Hey KLP-- Happy Thanksgiving!
Actually for me, long searches for a quote or support seem a waste of time (which may disqualify me for this thread!). So much on SI is people finding only the things that support their belief, and ignoring or discrediting the support others offer for theirs. I have yet to see a mind changed here. People can either accept what I say or reject it. It's ok with me.
I am pretty comfortable with what I remember of my reading-- it may not be exact, but the accumulated reading has given me what feels like a reliable base for my opinion. I am not trying to convince anyone I am right- mostly because that's just not my way. (when AMmo was very little and did odd things, he would say to us when corrected, "Well, that's just My Way"- it's now a family saying)
The throwing flowers thing I think was a phrase that came from Cheney or WOlfowitz saying we would be greeted as liberators by the Iraqi, evoking images of WWII.
I am very open to listening to other opinions because I think there is a strong tendency here to take black-white stances and I remain stolidly grey. For instance, a lot of what you and Nadine, and Thomas have responded to me deals with the far more rabid anti-war crowd- with whom I don't feel great affinity. My personal conclusion was that we handled things poorly in terms of diplomacy, that our own interests may have been better served by spending more time containing, evaluating, giving more time to global acceptance, and that we weren't at all prepared-- not just unprepared for some things, but almost everything. And also we failed to understand- or at least credit-- the true nature of Iraq, it's history, its tribalism, its lack of a national character, its distrust of the west going back so many years.
There was an interesting book my husband gave me to read that I have forgotten the name of-- written by a CIA agent in Iraq-- and described exactly what you did in your post. What a disaster. No one knew what was going on, there were no funds, no manpower. The CIA was being run by academics who had never been agents and had no appreciation for the down and dirty, longterm field work. I have no problem accepting that there have been screwups all along the way, but fail to see why saying that Clinton was bad in any way mitigates the current admin.'s actions.
Anyway, today is a day of rejoicing. We are giving thanks for the son of one of Dan's employees who returned this week from Iraq. Dan had been wearing a plastic bracelet until his return. She had been forwarding us his emails and they were incredibly moving.
I know many here will be thinking of the troops and our country as they sit down to dinner. I hope everyone realizes that, agree or disagree, we all love the US and all that she is. |
