Oh the irony!

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-25-2003
Oh the irony!
3
Wed, 01-28-2004 - 8:07pm
JONAH GOLDBERG:

The emphasis on WMDs was largely the result of lawyers at the State Dept. thinking that was the only "legal" reason we could go to war. Perle didn't reference it directly, but remember the whole kerfuffle about Paul Wolfowitz's interview with Sam Tanenhaus in which he divulged that the emphasis on WMD above all else was largely due to "bureaucratic" pressures from inside the US government. This, predictably, was distorted into proof that neocon ideologues were lying about the real reasons for the war. But that wasn't what he was saying at all.

Anyway, my point is this: to the extent the post-Iraq failure to find WMDs is a disaster for the United States in terms of its credibility, its relationships with allies etc. one could argue that the fault lies in the fact that George W. Bush listened too much to Colin Powell and the State Department instead of the hawks, since it was the Wolfowitz crowd which wanted to emphasize freedom, democracy, stability and the war on terror. Now that no WMDs have been found that rhetoric seems self-serving when in fact those were co-equal priorities all along. If George Bush had talked before the war about bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq as eloquently as he did afterwards, he would be in a lot better shape politically and in the history books.

The irony is that Bush -- who's been hammered for paying too little attention to the U.N. -- is, in this view, in trouble for paying too much attention to the U.N.

http://www.instapundit.com/archives/013771.php

Renee

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
In reply to: wrhen
Wed, 01-28-2004 - 8:26pm
I'm keeping a list of all the suggested scapegoats for this debacle..so far it's the CIA, Bill Clinton, Colin Powell, lawyers, and the U.N. I thought the Republican party was big on personal responsibility?
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-25-2003
In reply to: wrhen
Wed, 01-28-2004 - 11:28pm
In case you are unfamiliar with the concept, in the strive for excellence, there is always room to do better, but only if you can look honestly and rationally at your weak points. That's what this analysis is that you have one again misinterpreted.

I'm sure you didn't recognize it as such, but that's what Rumsfeld's leaked memo from a couple of month's ago was all about. I hear football teams do this the day after their games, so there must be something to it.

Renee

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
In reply to: wrhen
Thu, 01-29-2004 - 12:07am
Are you sure it doesn't have anything to do with deflecting blame from the President in an election year? Cuz it kinda seems like that's what's really happening. Especially since this honest, rational and very public probing of the administration's weak points certainly hasn't been applied to the 9/11 commission.

I read Rumsfeld's memo and thougth it was very insightful and probing. Who leaked it?