November 16, 2005

Hand it to him.

He's certainly blessed with gall.

Bill Clinton calls Iraq 'big mistake'

Best quote? This one:

[...] Clinton said it would have been better if the United States had left Iraq's "fundamental military and social and police structure intact." [...]

And that way, all of us could ceaseless criticize THAT decision.

Make no mistake--there are myriad ways the current situation in Iraq could have turned out different, and better. But that is only in hindsight, and this drivel is nothing but pure politics. There is no guarantee leaving a brutal, ruthless, Ba'athist bureaucracy in place would have translated into a shiny happy trains-running-on-time Iraq free of mayhem and bloodshed.

When East German finally fell, was there a rush to make sure the Stasi was kept intact? Wasn't it enough just to get rid of Honecker? What about the Confederate States? Would anyone have liked to have just kept all the old things the way they were, and maybe just get rid of ol' Jeff Davis?

It is disingenuous in the extreme for Mr. Clinton to acknowledge that, yes, Saddam was a very very bad man, and that it's good he's gone, but then to turn right back around and say that the repressive regime he constructed from the blood and flesh of his own people was somehow worth keeping. And for what? "Stability"? "Security"?

Please.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at November 16, 2005 11:53 AM
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