DISQUS

skulzfontaine · 1 year ago

But, but, but, the Iraq war is about weapons of mass destruction. The Iraq war is about those icky nasty al-Qaeda farmer types. You know, all those icky al-Qaeda farmer types they've got holed up in Camp X-Ray freaking Guantanamo Hell-Hole. The Iraq war is about Saddam Hussein pulling off 9/11/01. Iraq had nukes. Iraq had good intentions of using those nukes on Amerika! Wasn't the Iraq war about all those beneficial "ancillary benefits" that Tucker Carlson was so adamant about pre-Iraq genocide? Let me see, what did it say? Oh right, "the NECESSITY of the war overwhelms the mistakes that the U.S. has made." MISTAKES? What? You mean to tell me that there were "mistakes" made? No way! Well maybe a couple. You know like, the entire Iraq preemptive fiasco being like illegal. An illegal war of naked aggression. Wow, didn't the world go like absolutely ballistic on Adolf Hitler for you know, a war of naked aggression? Wow, I'm certainly not comparing the precious U.S. of preemptive A. to Hitler's Germany. Nah. Like hell I'm not. Where is the MORAL difference and I don't give a flying rat's posterior what Packer and what's his name have to say on any of it. So, what exactly is "significant" and what is "insignificant?" Would presidential treason be significant or insignificant?

warrenmetzler · 1 year ago

I grant you the war isn't about "nothing". Because George Bush had an intention when he chose to begin this war. But I have yet to read a single reasonable explanation as to why he promoted this war. We, at least those of us who are informed, are clear as to why the war in Vietnam was begun and progressively expanded. But not why the Iraq war. Why not? I'm not sure, but I suspect that it is because the vast majority of reporters find it too discomforting to investigate the facts, and then draw a rational conclusion as to Georgie boy's real motivations.

In all areas of life, massively increasing since the 1990's, westerners have refused to look at the reality of most areas of their lives. To give an example in another area. What is the intellectual justification for believing that a central bank raising or lowering interests rates can significantly influence decisions made by the businesspersons of a country. Try and find a single rational reason. Yet everyone acts as if such acts are brilliant economic management.

Warren

janinsanfran · 1 year ago

My quarrel with Packer's essay is pretty simple: for most Americans, the appropriate work is not to understand Iraq. Our job is to understand how our own political system became so broken that this war ever happened. Something is profoundly wrong in our society and system if a President can take the country to war for no reason that stands up to scrutiny. We have to fix it or the country we love is dead.

I say this as someone who was interested enough to visit Jordan and Syria in order to figure out what we could do to assist the human casualties of America's broken democracy. But that's not the most urgent need for most of us. Packer has forgotten that for most of us, the war is at home.

amiblue · 1 year ago

Is "caveating" in your sense the same thing as equivocating?

spencer_ackerman · 1 year ago

AmiBlue, I didn't think of that, but yeah, I guess it is.

bjcefola · 1 year ago

"The war swept up millions of lives..."
"By then the war was not about nothing. No war ever is."
"The war began as folly; it became a tragedy..."

It's quite romantic, that war.