Clinton: The big mistake of the Iraq war

[DoYouEverWonder]

The dam has burst. Former president Bill Clinton's verdict that the war in Iraq was "a big mistake" is echoing around the world

http://www.independent.co.uk/

18 November 2005

The dam has burst. Former president Bill Clinton's verdict that the war in Iraq was "a big mistake" is echoing around the world.

The unease, the misgivings, and downright opposition can be contained no longer. From Senate Republicans, to one of the most influential Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill yesterday, the message has been the same. The Iraq war has been a disaster, and the sooner American troops leave the better. The alarm was sounded on Capitol Hill on Tuesday when Senate Republicans and Democrats joined forces to demand the White House explain every three months how it intends to "complete the mission" in Iraq.

The next day, Mr Clinton weighed in from the Middle East, saying the war as it unfolded was "a big mistake". It was a good thing Saddam Hussein had gone, the former president said, "but I don't agree with what was done". The administration underestimated "how easy it would be to overthrow Saddam and how hard it would be to unite the country".

He said President George Bush had made "several errors, including the total dismantlement of the authority structure of Iraq". He added: "We never sent enough troops and didn't have enough troops to control or seal the borders." Across those porous borders, "the terrorists came in. That was the central mistake, and we're still living with that".

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article327773.ece

[truthisfreedom]

1. he's righteously calling bush and company "goofballs."

and he's exactly right.

[Mizmoon]

2. Well that only took way too long

have these people been blind all these years, or just stupid?

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. Until recently former Presidents would bend over backwards

to avoid criticizing a sitting President, especially when overseas. Between Clinton and Carter coming out last week, the WH has suffered some major blows that hopefully they will never recover from.

[Skittles]

5. THANK YOU

WTF?? IT WAS ALWAYS A G.D. DISASTER

[uniden]

6. they're politicians

going with the wind. All supported the war then, so all should shut up now, or at least admit that they were wrong too.

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. I don't recall Bill Clinton supporting the war

I think you are confusing him with Hillary?

[Warren Stupidity]

11. I think not, and google agrees.

For example:

"I have repeatedly defended President Bush against the left on Iraq, even though I think he should have waited until the U.N. inspections were over," Clinton said in a Time magazine interview that will hit newsstands Monday, a day before the publication of his book "My Life."

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/19/clinton.iraq/

And he continues today with the DLC line that the Iraqi Blunder is a management problem not a criminal act of unprovoked aggression.

[uniden]

13. suppose what you say it's true

why didn't he oppose him then? Now that most people agree, it's easy to jump in and say "me too."

[bluestateguy]

4. And now of course the Clinton bashing will come from the RW Echo Machine

and the thing is, that Clinton probably would have kept his mouth shut if the Bush people did not try to claim support for the Iraq war by basically saying "Well, Clinton said he had WMD's too you know"; as well as playing old quotes and clips of Clinton to show that the war must be as much or more the fault of the Democrats too. Clinton is not going to put up with that shit.

[leesa]

7. Wrong. It was illegal and immoral. Thsi BS about how the invasion wasn't

properly structured is sick. The invasion itself was WRONG.

[enough]

9. Right. "Mistake" is not the word for it.

[Briar]

15. Exactly - the big mistake was fighting it in the first place. n/t

[Barrett808]

16. Furthermore, the "foreign fighters" analysis is completely wrong

Strange that he would make that assertion.

[DeepModem Mom]

10. I hadn't thought about this from a foreign view --

When you travel outside the U.S., people constantly bring up Clinton, and I've never met any of them who didn't express enormous respect and affection for him. This statement of his will resonate beyond our shores, probably more than here in the U.S.

[jbfam4]

12. This was in the Washington Post on Wednesday

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=173411&mesg_id=173411

[RazzleDazzle]

14. Well, gee. How fucking hard IS it to dump on Bush when he's in

the toilet ratings-wise anyway?

Very damn few of our illustrious Democrats could be counted on to help push him into the toilet, but boy, once there, they just can't wait to pile on. These aren't NEW thoughts of Clinton's, by any means. Why wait til now? Oh, because it's safe, that's why.

I expected way more and better from him.