what i would do different

oneforthemoneytwofortheshow
There is a remarkable exchange at From The Morning now. Matt has started a series of rants, and he started one about President W today. He asked what we would have done differently.
I answered:

Sigh. I don't know where to begin.
1- I recall a lot of opposition to the war. An activity like this needs 100% approval.
2- We cut taxes before the start of the war. This is unheard of. The budget deficit is out of control. Worse, the entire burden of the war is being borne by the military. No sacrifices have been requested of the general public. Most "conservatives" are more concerned with making the tax hikes permanent that with providing more than lip service support to our brave troops.
3- The law of unintended consequences is kicking in. Iran and Al Queda are more powerful than ever. Nuclear armed Pakistan is on the verge of government collapse. Key ally Turkey is in turmoil. Palestine and Lebanon are in civil war.
4- Sanyana survived way too long on American Idol.
5- Our civil liberties are taking a beating. Torture is accepted in our armed forces.
6- Siouxperson says Politicians seem like scumbags *rolls eyes*
7- The political climate is poisoned with partisan rhetoric. You cannot believe anything you hear anymore.
8- A certain blogger compared a group of bloggers to anal sphincters.

While not all of these are the fault of the president, many of them are. (I am unsure about item 8. At the very least, he should have been honest about the cost and difficulty of the war...which might have affected the support for the adventure.)
And, while the President may have lied, a lot of people believed him.
9- There are indications that an important cause of the 911 attacks was the Saudi Government, and the close ties of the Bush Family with them. Would 911 have happened with Al Gore in office? We will never know.



The next entry was Siouxperson:


chamblee54, will you please tell me a little about the bombing of Iraq that Clinton did on December 16, 1998 and how one of the plans of his administration that he wasn't able to carry out before his term was up was regime change in Iraq? If Bush lied than what did Clinton do and why would Clinton have wanted regime change if Iraq wasn't seen as a threat of some kind? I love when you see the lies of liberals on Fox News and how they gave grand speeches on how they supported the war when Saddam was captured and how important it was that we go to war before the war and when it isn't going well you they all act as if those events never happened. They act like we are all stupid and don't know they talk out of both sides. I hope you never thought it was a good idea to go after Saddam or I guess you would have to call yourself a liar. Sad thing is that with the media being mostly liberal on the major networks you all get away with it.

Bush did not lie. Liberals need to give up on that old rhetoric. If Bush lied than so did every other politician that voted to allow military force. I guess they all lied to us?? The world is better off without Saddam. Al Qaeda and the issues in Palestine and Lebanon have been going on for years without Bush in office. If Clinton was still there I believe things would be much worse since he just sat back and let them attack us without any response.

I am tired of Liberals blaming America for the actions that radical Islam takes on the world with terrorism. I really wish those that think the US is to blame would move to a country that they could agree with rather than constantly slamming the country I love.

Good Grief. This is the sort of rhetorical overkill that makes constructive dialog so difficult.
1-On December 16, 1998, my mother had two days to live. I was not concerned with Bill Clinton covering his ass with a bombing raid on Iraq.
2- I was opposed to the war before the invasion. I never thought it was a good idea.
Saddam was weakened by sanctions, and did not pose a threat to the United States. What he did do was pose a threat to Iran, and served to keep Iran on good behavior. Now that this counterweight is gone, Iran is running wild.
3- Iraq has the second largest oil reserves in the world.
4- “. Sad thing is that with the media being mostly liberal on the major networks you all get away with it.”
When in doubt, blame the liberals and the media.
On a lighter note, the other day one of the radio whiners I listen to said that Liberals were concerned that conservatives had taken over the media. He was starting a rant about the fairness doctrine, but I did see a bit of irony there, from conservatives endlessly whining about liberal media bias, to a conservative saying that liberals were worried about conservative media domination.
IMO, the terms liberal and conservative are meaningless words used to divide and confuse. Their use should be greatly limited.
5- I am not a purist. If I thought that invading Babylon and torturing captured enemy soldiers would help us maintain our freedom, and then I would be for it.
The thing is, I don’t think it does. The war is hurting us in many ways, and will continue to do so for many years.
6- We have started something we cannot finish. If we leave, it will be bloody chaos. If we stay, there is bloody chaos. To me, that is defeat.
If Mr. Bush wanted regime change, he should have planned for the aftermath. He should have sent enough troops to do the job properly. He should have raised taxes in this country to pay for the war and share its burden among the population.
And on and on. Maybe there were wmd’s at one time in Iraq…when Iraq was gassing the Kurds, Iraq was an ally of the United States. Did we sell them that poison gas?
So, maybe Mr. Bush didn’t technically lie, but he didn’t tell the complete truth either.
It doesn’t much matter now, anyway. We are in Babylon, and may be physically unable to withdraw if we wanted to. We are stuck in a no win situation.
“A prophet is not without honor, save in his own land”.
It does not give me pleasure to say, “ I told you so”. I am very sad at what my country has done, and what is happening to us as a result.
And I give a large share of the Blame to George W. Bush.