Memory and Iraq

It's important to remember whom was saying what in regards to Iraq. I'm amazed that those whom got it so wrong still have an audience. I'm amazed that they're still being published and quoted. I'm amazed that they're still talking.

Here's a collection of quotes by folks that got it right.

Harry Dunphy, Associated Press, 10/5/2002:

"Even before hostilities erupt in a war with Iraq, what happens the day after President Saddam Hussein falls is raising critical questions. A new and legitimate authority may take time to emerge, civil war could break out between the majority Shiite and minority Sunni Arabs, and Kurds in the north might press for an independent state, which U.S. ally Turkey opposes."

Alan Colmes, 1/17/2003:

"I'm not a supporter of Saddam Hussein, contrary to those people who want to say, oh, if you're against war you must love Saddam Hussein. But sometimes the devil you know is worse than the devil you don't (sic). We don't know what's going to happen if he's not in power. We don't know that there won't be civil war breaking out. We don't know if there won't be incursions from the north and all kinds of conflict breaking out. We don't know what would happen or how many years we would have to put up a government or if we should put up a democracy, or could put up a democracy, in the middle of the Arab world. We know we can beat them in a war. But then what? And is it our role to overthrow a dictator of another country? Is that our role? I question that."

Paul Krugman, 5/16/2003:

"Saddam wasn't a threat to America -- he had no important links to terrorism, and the main U.S. team searching for weapons of mass destruction has packed up and gone home. Meanwhile, true to form, the Bush team lost focus as soon as the TV coverage slackened off. The first result was an orgy of looting -- including looting of nuclear waste dumps that, incredibly, we failed to secure. Dirty bombs, anyone? Now, according to an article in The New Republic, armed Iraqi factions are preparing for civil war."

Youssef Ibrahim, Council on Foreign Relations, 2/19/2003:

"I don't want to find 100,000 American kids caught in the middle of a shooting war, a civil war, in which they don't know where the bullets are coming."

Juan Cole, 8/22/2005:

"...you could argue that what is going on now [in Iraq] is a subterranean, unconventional civil war..."

Joe Biden, 11/21/2005:

"If the situation devolves into a full-blown civil war, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men won’t be able to put Iraq back together again."

Joe Biden, 10/16/2005:

"I do [fear that there may be a civil war in Iraq]. That has been my constant fear that our--that there will not only be a civil war, that civil war will result in a regional war, because if it breaks down into an all-out civil war, that is if the Sunnis don't buy into this constitution over the next two months by voting for Sunnis in the parliament, in getting--trying to get the constitution amended, if they don't do that, then you're going to see all of the sponsors of the various three major elements there. Everybody has a dog in this fight. We may find a regional war and not just a civil war, and that does not lend itself to any solution by any number of American troops. You'll see us drawing down more rapidly then than otherwise."

Diane Feinstein, 11/3/2003:

"We must prevent civil war. And we must see to it that Iraq does not become a base for terror and instability throughout the region."

Robert Byrd, 4/7/2004:

"And from the flood of disturbing dispatches from Iraq, it is clear that many Iraqis, both Sunni and Shiite, are seething under the yoke of the American occupation. The recent violent uprising by followers of a radical Shiite cleric is by far the most troubling development in Iraq in months and could signal America's worst nightmare -- a civil war in Iraq that pits moderate Shiites against radical Shiites. Layered over the persistent insurgency being waged by disgruntled Iraqi Sunnis and radical Islamic operatives, a Shiite civil war could be the event that topples Iraq from instability into utter chaos."

Richard Lugar, 12/4/2005:

"There could be a civil war. But that would be catastrophic, not only for Iraq but the Middle East and for our interests."

Evan Bayh, 2/2/2006:

"There are consequences to prosecuting a war on toughness alone. Iraq was not a haven for foreign terrorists before March 2003, but it is now. Iraq did not face the prospect of full-scale civil war, before March 2003, but it does now. Iraq was not susceptible to Iranian influence before March 2003, but it is now."

Russ Feingold, 7/27/2005:

"Are US forces supposed to be waging a counterinsurgency campaign, or taking sides in what may be an emerging civil war?"

=====

Now contrast those with these:

Richard Perle (on Hannity and Colmes), 2/28/2003:

"Well, it may not go as smoothly as we all hope it will. But I don't believe you will get civil war. There is no indication from the people we talked to who are coming out of Iraq all the time and people who are talking to Iraqis. There are hundreds, thousands of such conversations. There are differences, to be sure, among these groups, but it's not like Bosnia. It's not as if they have been destroying each other for many years. They haven't, and I don't believe they will."

Jonah Goldberg, The National Review, 2/8/2005:

"I predict that Iraq won't have a civil war, that it will have a viable constitution, and that a majority of Iraqis and Americans will, in two years time, agree that the war was worth it."

Dick Cheney, 3/2/2004:

"My take on it, my assessment of it, based on what I know so far, is that the attacks today, tragic as they were, were probably launched possibly by al-Zarqawi, this al Qaeda associate who we recently intercepted a letter that he was sending to Osama bin Laden's associates, bragging about launching 25 of these kinds of attacks and talking about his strategy of launching attacks against Shia in order to try to start a civil war inside Iraq. I think what it is more than anything else is a measure of desperation on their part, as we get closer and closer to standing up a new government in Iraq; as we get closer to establishing a government to which we can transfer sovereignty, to establishing a democracy. Of course, they've just adopted an interim constitution just within the last few days. But all of those things make the terrorists more and more desperate. They recognize that once power is handed over to the Iraqis that it will be increasingly difficult for them to try to have their way in Iraq."

Scott McClellan (responding to the question, "What do you know about this memo from the al Qaeda leader that was intercepted and it suggests they're trying to stir up a civil war in Iraq?"), 2/9/2004:

"We've said previously that Iraq is the central front in the war on terrorism. There are foreign terrorists who realize the stakes are high. And they seek to do everything to undermine -- everything they can to undermine the aspirations of the Iraqi people. But democracy and freedom are taking root in Iraq, and there is no turning back. There are foreign terrorist organizations that are -- there are foreign terrorists who seek to undermine the Iraqi people's aspirations. And they cannot, nor can they break the resolve of the coalition forces in Iraq. But we will -- we are continuing to take the fight to those terrorist elements who are in Iraq and we will bring them to justice."

George W. Bush, (responding to the question, "Mr. President, former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft had a gloomy assessment about Iraq's elections. He said that they would probably deepen the conflict, increase divisions between the Shiite and Sunni Muslims, and that Iraq would slip into an incipient civil war. Do you share those concerns?"), 1/7/2005:

"Quite the opposite. I think elections will be such an incredibly hopeful experience for the Iraqi people. Remember these are people that live in a society where if they didn't toe the line of the leadership, they'd be tortured or killed or maimed. And all of a sudden, a new way of life is being introduced into Iraq, a chance for people to express their beliefs and their opinions. I believe democracies can take hold in parts of the world that have been condemned to tyranny. And I believe when democracies take hold, it leads to peace. That's been the proven example around the world. Democracies equal peace. And that's what we're trying to achieve in this administration."

George W. Bush, 12/12/2005:

"Oh, I know some fear the possibility that Iraq could break apart and fall into a civil war. I don't believe these fears are justified."

George W. Bush, 4/19/2004:

"And there's no doubt in my mind that Iraq will be free and democratic and peaceful."

You know you need to worry when there's no doubt in his mind.