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Considering how Vietnam and more recently Iraq happened I'm not too convinced of the US government making the right choice.

by Feniks 9y ago

linkregister 9y ago
You mean us. Our elected officials made those decisions. Congress funded both. OIF/OEF did not go forward without the blessing of Congress. Sure, the Executive Branch lied about the key detail, but part of decisionmaking is deciding the risk of deception.
- mywittyname 9y ago
  To many, being a war hawk is being a patriot. Even if members of Congress knew the truth, they are still beholden to the public, who did not.
  - linkregister 9y ago
    Only perhaps the Senate Intelligence Committee probably knew, almost everyone else in Congress gets their news from the papers like us schmucks, unfortunately. It’s a shame that the only major customers of our expensive intelligence community are various Executive Branch officials and the Senate & House Intelligence Committees. Even moderate Democrats were sucked into the Iraq War. From my vantage as a random service member at the time, I thought it was unjustified, but I was light on the cable news and AM radio.
- Feniks 9y ago
  I'm not USian but yes. My country was part of the "coalition of the willing". It was not a proud moment in history. Geopolitical and economical reality means supporting the US straight into hell.
  - linkregister 9y ago
    Even domestically, moderate politicians were dragged into it. The narrative had been set up by the hawks and regime changers that if you don’t support invading Iraq, you’re for the terrorists and against America. Even though the lie of Al Qaeda training on Iraqi soil was paper-thin, anti-war politicians and celebrities were shouted down and shunned. It didn’t matter that it made no sense, that Al Qaeda was expressly against the Saddam regime, the momentum was overwhelming. Everyone wanted to trust in the Bush administration’s war effort. The nation was temporarily unified after 9/11.

Considering how Vietnam and more recently Iraq happened I'm not too convinced of the US government making the right choice.

by Feniks 9y ago

Considering how Vietnam and more recently Iraq happened I'm not too convinced of the US government making the right choice.

linkregister 9y ago

You mean us. Our elected officials made those decisions. Congress funded both. OIF/OEF did not go forward without the blessing of Congress. Sure, the Executive Branch lied about the key detail, but part of decisionmaking is deciding the risk of deception.

mywittyname 9y ago
To many, being a war hawk is being a patriot. Even if members of Congress knew the truth, they are still beholden to the public, who did not.
- linkregister 9y ago
  Only perhaps the Senate Intelligence Committee probably knew, almost everyone else in Congress gets their news from the papers like us schmucks, unfortunately. It’s a shame that the only major customers of our expensive intelligence community are various Executive Branch officials and the Senate & House Intelligence Committees. Even moderate Democrats were sucked into the Iraq War. From my vantage as a random service member at the time, I thought it was unjustified, but I was light on the cable news and AM radio.
Feniks 9y ago
I'm not USian but yes. My country was part of the "coalition of the willing". It was not a proud moment in history. Geopolitical and economical reality means supporting the US straight into hell.
- linkregister 9y ago
  Even domestically, moderate politicians were dragged into it. The narrative had been set up by the hawks and regime changers that if you don’t support invading Iraq, you’re for the terrorists and against America. Even though the lie of Al Qaeda training on Iraqi soil was paper-thin, anti-war politicians and celebrities were shouted down and shunned. It didn’t matter that it made no sense, that Al Qaeda was expressly against the Saddam regime, the momentum was overwhelming. Everyone wanted to trust in the Bush administration’s war effort. The nation was temporarily unified after 9/11.