Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop - If in fact Iran is the Maximum Enemy, wasn't the invasion of Iraq obviously (at least in retrospect) a huge mistake? After all, it (predictably):
1. Strengthened the lunatic anti-American party in Iran and weakened what had been very substantial pro-U.S. sentiment there;
2. Eliminated Iran's most potent regional adversary;
3. Gave Iran substantial power in Iraq through its influence over the Shi'a there;
4. Made U.S. forces in Iraq virtual hostages to the threat that Iranian-influenced Shi'a leaders could call for jihad against the foreign occupiers.
I supported the invasion of Iraq, (though with bunches of reservations and caveats) given the apparent threat that Iraq would soon acquire nuclear weapons. But of course we now know that there was no such threat in reality. The notion that seriously aggravating the threat from Iran, including the very real possibility that Iran will join the nuclear club, could be justified by finding a bunch of rusty nerve-gas artillery shells left over from the Iran-Iraq war doesn't pass the giggle test.
Mark Kleiman (several links omitted)
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We followed a bit of a "jump off one bridge at a time" plan with Iraq. Could've gone many ways... Wound up going the way Churchill predicted it would 50 years ago. It's kind of frightening when the ultimate Hawk warned that the peoples of Iraq could never be melded together.
But then, WTF did the British make those stupid fucking borders?
