south and the west and the north that coalition forces control is substantial. It happens not to be the area where weapons of mass destruction were dispersed. We know where they are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.” — Donald Rumsfeld (3/30/03)
Who said war never solved anything? — Brendan Miniter, Assistant Editor, Wall St. Journal (4/8/03)
“Each morning, we sat reading our copy of The New York Times, The Washington Post or the Los Angeles Times and ruminated on their prophecies of doom and quagmire. Then we looked up to see, on television, correspondents actually embedded with our troops reporting quick advances, one-sided firefights, melting opposition and, finally, welcoming crowds.” — Dick Morris (4/15/03)
“The only people who think this wasn’t a victory are Upper Westside liberals.” — Charles Krauthammer (4/19/03)
TED KOPPEL: You’re not suggesting that the rebuilding of Iraq is going to be done for $1.7 billion?
ANDREW NATSIOS (Agency for International Development): Well, in terms of the American taxpayer’s contribution, I do. This is it for the US.
— Nightline (4/23/03)
“[Liberals] can’t deny that President Bush has won his two wars, and won them resoundingly.” — Paul Mirengoff, Powerline (4/26/03)
6 Comments
Nine years only crazy radical left-wingers (and Ron Paul) opposed attacking Iraq. Now only crazy radical left-wingers (and Ron Paul) oppose attacking Iran.
Yeah, things have really changed.
for the prophecies of the liberals, read “A Stupid unjust, and criminal war, Iraq 2001-2007” by Rev. Andrew Greeley. I’m glad some of his prophecies didn’t come true. He compiled the newspaper columns he had written and put them in a book. He mentions the hate mail after 911. He may have been the first one to use the word “hubris” in relation to baby Bush
But if you polled it, I’ll bet a majority of US citizens would agree with each of those statements. If not a majority, a damn large minority…
I’ll bet these guys wish they had written theses statements on an Etch-a-Sketch.
I’d argue against that Ron, at least the initial ones from Bush and co about going to war. They got exactly what they wanted. They did not go to war because they taught Iraq had nuclear weapons, it has been proven they fudged the intel. They went for another reason, whether it was oil, grudges from daddy bush, or whatever are, I’m sure they accomplished what they wanted
Duckman, U.S. foreign policy is based on the concept that the U.S. policies the world, which makes it safe for international commerce and for small countries like Kuwait and Israel. This is bipartisan and Obama fully embraces it.
Of course a different story is told to the rubes. The U.S. military is for “defense”. It’s ridiculous. The U.S. doesn’t have any natural enemies. Is Canada going to invade? Mexico?