{"id":2009,"date":"2014-06-16T12:38:21","date_gmt":"2014-06-16T17:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/?p=2009"},"modified":"2014-06-16T13:08:39","modified_gmt":"2014-06-16T18:08:39","slug":"waldman-on-iraq-lets-ignore-those-who-got-it-all-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/waldman-on-iraq-lets-ignore-those-who-got-it-all-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Waldman: On Iraq, Let\u2019s Ignore Those Who Got it All Wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Good advice from Paul Waldman:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h2><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/plum-line\/wp\/2014\/06\/13\/on-iraq-lets-ignore-those-who-got-it-all-wrong\/\">On Iraq, let\u2019s ignore those who got it all wrong<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>BY PAUL WALDMAN June 13<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-content inline-video\">\n<div class=\"posttv-video-embed\" data-uuid=\"1980986a-f317-11e3-8d66-029598e98add\" data-processed=\"1\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/posttv\/c\/embed\/1980986a-f317-11e3-8d66-029598e98add?e=null\" width=\"600\" height=\"330\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class=\"inline-video-caption\"><span class=\"pb-caption\" style=\"color: #6e6e6e;\">President Obama said that though the U.S. has &#8220;enormous interest&#8221; in Iraq, it is &#8220;ultimately up to the Iraqis&#8221; to resolve their conflicts. He said the U.S. is looking at options to support the Iraqi government without sending in troops.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<p>At noon today, President Obama issued his first statement on the deteriorating situation on Iraq. \u201cThis is not solely or even primarily a military challenge,\u201d he said. \u201cThe United States will do our part, but understand that ultimately it\u2019s up to the Iraqis as a sovereign nation to solve their problems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Obama left the door open to unspecified \u201cactions,\u201d but repeated that the Iraqis themselves had to seize the opportunity that the years of American effort gave them.<\/p>\n<p>This will no doubt be greeted by the President\u2019s opponents with something akin to apoplexy. They will be arguing that in fact the problem does have a military solution, that the U.S. can solve it, and that whatever is happening, everything would be better if we applied more force.<\/p>\n<p>We have now reached the rather ironic situation in Iraq where we find ourselves <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/middle_east\/volunteers-flock-to-defend-baghdad-as-insurgents-seize-more-iraqi-territory\/2014\/06\/13\/10d46f9c-f2c8-11e3-914c-1fbd0614e2d4_story.html\">allied with Iran<\/a> in an effort to save the corrupt and thuggish government of Nouri al-Maliki, while the army we spent eight years training falls apart. I\u2019m not going to pretend to have unique insight into Iraqi politics (I\u2019d suggest reading <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/monkey-cage\/wp\/2014\/06\/12\/iraq-trapped-between-isis-and-maliki\/\">Marc Lynch<\/a>, for starters, as a way of getting up to speed on what has led to this point).<\/p>\n<p>But there are few people who understand Iraq less than the Republican politicians and pundits who are being sought out for their comments on the current situation.<\/p>\n<p>As you watch the debate on this issue, you should remind yourself that the most prominent voices being heard are the very ones who brought us the Iraq War in the first place, who promised that everything was simple and the only question was whether we\u2019d be \u201cstrong\u201d and \u201cdecisive\u201d enough \u2014 the same thing they\u2019re saying today. They\u2019re the ones who swore that Saddam was in cahoots with Al Qaeda, that he had a terrifying arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, that the war would be quick, easy and cheap, that since Iraq was a largely secular country we wouldn\u2019t have to worry about sectarian conflict, and that democracy would spread throughout the region in short order, bringing peace and prosperity along with it.<\/p>\n<p>We can start with the man on every TV producer and print reporter\u2019s speed dial, John McCain. McCain does provide something important to journalists: whatever the issue of the moment is, he can be counted on to offer angry, bitter criticism of the Obama administration, giving the \u201cbalance\u201d every story needs. The fact that he has never demonstrated the slightest bit of understanding of Iraq is no bar at all to being the most quoted person on the topic.<\/p>\n<p>For context, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/all-in\/watch\/wait-mccain-was-wrong-on-iraq-yup-279981123648\">here\u2019s a nice roundup<\/a> of some of the things McCain said when he was pushing to invade Iraq in the first place. When asked if Iraqis were going to greet us as liberators, he answered, \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d He said, \u201cPost-Saddam Hussein Iraq is going to be paid for by the Iraqis\u201d with their oil wealth (the war ended up costing the American taxpayer upwards of $2 trillion). And my favorite: \u201cThere is not a history of clashes that are violent between Sunnis and Shias, so I think they can probably get along.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The conflict between Sunnis and Shiites is the central dynamic of the Iraq conflict, of course. Yet today, the media once again seek out John McCain\u2019s wisdom and insight on Iraq, which is kind of like saying, \u201cJeez, it looks like we might be lost \u2014 we really need to ask Mr. Magoo for directions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of late, he has a habit of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/rachel-maddow-show\/mccain-left-classified-briefing-after-only-matter-minutes\">walking out in the middle of briefings<\/a> where he might actually learn what\u2019s going on so he can head to the cameras and express his dudgeon. His <a href=\"http:\/\/politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com\/2014\/01\/12\/mccain-send-petraeus-back-to-iraq\/\">current genius idea<\/a> is for the administration to rehire David Petraeus and send him to Iraq, where he\u2019ll\u2026do something or other. He showed his deep knowledge yesterday by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2014\/06\/john-mccain-iraq-criticize-barack-obama-107780.html\">saying<\/a> \u201cAl Qaeda is now the richest terrorist organization in history,\u201d apparently unaware that ISIS, the group sweeping through Iraq, is not in fact the same thing as Al Qaeda.<\/p>\n<p>And the rest of the neocon gang is getting back together. Here\u2019s Lindsey Graham <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/news\/politics\/republicans-demand-u-s-airstrikes-iraq-violence-grows-article-1.1827228\">advocating for American airstrikes<\/a> \u2014 and I promise you that if the administration does in fact launch them, Graham will say they weren\u2019t \u201cstrong\u201d enough. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.weeklystandard.com\/articles\/obama-s-iraq_794950.html\">Here\u2019s Max Boot<\/a> saying that what we need is just short of another invasion of Iraq: \u201cU.S. military advisers, intelligence personnel, Predators, and Special Operations Forces, along with enhanced military aid, in return for political reforms designed to bring Shiites and Sunnis closer together.\u201d Former Bush administration official and <a href=\"http:\/\/prospect.org\/article\/mark-thiessen-explains-exotic-muslim-and-his-ways#114570\">torture advocate<\/a> Marc Thiessen <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aei-ideas.org\/2014\/06\/bush-warned-this-would-happen-in-iraq\/\">is appalled<\/a> that Barack Obama squandered George W. Bush\u2019s glorious Iraq victory.<\/p>\n<p>And Bill Kristol, who may have done more than any single person outside the Bush administration to make the war a reality, and whose predictions and assessments about the war were <a href=\"http:\/\/glenngreenwald.blogspot.com\/2007\/01\/bill-kristol-pundit-superstar.html\">so spectacularly wrong<\/a> they constituted their own genre of stupidity? <a href=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/blogs\/politics\/2014\/06\/washingtons-whiplash-week\/\">He\u2019ll be<\/a> on ABC News\u2019 \u201cThis Week\u201d on Sunday, so he can enlighten us about what\u2019s really going on.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re facing yet another awful and complex situation in the Middle East where we have a limited set of options, and none of them are good. But whenever you hear anyone say that the answer is simple and that being \u201cstrong\u201d is the key \u2014 as one conservative after another will no doubt be saying in the coming days \u2014 don\u2019t forget what happened the last time the country listened to them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>[ NOTE: Updated after original posting to fill in the links from the original. Steve, 6\/16\/14, 13:08 ]<\/em><\/p>\n<!-- sktbuilder starter --><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/plugins\/skt-builder\/sktbuilder\/sktbuilder-frontend-starter.js\"><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/plugins\/skt-builder\/sktbuilder-wordpress-driver.js\"><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> var starter = new SktbuilderStarter({\"mode\": \"prod\", \"skip\":[\"jquery\",\"underscore\",\"backbone\"],\"sktbuilderUrl\": \"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/plugins\/skt-builder\/sktbuilder\/\", \"driver\": new SktbuilderWordpressDriver({\"ajaxUrl\": \"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\", \"iframeUrl\": \"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/waldman-on-iraq-lets-ignore-those-who-got-it-all-wrong\/?sktbuilder=true\", \"pageId\": 2009,  \"nonce\": \"79842fc7b4\", \"pages\": [{\"title\":\"NTD Officers\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/napervilledemocrats.org\\\/ntdo\\\/wp-admin\\\/post.php?post=475&action=sktbuilder\"},{\"title\":\"2022 Election\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/napervilledemocrats.org\\\/ntdo\\\/wp-admin\\\/post.php?post=11490&action=sktbuilder\"}], \"page\": \"Waldman: On Iraq, Let\u2019s Ignore Those Who Got it All Wrong\" }) });<\/script><!-- end sktbuilder starter -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Good advice from Paul Waldman: On Iraq, let\u2019s ignore those who got it all wrong BY PAUL WALDMAN June 13 President Obama said that though the U.S. has &#8220;enormous interest&#8221;<br \/><a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/waldman-on-iraq-lets-ignore-those-who-got-it-all-wrong\/\">+ Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[135,137,12,40,60,136],"class_list":["post-2009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-iraq","tag-mccain","tag-obama","tag-speeches","tag-waldman","tag-war-pundits"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Iraq_pic_1_0.jpg?fit=780%2C498&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2BzCg-wp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2009"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2017,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009\/revisions\/2017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}