The Useless Tree

Reminder: Bush lost the war

Enough already with Jackie Chan…

The reports in recent weeks of bombings in Iraq, especially today's news that more than 70 people were killed, require us to remember the most basic fact about the whole sorry story of US involvement there:

Bush lost the war.

Republicans will try to blame Obama for the continuing problems in Iraq, but the underlying dynamic was started by the ill-considered US invasion.  What happens on Obama's watch is an organic extension of the initial mistake of invading Iraq in the first place. 

Makes one think of Daodejing 31:

Auspicious weapons are tools of misfortune.

Things may not all despise such tools,

But a master of the Way steers clear of them…

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Sam Crane
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6 responses to “Reminder: Bush lost the war”

  1. The Rambling Taoist Avatar
    The Rambling Taoist

    It’s not just Mr. Bush’s war. The Dems in Congress kept funding it in vote after vote. Consequently, the blood is on all of our hands.

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  2. SteveGW Avatar
    SteveGW

    On the contrary, Bush won the war. And not only that, but Iraq now has a better chance than any other Arab country of becoming a decent democracy. The terrorists, for all their rage and hatred of humanism, are increasingly marginalised. This development is something that should be celebrated.

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  3. Taoist Voter Avatar
    Taoist Voter

    I agree with Rambling Taoist—this isn’t simply “Bush’s war”, but the American government’s war. All of the Congress who continued to authorize war appropriations are as culpable as Bush, Rumsfeld, and the rest of the lot.
    Obama, unfortunately, has made it clear that his Iraq policy will be very much a continuation of the Bush administration’s policies (which in turn were only possible because of the Clinton administration’s policies….).

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  4. Dougout Avatar
    Dougout

    Hum. Seems to me that the people who died in the war lost. I would see that as a loss, anyways.

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  5. Dougout Avatar
    Dougout

    Okay. My comment was probably annoyingly vague. Bush didn’t lose anything. War profiteers didn’t lose anything. What was the purpose of the war? I have a hard time believing that someone just woke up and said: “I think we’ll liberate Iraq today.” I encourage people to look at how much money went to DoD contractors and who is closest to the companies that made that money. I’d also take a look at where the money came from to pay these contractors.
    So who lost?

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  6. Dan Avatar
    Dan

    Don’t know whose war it was nor do I care. All I know is that we are wasting American lives and money while the people there go on killing each other. Let’s face it, no matter when we leave (and this would have been the case had we never entered as well), they will continue killing each other until some new thug comes in and instills “order” the way “order” has always been instilled in the Arab Middle East. What I have never understood is why we have taken it upon ourselves to try to change things there that cannot be changed except from within.
    I overestimated Bush because I always assumed he was lying when he talked of bringing democracy to Iraq, but over time I came to realize that he actually was stupid enough to believe what he was saying on this. Why anyone would believe Iraq could become a democracy (when there has never been anything even approaching that in an Arab country) is completely beyond me.
    Oh, and the Pottery Barn rule is completely idiotic as well and even if that were the rule, we DIDN’T break anything in Iraq as it was broken before we came in and so it is quite okay for us to leave it broken now. I say we pull all the troops right now and leave the Iraqi people to their own devices.

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