The Iraq War retrospective Thread

[kandrathe]

Bush II was happy to not do anything, until 9/11.

If you really want to go down that road -- which I think is stupidity -- there's this: Reagan gave more to the terrorists by withdrawing Marines after their barracks were bombed. The Great Appeaser. So nyah.

I think you are mistaken if you think the U.S. did nothing in 1992 to 2000.

I agree that the approach of Bush the Elder and Reagan was wrong headed in hindsight. It did not address terrorism seriously. But, then again, terrorism has become much more sinister since the Achille Lauro, Pan Am 103 and the Munich games. But, you will note that we have little trouble with Mr. Khadafi. I would also agree, before we head down that road, that the entire mess with Iraq and Iran might have been avoided with a different policy by Reagan.

For one who chides others for their loyalty to dogma, you're pretty good at it yourself.

There is a difference between dogma and sarcasm that is not easy to read into the text. :)

My only point is that you shouldn't delude yourself into thinking Mr. Obama's rule will change anything other than perhaps the subject toward which we are supposed to be afraid. If everyone would take off their rose colored glasses, they would see that even Ms. Clinton was terribly unqualified. Mr. Obama was a neighborhood activist and civil rights attorney, who at the end of his 1st term as State senator in 2000, decided to make a long shot play for the big league of US Congress, lost his first play for the House and then won his current Senate seat in 2003 as a gimme(unopposed). Then in his first two years as a Senator in Congress, decides to make a play for the White House. It seems like President is the job nobody wants and almost anyone is qualified, which is perhaps one reason why we keep deriding the stupid mistakes of American Presidents here in the Lounge. The things I like about Obama are that he has class, he delivers a good speech and he has charm and charisma.

What nuanced genius is this guy going to bring to international decision making? Probably that of his current advisers, Anthony Lake and Susan Rice. His domestic agenda will most likely be heavily shaped by Tom Daschle, Karen Kornbluh, and Robert Rubin. When it comes to terrorism, he will recruit someone to tackle that problem and advise him on what his position should be, ala Richard Clark.