"The problem in Iraq isn't that we tried to impose democracy by the point of the figurative bayonet, but that we stopped trying to do that too soon."I'm a historian. One major problem is that too many people trying to say/do things about Iraq don't know much (anything?) about history, let alone much (anything?) about playing the long game. I find it absolutely incredible that anybody can seriously think we can just leave after a mere decade and think it's all going to be OK. That's barely any time at all in the historical perspective. (Remember Germany? Japan?) But hey, who cares about this stuff when your main concern is political optics at home?
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Quote of the Day: Nation-Building In Iraq
Yes. THIS:
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From http://learning-curve.blogspot.com/2004/10/perspective-on-operation-iraqi-freedom.html
President Bush, June 2, 2004:
"Democratic institutions in the Middle East will not grow overnight; in America, they grew over generations. Yet the nations of the Middle East will find, as we have found, the only path to true progress is the path of freedom and justice and democracy."
President Bush, September 20, 2001:
"Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen. ... But the only way to defeat terrorism as a threat to our way of life is to stop it, eliminate it, and destroy it where it grows. ... This is not, however, just America's fight. And what is at stake is not just America's freedom. This is the world's fight. This is civilization's fight. This is the fight of all who believe in progress and pluralism, tolerance and freedom. ... As long as the United States of America is determined and strong, this will not be an age of terror; this will be an age of liberty, here and across the world."
Obviously, post-Saddam Iraq was succeeding at the point that the critically vital nation-building protection provided by US forces was removed.
Obviously, the mortal danger being inflicted on Iraq now is a consequence of the removal of critically vital US protection.
Yet pundits have skipped over the obvious point of departure and proximate cause for current events in order to blame Bush and the regime change.
The sociopathic rank revisionism in the face of easily accessed, open-source record and willful amnesia of commonly known modern history by opponents to Operation Iraqi Freedom who obviously know better has been incredible to witness.
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