Now, I'm no fan of President Obama, and can probably point to a lot of things that I consider mistakes that he has made, or is making, and one several levels. What I mean by that is, simply, that there are things that he does which are not best for the country that he is supposed to represent, but which politicians generally have come to practice (and Obama is certainly not excluded from this company). Also, there are tings that he probably could have done politically to increase his popularity and political potency, but which he has not done. All of these could fall under the wide category of "mistakes".
But it seems that many of his detractors blame him for everything that they see wrong with the country presently, even though the sorry state of affairs in the nation clearly predate him. It is as if they were asleep within the political situation of the nation until January 20, 2009, when they suddenly woke up and saw so many things horrendously wrong with the country, and looked up to see him as president. So, conveniently, they assign all of the blame to him.
Case in point: the war in Iraq. My biggest pet peeve might just be about that, in particular. Those Americans who favored war in Iraq more than a decade ago, and yet blame President Obama for withdrawing from that deeply unpopular and catastrophic war, need to point their fingers elsewhere, most often at themselves, but also at another presidential administration: the one that preceded Obama, that of George W. Bush.
Almost to a man, that administration got rich off of oil, and aggressively pushed for a military invasion of Iraq, despite flimsy evidence (although they tried to present it as concrete), and despite the rest of the world warning that this was very much the wrong thing to do. They responded to any and all criticism with a measure of arrogance that we rarely outright see on such a high level of government.
Seeing as though the whole world saw just how wrong they were on the war, you might think that they would have changed their arrogant tune at least a little bit since then. But then, when you see this quote by Vice-President Cheney, you really begin to wonder.
“Rarely has a U.S. President been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many. Too many times to count, Mr. Obama has told us he is ‘ending’ the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — as though wishing made it so.”
- Dick Cheney
Vice-President Cheney conveniently is forgetting to mention just how wrong he and President Bush, as well as the rest of the administration, were so incredibly, offensively wrong with getting the United States involved in Iraq in the first place. Insisting that Iraq posed an "immediate threat" to world peace, that it had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, that the United States had to urgently act in engaging in "preemptive war" to neutralize the severe threat that Saddam Hussein's Iraq posed, and that Saddam was virtually like another Hitler, essentially.
They were so wrong, on so many levels, that it boggles the imagination to think about it. It really is amazing just how boisterous this guy is, however. Of course, he does not like President Obama, and so he is suggesting that withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan is a huge mistake.
In so doing, of course, he would like you to forget that the invasion of Iraq, specifically, was a huge, tremendously costly, and glaringly obvious mistake that the entire world watched us commit to.
He, of course, has no regrets.
But then again, why should he? He got off pretty well. Other than not being able to travel to certain countries because he could be prosecuted for war crimes, his company, Halliburton, who he officially, allegedly, was separated from, reaped enormous profits from the invasion, as did many other private corporations that - surprise, surprise - had friendly relations with the Bush administration. That 100,00 Iraqis died, or that over 4,000 American troops lost their lives in the two wars, or that countless others on both sides were injured, and that both countries, Iraq and Afghanistan, still suffer from severe instability, is something that he wants you to forget, and conveniently overlook, just like he himself did.
The difference is that he profited from it. He's doing quite well, thank you very much. A rich millionaire who would be fine if he never worked again, and filled his days bitching about all of the mistakes that he feels the Obama administration made from an undisclosed location.
For you and for me, however, the war in Iraq not only was not profitable (nor did it lower our gas prices), but it cost the nation a tremendous amount of money. Also, it cost us our good name, as so many countries and people around the world came to resent the arrogant manner in which this war was pursued, and ultimately conducted.
Remember, these "leaders" insisted that Iraq would be a cakewalk It would take "six days or six weeks, but not six months", according to Cheney's buddy, Rumsfeld. He was not alone. They all pretty much stated that the war would be won decisively, that there were clear objectives, and that once Saddam was ousted, all would be right with the world again.
Of course, we know what happened since. The war only really began to heat up after Saddam was out of power, and the war became one of the longest lasting wars in American history, just shy of Afghanistan (the new war to take that title) and perhaps, arguably, Vietnam.
What a mistake! And I think it is a big enough mistake, and a complete lapse in judgement, that those responsible for such an enormous mistake should automatically lose their credibility when they talk (especially with a false sense of authority, as Dick Cheney does in this case) about Iraq, specifically. If Cheney does not know better, than at least the American people should.
But, alas, that is probably too idealistic a thought.
Or, is it?
Recently, someone prominent did change their mind about the Iraq invasion. Where he once saw a necessity, now, with the benefit of hindsight, he sees just how big of a mistake it was.
And he is just about the last man in the world that you would expect to own up to making a mistake!
It took ten years, but Glen Beck admitted that liberals who opposed the conflict in Iraq were right, that it was a huge mistake, and their dire predictions of just how badly things would go have largely proven true. With terrorism having run rampant essentially since the American invasion destabilized the country, and with ISIS now increasingly threatening to take over more and more of Iraq, and Iraqi officials begging for American military intervention, Beck is finally seeing that our presence there was not as completely beneficial as the Bush administrators, and many neocons like Beck himself, assured the American people it would be.
Now, here's the thing: although I still disagree with Glen Beck on a hell of a lot of things (hell, pretty much everything), he did admit that the Iraq war was a mistake. That means he did something that took some guts, and he deserves credit for it. Credit that, unfortunately, cannot be extended to anyone that I am aware of in the Bush administration.
Iraq was a mistake - a huge one. And to my mind's eye, if anyone, and I mean anyone, who supported the invasion then, wants to voice their opinion now and be taken even halfway seriously, they need to do what Glen Beck has don, and admit that Iraq was a huge mistake. Not one created by President Obama, who was still largely unknown to the American public when the invasion started, but to President George W. Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney, and the rest of the administration, as well as those mostly blind Americans who gave them their unquestioning support for something that they should have approached with far more scrutiny and skepticism.
Leaders are supposed to represent and serve the people, not the other way around. They are the public servants, and we are not their servants. They owe us our loyalty, not the other way around. That is true for those who support President Obama and all of his policies, surely. But it also goes for those who supported President George W. Bush, as well. And President Clinton, and the first President Bush, and President Reagan, and all the other presidents before, and every president yet to come.
How much better this country would be, if more people were automatically critical and active in scrutinizing politicians, rather than taking sides in the political debate and grabbing what piece of the rope that they can in the meaningless and ridiculous political tug of war that is tearing the very fabric of our democracy!
Here are the links to the articles that I used in writing this blog entry:
Glenn Beck Says Words No One Ever Expected – ‘Liberals, You Were…’ JUNE 18, 2014 BY AARON WYSOCKI
https://www.tytnetwork.com/2014/06/18/glenn-beck-says-words-no-one-ever-expected-liberals-you-were/
Cheney on Obama’s Foreign Policy: ‘Rarely Has a U.S. President Been So Wrong About So Much’ by David Stout of Time magazine, June 18, 2014:
http://time.com/2892598/cheney-blames-obama-foreign-policy-iraq-afghanistan/
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