W's war rationale is looking a bit iffy

NY Daily News ^ | July 22, 2003 | Richard Cohen

[presidio9]

Is President Bush the Iraq war's "useful idiot"? The phrase was coined by Vladimir Lenin to refer to Communist sympathizers who believed what they were told - and what they were told was mostly lies. It could be somewhat the same with Bush. He may well be the last person to believe the Iraq war was waged virtually in self-defense. He believes that dictator Saddam Hussein was on the verge of obtaining nuclear weapons, and other weapons of mass destruction, and was linked to Osama Bin Laden.

[Paul Atreides]

I can just picture these people in the 1940s, moping because Hitler was defeated.

Ooops! I forgot, there was a Dim in the WH at the time. He would have nothing to fear.

[johnfl61]

More garbage from dimbulb,DemonRat Cohen.

[Straight Vermonter]

I think Bush, unlike most in the media, is looking at Iraq as merely one battle in the larger campaign. Does that justify it? I think the relative level of peace that exists 10 years from now will say yes or no.

Many thought Reagan a fool for walking away empty handed at Reykjavik. A few years later he looked like a genius. Time will tell.

[onedoug]

And that Dim bought pretty much the same argument from Einstein about a Hitlerian nuclear weapons project. Oops.

[Free ThinkerNY]

Cohen is a "useless idiot."

[PISANO]

Cohen is a COMMIE LOVING socialist whose words are not worthy of this forum. A GOP, GW and WASP, Catholic and Christian HATER extrodinaire!!

[Burkeman1]

I can put it another way. I remember when a majority of Freepers were opposed to Clinton's Kosovo war as an obvious fraud. But now that a Republican is in the White House and waging an equally dubious war for equally if not more utopion goals (turning Iraq into a western Democracy) a lot of people around here are reduced to Carvillian word parsing defenses of Bush.

[Mr. Mojo]

Gee, I wonder if Cohen wrote articles questioning the legitimacy of our going to war in Kosovo, despite the fact that Slobo posed no threat whatsoever, even peripherally?

</ rhetorical question>

[Bahbah]

Good point about Reagan.

[Sir Gawain]

It's not utopian goals. It's a multi stage military strategy.

[Mr. Mojo]

Gee, I wonder if Cohen wrote articles questioning the legitimacy of our going to war in Kosovo, despite the fact that Slobo posed no threat to us whatsoever, even peripherally?

</ rhetorical question>

[Shermy]

Cohen apparently wrote the following in 1998. Can anyone find the whole article???

"Both countries backed down -- one the world's only superpower, the other a Third World country, short of everything but gall," he declared. "Something is out of balance here. The Clinton administration waited too long to act. It needed to punch out Iraq's lights, and it did not do so."

[gov_bean_ counter]

Little Dickie needs to just keep on believing that about GW. Be fine with me. Even better if he will continue to convince his Dem buds of the same thing.

[ThinkDifferent]

equally if not more utopion goals (turning Iraq into a western Democracy)

No. The Iraq war is part of a plan to civilize the Arab world in order to prevent them from trying to kill us. It is a self-interested act by the US and our allies. See this post by Steven Den Beste for an extremely detailed explanation.

a lot of people around here are reduced to Carvillian word parsing defenses of Bush.

Not remotely comparable. Bush's statement was true in both letter and spirit. To this day the Brits are standing by their intelligence.

[MJY1288]

The only people parsing GWB's words is the Democrats and their echo chamber known as the mainstream press and YOU!

The sixteen words in his SOTU are plain and simple, it's only the people blinded by hate who can't comprehend them or want to read more into that sentence than it reads.

Now! you can keep falling for the leftist drivel from the press if you want. I chose to think for myself. As far as comparing Clinton escapades into Kosovo over his claims of 100,000 dead in ethnic cleansing to why went into Iraq, It reveals your ignorance

[RightWhale]

It's not utopian goals.

Actually, it is. The Core, that's us, is required to provide security in the Gap, that's them. This action is a moral necessity, and also required if we are to continue to enjoy the highest sustained standard of living in all history. That's from the Pentagon.

[Irene Adler]

"See this post by Steven Den Beste for an extremely detailed explanation."

Excellent piece! Thanks for the link.

[Burkeman1]

I think saying Iraq was a direct and immediate threat to us is now a laughable lie. But to be honest - even if he had a gazillion tons of WMDS, a fleet of drones that could deliver them over our cities, and ICBMS I would still say he was not an immediate threat.

[The Brush]

I always thought the whole "useful idiot" thing was used to describe people who helped the socialist agenda by opposing America.
How is it that they know the term but can't see their reflection when they look at it?