American Shame

I don't know what I'm more ashamed of, the fact that we invaded Iraq for no good reason, or the fact that we failed to win. Any excuse can be made for the invasion, bad intelligence, Saddam was a threat, Israel wanted him gone, but the failure to contain the deterioration of that country as it slid deeper into the status of Failed State is unconscionable. We invaded, we destroyed the infrastructure, and we made it the most dangerous country on the planet. And I'm not just ashamed of the military that failed to secure the country, I'm ashamed at the leadership at the highest levels of this country who were so arrogant that they could not even admit that it was happening.

From Bob Woodward's new book State of Denial:

On May 22, 2006, President Bush spoke in Chicago and gave a characteristically upbeat forecast: "Years from now, people will look back on the formation of a unity government in Iraq as a decisive moment in the story of liberty, a moment when freedom gained a firm foothold in the Middle East and the forces of terror began their long retreat."

Two days later, the intelligence division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff circulated a secret intelligence assessment to the White House that contradicted the president's forecast. On May 26, the Pentagon released an unclassified report to Congress, required by law, that contradicted the Joint Chiefs' secret assessment. The public report sent to Congress said the "appeal and motivation for continued violent action will begin to wane in early 2007."

There was a vast difference between what the White House and Pentagon knew about the situation in Iraq and what they were saying publicly. But the discrepancy was not surprising. In memos, reports and internal debates, high-level officials of the Bush administration have voiced their concern about the United States' ability to bring peace and stability to Iraq since early in the occupation.

Lying to Congress when the administration had different information is understandable because of the political fallout from telling the truth, but if they knew the truth way back in May, and presumably much earlier, why didn't they act to change the situation? Knowing and lying is bad, but what about the failure to attempt to change that horrible situation, the situation that American soldiers and Iraqi civilians face every day? It's bad enough to invade a sovereign nation and destroy it's infrastructure, but what we have created in Iraq is worse than a brutal dictatorship, it's anarchy and mayhem, and we let it sink further into disarray because the President won't fire Rumsfeld and hire someone who can do the job if it is even still possible at this late date.

I'm ashamed at the leadership in this country, on both sides of the political spectrum, I'm ashamed of Republican incompetence, and the Democrats who won't call the war what it truly is.
A complete disaster.

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