Iraq Redux - The Meaning of Success

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I recently wrote about the ludicrous column in the Globe by Jeff Jacoby where he tries to give a 2009 "I told you so!" to everyone who ever criticized the war in Iraq.

Bush's 'folly' is ending in victory (March 25)http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/03/25/bushs_folly_is_ending_in_victory/

I was waiting to write this additional follow-up for two reasons:

1) I was waiting to see an inevitable tragedy so I could use a hard core example of how full of crap this "victory" idea was.
2) I wanted to do some research to give people the best way to find out on their own how much of an offense to common sense and decency that assertion really was.

Check out this recent globe article as just one example of how precarious things are over there.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2009/04/12/suicide_bomber_kills_9_sunni_fighters_in_iraq_on_payday/

And trust me, this is not the only incident. Actually, don't trust me, look for yourself to see the number of incidents of well, extremist terrorism against the population of Iraq that the US still has no idea how to stop.

And on that eternal idea of having no idea how to stop such insurgent activity, I had claimed that the message behind the Jacoby piece was not just that things were better, but that it was all worth it in the end. I not only have video footage from many in Iraq who will categorically state that as bad as Saddam was, things are just horrible right now. While things are better than they were just a year ago, the life people can lead in Iraq in 2009 is a pale shadow in comparison to what life was like before the invasion.

But I really don't even want to debate the "better off" argument. What I really want to do is what I love - REMINDING PEOPLE OF HISTORY. Jeff clearly doesn't.

I recently reviewed an EXCELLENT FRONTLINE SEGMENT called BUSH'S WAR
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that every History teacher buy it and use it in class when teaching this unit. I also HIGHLY ENCOURAGE anyone who wants to be informed on the issue but is not a huge reader to get the video as well. You can also try You Tube to get a glimpse:
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=bush#

You will see that the issue really isn't about 2009 versus 2007 or 2008. This issue is all the needless death that took place because of the mis-steps of this Administration. And look, the "What - you liked Saddam?" argument just doesn't fly. One could argue we were containing him just fine. (Look it up!) But even if you go with the "Maybe the invasion was a good call given the 9/11 context" - there were just SO many screw ups that dragged this thing on and caused SO many American and Iraqi lives to be lost.

I will NEVER let people like Jeff Jacoby or anyone else try to rewrite History to make this all seem like a good thing that is wrapping up very nicely right now - thank you very much.

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