I'm a Democrat. I supported the war, and I continue to support the war. But I totally understand why the manner in which we went to war leaves many in my party feeling like they were misled. Saddam's attrocities, and threats regionally, in addition to his flouting of UN regulation were more than enough to justify regime change. Bush putting so much emphasis on an immediate threat from WMD's was uneccessary, and arguably, considering what we know now, what Colin Powel himself has said, misleading.

The main story about the Iraq, and the reason why so many lives have been lost is because of the ZERO... I repeat ZERO post war planning undertaken by the Pentagon or Defense Department. That is the real crime in this otherwise just intervention to rid the planet of one its worst ever tyrants.

Your blog is beautifully designed btw :).

Posted by Graham at November 3, 2005 10:10 AM

Graham, I have to disagree, at least in part, about the WMD issue.

To clarify one thing, first: I was raised a conservative Democrat{I've been a Republican now for about 25 years}. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line your party allowed itself to be hijacked by the far left{liberals, socialists} and has never looked back. Look at some of the really pitiful, comical statements so many Democrat politicians make to the press, the Dems of the JFK era would never have so belittled the public perception of their party as they do now.

Now, on to the present. Ever since Bush got elected in 2000, the Democratic Party{I also include the MSM} has waged an unending war against him to the exclusion of all else -- they try to block nearly every one of his nominees, they crow whenever another GI dies in Iraq, they blare false anti-war movement rhetoric that makes it seem everyone in the U.S. but Bush is against our being in Iraq, they jump on anything anti-Bush they can find without even bothering, on many occasions, to fact-check their information(much of this rhetoric sends a message to our enemy that they are "winning the hearts and minds" of Americans while also serving to attack the morale of our brave soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen who are in harm's way);

They do all they can to impede the Bush Admin's efforts to protect U.S. citizens from terrorism, masking their obstructions as issues of "human concern."

Had WMD not been available to make the centerpiece of the anti-war movement, they would have found something else. Bet on it.

You can admit it or not, but it's all about the left's War On Bush, and it is really telling about the left's true attitude towards issues like freedom, human rights and women's rights.

The Democrats never extol the great things that are happening in Iraq as a result of our actions, nor do they discuss, in any public forums, the evil perpetrated by Saddam before the coalition went in and fired him.

It's all about a political agenda taking presidence over human lives and liberties, not about the WMD.

Posted by Seth at November 3, 2005 01:19 PM

It's all about a political agenda taking presidence over human lives and liberties, not about the WMD--Seth
=================================
Yes indeedy it surely is. And more importantly when we bring it down to a manageable level, it is about 'politics' taking the place of 'patriotism'.

A sizable sub-section of the population has convinced itself that it can actively subvert the goals of its own elected government, even though the objective results of that behaviour are the potential defeat of 'our' interests and the de-facto support for a murderous cabal of Fascist/Islamist moral monsters.

With the 'official' opposition Party now determined to represent the WORST ELEMENTS of society at whatever the long-term cost, it no longer even makes sense for well intentioned people such as GM to even bother posting this type of article.

Frankly GM the answer to your suggestion that" maybe this picture will help them find a reason", is unhappily quite clear.

No F***** Way, Hose !!!

Apologies for the implied profanity but I wanted to mirror the 'intellectual left' as much as was possible without excessive self-abuse.

They don't give a rat's ass about Iraqi Freedom; they don't give a rat's ass about WMD's if it comes to that; they don't give a rat's ass if their COUNTRY fails and is subsumed by history; frankly, they don't give a rat's ass about anything other than themselves ,and it could be argued that at heart they don't even truly care about that.

What they care about is undermining the Bushitler regime. That's it; that's all.

Whatever will they do when poor George is gone? Will they have a terrible existential cri-de-coeur when the anti-being is no longer there to justify their inanity.

Probably not. They lack the imagination to be at all self-aware. Frankly they are not even historical flotsam at this point. They are merely dangerous nihilists pretending to be morally superior idealists.
As Ralph Peters just said today, and I paraphrase"

At least the Islamofascist jihadis have the courage of their twisted convictions and are willing to die for their horrible beliefs. Our effete 5th colume is not even really willing to put down their lattes for theirs.

They are the picture perfect definition of Beneath Contempt.

Posted by dougf at November 3, 2005 02:43 PM

CIA intelligence failures, Iraq War and the Democrats’ treason

Brooks News

Posted by Tian Li at November 4, 2005 10:54 AM