Tag: Iraq

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Sen. Marco Rubio: The Iraq War Was Not A Mistake

Sen. Marco Rubio, speaking to Chris Wallace of Fox News, gets into a bit of a word salad here trying to answer the question “Knowing what we know now, would you have invaded Iraq?”

Clearly Rubio doesn’t want to criticize the decision made a decade ago, but he won’t come out and say “no – knowing what we know today I would not have gone to war with Iraq.”

He hedges on “the world is better off without Hussein” and “we may have done things differently” but never actually says he would have chosen differently. A lot of parsing going on here so as to not inflame the hawks.

Oh, and he seems to say that he thought Manny Pacquiao was going to win his recent boxing match. That says something in itself about his observations of the world.

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Aussie comedian has a great idea for Westboro Baptist Church

After the passing of Robin Williams, the always inappropriate Westboro Baptist Church have said they will picket his funeral for his crime of being “a fag lover.”

The Last Leg Australian comedian Adam Hills has a proposition for WBC – Hills offers to fly 12 members of the church first class to Iraq so they can picket those who are beheading Christians who refuse to convert.

Sounds like a great idea. I’d even chip in to make it happen.

(tipped by TRR reader William)

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FOX News Megyn Kelly to Dick Cheney: You got it wrong on Iraq

Former Vice-President Dick Cheney and Liz Cheney went on FOX News with Megyn Kelly to try to promote their new nonprofit organization, Alliance for a Strong America.

But Kelly wasn’t having any of it. After introducing Cheney “the man who helped lead us into Iraq in the first place,” she quoted his recent Wall Street Journal op-ed where he blamed President Obama for all things Iraq. “Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many,” they wrote.

And then she said, “Time and time again, history has proven that you got it wrong as well in Iraq, sir.”

Watch the exchange below.

(via Talking Points Memo)

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Rachel Maddow chats on The Daily Show about new documentary “Why We Did It”

Rachel Maddow stopped by The Daily Show to chat on her new documentary Why We Did It on MSNBC.

Of course, Maddow’s detractors will hate it, but I’ve always thought it odd that after all those years in Iraq, and the lives lost and injured, so many conservative hawks never want to own up to the fact that the reasons we were at war kept changing. And our goals kept changing.

Remember “weapons of mass destruction?” None found. Remember “shock and awe?” It was going to be over in a matter of days. The Iraqis won’t know what hit them. We’ll be welcomed as liberators. The oil in Iraq will pay for the war.

None of that was true. And no one ever stepped up and said “we screwed up.”

If you care about America, surely these questions would concern you. As would the absence of answers.

Rachel Maddow’s documentary is available online here.

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Ten years ago today: May 1, 2003

  • 4,474 soldiers dead
  • Nearly 32,000 wounded US soldiers
  • Veteran suicide rate now at 22 per day
  • At least 112, 000 Iraqi civilians dead
  • Total direct death tol of at least 176,000
  • Estimated excess death toll of more than 650,000 Iraqis
  • $1.7 trillion spent by the USA
  • Projected total expense of more that $6 trillion
  • Still no WMDs

But remember – “Mission Accomplished…”

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Rick Perry would send US troops back to Iraq

Texas Gov. Rick “bang bang” Perry said he “would send troops back into Iraq” at the GOP presidential debate in Manchester, NH.

With American forces out the country, Perry said, Iran would take over Iraq, “literally at the speed of light.”

The last American troops left Iraq before Christmas, after eight years of war that cost the lives of 4,400 U.S. troops and between $3 trillion and $5 trillion in lost economic output.

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Last U.S. troops leave Iraq

The last U.S. soldiers rolled out of Iraq across the border to neighboring Kuwait at daybreak Sunday, whooping, fist bumping and hugging each other in a burst of joy and relief.

The mission cost nearly 4,500 American and well more than 100,000 Iraqi lives and $800 billion from the U.S. Treasury. The question of whether it was worth it all is yet unanswered.

The low-key exit stood in sharp contrast to the high octane start of the war, which began before dawn on March 20, 2003, with an airstrike in southern Baghdad where Saddam was believed to be hiding.

The Iraq Body Count website says more than 100,000 Iraqis have been killed since the U.S. invasion. The vast majority were civilians.

The U.S. plans to keep a robust diplomatic presence in Iraq, foster a deep and lasting relationship with the nation and maintain a strong military force in the region.

More at NPR

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Chris Matthews: Hearings on no Iraq WMD

I watch Chris Matthews “Hardball” everyday. He is absolutely honest, direct and fair with every guest that comes on his show. Democrat or Repub, he demands honesty and direct answers. I’ve seen him call out anyone who tries to double-speak their way out of something.

Yesterday, in light of the fact that more and more people have come forward saying there was no evidence of WMD in Iraq. Over 4,500 American soldiers have died and over 100,000 Iraqis have died. “Curveball” – the Iraqi who said the weapons were there now admits he made it up. Rumsfeld now admits we had no evidence.

The war in Iraq was sold to the US people with the scare tactic that Iraq HAD Weapons of Mass Destruction and they were “coming to get us.” This, after 9/11, made the US people so afraid that they supported the war.

If the last administration had come to the US people and said “Hussein’s a bad guy – we’re going to invade a country that has never attacked us and lose 4,500 American lives to free the Iraqi people” the country never would have supported the war.

We’ve also spent over $770 billion on the war there. Talk about spending and deficits!

Watch Chris Matthew’s end of show yesterday. He tells it straight. I want answers too.