From Kevin Drum, February 2003, via Atrios, via Sadly, No!, the most telling, condemning, and indicative blogpost in history:
Unlike, say, during the Tonkin Gulf incident, this administration is under intense scrutiny. There’s enormous distrust of what they say, and they know it. They won’t get the free pass that LBJ did.
What’s more, they know that everything they say is easily verifiable once the war starts. No one ever pressed LBJ for proof of what happened in the Tonkin Gulf, but there will be dozens of countries and dozens more NGOs who will be looking very closely at what we find in Iraq after ground forces move in. It will hardly be possible to fake vast numbers of mobile weapons labs, swimming pools of anthrax, ballistic missiles, and the like, and if those things aren’t found in substantial and convincing quantities George Bush will be lucky to escape impeachment, let alone win reelection.
Not only did he escape impeachment, and not only was he re-elected, but his supporters at the CPAC this week were heard to chant “Four More Years!” I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.
Filed under: Iraq
A new study came out today that puts the Iraqi death toll around 151,000, and it should be noted that this is one of the more conservative estimates to come out in recent years – certainly moreso than the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health estimate, which put the figure at about 650,000.
The numbers and methodologies get complex, but the point we should take from this is that a lot of people have died. This war is not just something we watch on tv.
Here’s a recommendation for ”No End in Sight,” the Charles Ferguson documentary about how the Iraq situation played out before and after the initial invasion and occupation. It is both specific in its timeline and scathing in its criticism. Bush doesn’t fair well, or Cheney, or Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and a few other bigwigs, but most of the ire falls upon Paul Bremer (and back on Bush by proxy).
One of the most interesting and telling facts cited in the film – and there are many – is that OHRA (the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance) initially compiled a list of twenty important Iraqi cultural sites that needed to be protected post-invasion. These included the national library and museums, among others. Of these twenty important Iraqi cultural sites, U.S. military personal were deployed to guard only one – the Oil Ministry. Of the remaining nineteen, sixteen were looted and burned. This does not support our leadership’s claim to be interested in “Iraqi Freedom.”
There’s more – much more – but it’s tiresome to talk about. I think we have reached the point where everyone understands what this is about, we just need clarification on the details. See the movie.
