We need to not only remember, but grab our pitchforks and torches, and luckily for our movie plot line theme, Senate Majority Leaders Harry Reid jumps to the head of the crowd to give us an inspirational pep rally.Like a corpse that sits bolt upright when electrocuted, US neoconservatives keep springing back to life. The electric charge comes at regular intervals – Syria’s use of chemical weapons, Russia’s annexation of Crimea, China’s growing maritime assertiveness, and now the return of Sunni extremism in Iraq. Their rehabilitation is abetted by the television networks: whenever there is a global setback, the same old faces run for the cameras and claim it is 1939. That is what they do. And the media loves them for it. ... Churchill’s definition of a fanatic is someone who can’t change their mind and won’t change the subject. Every now and then the subject turns their way.
There are three things behind their growing self-confidence. First, the US public has stopped listening to Barack Obama, their supposed nemesis. ... Second, memories are short. ... Mr Bush’s Iraq invasion took place before Facebook existed and before anyone had heard of Mr Obama. ... Yet his enablers are returning to respectability. Washington’s TV studios now play regular hosts to the likes of Paul Wolfowitz, William Kristol, Robert Kagan and other members of the Project for the New American Century, the neocon group that was formed in the 1990s. None make any apology for their previous views on Iraq. Their closest friend is the media’s amnesia – or perhaps its appetite for infotainment. Mr Cheney may be discredited, even among his own crowd. But those who lent him intellectual respectability are back.
Third, ...they claim America is in decline. On this point they may be right – though not for the reasons they state. The economic rise of others has diluted its relative dominance. The neocons say that US decline is the temporary effect of a weak president. They believe it can be reversed by a simple act of will. ... On this they are wrong. But the facts tend to fit with their world view. ... Mr Obama is seemingly powerless. ... The reality is that it is a world they have hastened into being. America’s global power derives almost as much from its credibility as from its economic and military might. The TV networks may have moved past Abu Ghraib, water boarding and Lynndie England. The Arab world has not. ... On Iraq, as with Vietnam, the act of remembering is essential.
Burgess Everett of Politico recounts Harry Reid slams neocons on Iraq, and urges Americans to ignore GOP hawks and neocons who pushed America into the “biggest foreign policy blunder in the history of the country.” From the Senate floor Senator Reid called out Vice President Dick Cheney, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, columnist Bill Kristol, and even Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell for criticism.
“After all these years, their suggestions haven’t changed. They are in a time warp. Those who are the so-called experts are so eager to commit American soldiers to another war. Why is their advice so valuable?” Reid said. “To the architects of the Iraq war who are now so eager to offer their expert analysis, I say …‘Thanks but no thanks.’ Unfortunately, we have already tried it your way and it was the biggest foreign policy blunder in the history of the country.
Reid did not mince words in his response, describing Wolfowitz’s critiques of Obama’s Iraq policy as “bizarre” and clarifying that he was talking about “Billy” Kristol the writer, “not the comedian” Billy Crystal. But he saved his strongest broadside for the Cheneys.
“If there is one thing that this country does not need, it’s that we should be taking advice from Dick Cheney on wars. Being on the wrong side of Dick Cheney is to be on the right side of history,” Reid said.
I love it when Majority Leader Reid's old pugilist trash talker comes out from his days as a boxer, and he give the Republicans hell. I wish he'd do this every day. When he gets rolling he can knock em back better than anyone else we have, which I find funny, and uplifting, for some reason.
We cannot put Humpty Dumpty back together again, not with 300 military advisers, not with air strikes. There are a number of avenues we can and should pursue however. Iraq is a regional problem and potentially a global one. Secretary Kerry is right to be actively engaging the neighbors, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Arab League, and the UN Security Council, and we should listen to their considered views. ...
The situation in Iraq is destined to become much worse and remain so for a long time. We need to prepare for the possibility of a looming humanitarian crisis and ramp up efforts to cope with the potential displacement of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, including establishing safe havens, and pre-positioning food, supplies, and personnel. We also need to do all we can to bolster the efforts of our friends in the region, who will bear the brunt of any refugee exodus. Jordan and Turkey are already overburdened by refugees from the Syrian conflict. Supporting them in saving Sunni lives is a much better use of our resources than air strikes that would no doubt kill innocents and make even more enemies.
We know how to do this. In the 1990s, in the aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda, National Security Adviser Susan Rice was instrumental in creating the African Crisis Response Initiative, specifically to provide succor to vulnerable populations caught in the crossfire of a civil war. The lessons learned from that experience are relevant to the current situation in Iraq. The objective then was to stop the killing and save the innocents. That should be the same US goal now --- stop killing innocent civilian Sunnis; instead try to protect and save them.
Ambassador Wilson endured many attacks from Dick Cheney and his minions, but his credibility seems to have endured and be steadily building as he speaks from common sense and his statements seem to be backed up by the facts.