To say I told you so. The current mia culpas coming from the right almost cry out for it. I could point out that all of us who criticized this war were called traitors, Bush Haters and worse. But not…

Ah, to have the wisdom of Victor Davis Hanson and team it with the historical perspectiev of, say, a May Fly.

VDH— an icon of wrongness.

In all these cases, it is hard to see without a Lincoln, Churchill, FDR, or Truman, how civilization would have withstood the forces of chattel slavery, fascism, or communism. So too in our own time. Whatever one says about George W. Bush, it is not at all clear that an Al Gore would have gone to Afghanistan after 9/11. And despite the acrimony over Iraq (a war sanctioned in October 2002 by a majority of Democratic Senators, and supported by 75% of the populace when Saddam’s statue fell), almost any other politician would long ago have bailed on the enterprise—given the unprecedented level of slurs. Each day another low point is reached—to kill George Bush by now has been the subject of a Broadway Play, late-night comedy, an Alfred Knopf Novel, and recently a new British docu-drama.

And yet here we are, 5 years after 9/11 without another attack, and struggling democracies fighting terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq.

I have no confidence that Mr. Bush’s approval ratings will return to 50%, but a great deal that history will look kindly on his resolve. And while I can fathom the hysterical Left’s hatred of him, and perhaps even the crazy attacks from the paleo-right, what is inexplicable and unpardonable is the venom from the neocon erstwhile supporters of Iraq.

And I bet none of you people have the wisdom of VDH-who still supports President Bush and the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns in the WOT.

Now..not so much.

Be patient. The U.S. will come back. 20, 40, 100 years from now, Americans will look back on this time and say “Never again.” They will learn from the mistakes and cowardice of the Americans of this generation.

America will return to her former glory. It just may not be in our lifetimes.

Never underestimate the resilience of this country.

Here is what you originally said…

In fact, I will go so far to say that were things to play out the same way again today, given the same information, the same state the country was in post 9/11, I would probably do the same exact thing.

and here is your revised statement

if we were warped back in time, absent any knowledge of what has happened in the past 4-5 years, to the same exact spot we were during the run-up to the war, I probably would have acted the same way.

in reality, the second statement is meaningless… whereas the first statement says “I’ve learned nothing over the past five years. I haven’t learned to be more skeptical of those in power, more wary of my own instinctive/emotional reactions, and more respectful of those who disagree with me.”

Its the kind of statement that, were we ever to arrange to meet, would compel me to show up wearing an “I’m with Stupid” T-shirt.

Now, the fact is that you aren’t that stupid—for example, you are more than willing to raise serious questions about military action against Iran. Five years ago, if Bush had been selling a war against Iran rather than Iraq, you would have bought into it lock, stock, and barrel.

Bottom line…your original statement was an attempt to avoid admitting that you were an idiot back in 2002-2003… Well you’re still an idiot, because you don’t recognize (or won’t acknowledge) that you have learned something over the past five years.

Those of us who opposed the war in Iraq from the start weren’t the people who suffered from Bush Derangement Syndrome, it was people like you. We were the ones being skeptical, asking the questions, and seeing clearly. You weren’t. The information was available—you were just too “deranged” by 9/11 to process it.

The whole point of hindsight or retrospection or history is to identify the places in which we could have done things differently—not through superhuman effort, just by seeing or thinking about things differently, taking advantage of opportunities we missed or rejected then. Ideally, we’ll use the pattern-seeking capabilities of our primate brain to recognize similar situations in the future and use our hard-worn knowledge to avoid making that particular mistake again. But as we know, what’s ideal is not universal or even common.

Which is why the escalating campaign for war on Iran should fail, but won’t.

This is the first time in I’ve given serious thought to moving to New Zealand

Don’t do it, man. They’re sheep down there.

Was over at OB reading about this article..the one that John posted.

Just passing it on if someone wants to look it up:

The best part is Saddam Hussein fired Parsons Corp. back in the 1980s, apparently for their incompetence in failing to build a subway for Baghdad on-time and on-budget.

Posted by: BruceR | September 28, 2006 at 01:30 PM

Don’t know if it’s metaphor, but if true..really, really fucking satiricaaly sad to me. It isn’t just the Police Academy, but a lot of other buildings. I thik even the Soviets left better buildings when they occupied or “advised” countries…now THAT is pathetic.

Hmm, In the UK , the Northern Islands troubles used be responsible for around 100 deaths a year(mainly in NI).

AQ and chums have managed to kill 52 people since ,say,2001
10 a year ?
Around 50 people a year commit suicide by jumping in front of a london underground train.

Now..not so much

Yep. It’s a very sad thing. Bush has done what even Nixon and Reagan couldn’t do, he’s broken the heart of the American dream.

This is the first time in I’ve given serious thought to moving to New Zealand. Or Hong Kong. Or China. Shit, at the rate things are going, in 5 years China will have the moral high ground vis-a-vis the US.

RSA Says:

I forgot about anthrax! Inconceivable, given what just happened to Olberman.

That was just a prank, probably fraternal in nature. Remember if it happens to sworn enemies of the United States, within (liberals) and without (terrorists), its a prank.