It is amazing that more stories like this have not come out.
Here is the story of one Republican Senator who voted for the war with Iraq, and who also focused on the name of fries and toast due to perceived outrage at France for the supposed slights against America's honor, while some of the weightiest decisions in recent American history were then taking place.
Now, he has lived to regret the folly.
Yes, Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina was one of the leaders in trying to censor the term "French" before French fries and French toast (neither of which actually originated from France, by the way), because he felt so angry at France's opposition to the American-led push for war in Iraq.
He believed George W. Bush, and having witnessed, as we all did, the September 11th attacks not very long before, he was one of those individuals who felt that something needed to be done, and that this was a step in the right direction. It was a necessary part of the so-called "Global War on Terror."
Now, he regrets not having been more careful, and not having scrutinized more closely what the President was saying, and the legitimacy and necessity of the invasion of Iraq.
Here, specifically, is what he said in a recent interview:
"I did not do what I should have done to read and find out whether Bush was telling us the truth about Saddam being responsible for 9/11 and having weapons of mass destruction.
"Because I did not do my job then I helped kill 4,000 Americans, and I will go to my grave regretting that."
This is a good first step. After all, he is one of the very few prominent politicians to express any real regret over the huge mistake made in helping to authorize the war that ultimately killed 4,000 Americans, over 100,000 Iraqis, and injuring tens of thousands of Americans and countless Iraqis as well.
In short, we now know that the Iraq invasion was an absolute disaster, and quite possibly, the biggest single blunder in American foreign policy history.
It was a disaster, alright. The worldwide sympathy that America benefited from following the September 11th attacks were squandered in pursuit of a war that had absolutely nothing to do with terrorism at the time, although paradoxically, the war would bring loads of terrorists into Iraq and, arguably, created more terrorists. Bush and his cohorts predicted an easy, quick, and decisive war, but it turned into a quagmire. They declared victory prematurely, and then the war just dragged on and on. They gave conservative estimates of the costs, and the costs of war proved far higher than anyone could have predicted.
Everything about it was a huge mistake.
But at the very least, Rep. Jones has expressed sorrow and regret for having supported it.
Admitting that you are wrong, especially on such a scale, is something in and of itself. I applaud Jones for this, because it could not have been easy for him to do so. I also hope that other prominent politicians will follow suit and also admit that this war was a huge mistake, so that Americans in the future might learn from this example, and when another arrogant leader aggressively pushes for war, we will scrutinize it far more carefully, to see if there really is a need for war.
What are mistakes for, if not to learn from them?
GOP CONGRESSMAN: ‘I HELPED KILL 4,000 AMERICANS, AND I WILL GO TO MY GRAVE REGRETTING THAT’ (AUDIO) BY HUNTRES, AUGUST 13, 2015:
I don't applaud this asshole for anything. Some things really need to be gotten right the first time, because afterwards it's already a moot point, and therefore too late. You mention "learning from past mistakes" - I don't see it. People getting whipped up into an ugly, jingoistic frenzy and giving the president and congress carte blanche to do whatever they jolly well fucking please is territory we're destined to revisit ad infinitum. This guy's soul-searching is too little, too late. You know as well as I do that there aren't going to be large numbers of these pricks coming forward with remorseful cautionary tales. And even if, hypothetically speaking, that actually did happen, what would it change? The time for questions and holding those decisions to the scrutiny you speak of has long since come and gone. Like I said, we're destined to revisit this scenario many, many times before it maybe - just maybe - begins to sink in. The war in Iraq hammered home what I already knew: it's sickeningly, depressingly easy to emotionally blackmail people into accepting the idea that the government would never send troops into harm's way for reasons that aren't absolutely justified and noble, and that anybody who dares ask questions or speaks critically about it is a traitor of the lowest order. Only when people at large begin resisting that shit when it still matters, as opposed to well after these wars are well under way, will I then begin to see signs of our collectively "learning from our mistakes". I'm not holding my breath, and presumably nor are you.
ReplyDeleteNo, I am not holding my breath. And I understand everything that you are saying, and feel that your anger is justified. But that said, I think we run the risk of showing the same level of intolerance if we do not even accept someone's apparently sincere, heartfelt admission of a mistake when it comes. You yourself just pointed that very, very few of those guys ever apologized, and you do not expect many to do so. But here is a guy who actually did. I am not personally giving him a carte blanche and saying that he's a swell guy. But what I am saying is that I welcome when guys like this admit that they were part of the problem, and that what they did was regrettable, to the point that he will take it to the grave. If any other prominent Congressmen or other powerful people know this guy or of him, and are familiar with what he is saying, maybe that might give them just another sliver of doubt when, as you rightly pointed out, the inevitable next similar episode comes. He made a mistake, showed intolerance once and finally did what few people usually seem to, and admitted to it. For that, he deserves credit, since he is one of the few. And yes, I applaud that and welcome it when I see it, as opposed to those who will surely go to the grave swearing that they were right, that the war was right, even when all of the facts suggest otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI suppose. I wonder how he feels about the countless Iraqi civilian casualties, and what if anything he would tell their surviving family members and friends?
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