ParaPundit: Mistake To Overthrow Saddam Hussein, Moammar Gadhafi

ParaPundit: Mistake To Overthrow Saddam Hussein, Moammar Gadhafi

comment:

The author was quite emphatic about his opposition to the Iraq War from the beginning.  I've been reading his blog for a long, long time-- I know.  His opposition to Iraq is part of the reason for its failure, which I will note below.

Now, here's the problem:  Sure Bush made a mistake going into Iraq.  But why was it a mistake?  Not because of what would happen over there ( rise of Isis was not due to the invasion, but the failure of it ), but for what happened over HERE ( which caused the failure in the first place ).

Bush could not sustain the political will to see the operation to a final, successful conclusion.  He won the war ( so did Nixon in Vietnam ), but lost the peace ( so did Nixon when he had to resign because of Watergate ).  

In each instance, the biggest problem with the war was with the political left.  For example, Nixon's failure was understandable in the sense that he inherited Vietnam.  Bush's failure is that he chose a policy that could not be sustained over the time period required.  America cannot sustain such wars for such a long period because of the political left.  Nixon didn't choose Vietnam, but Bush chose Iraq.  Nixon's failure was unavoidable, but Bush's was.  ( Both failed to take into account the left. )  Bush should have learned from Nixon, but he did worse in choosing a war that he could not see to a final successful conclusion.  The left was going to demolish whatever he accomplished in Iraq, and so they did.  In summary then, Bush failed to learn from history.  We should know from history that the political left will not allow America to win a war.

The big payoff for the left was the election of Barack Hussein Obama.  Instead of getting back at Bush, as with Nixon, they got back at America, which initially supported Bush.  So America is punished with a leftist president determined to make her suffer.

I had a bad feeling about the invasion of Iraq, and I was right.  Nothing good could come from a strategic error like that.  If you cannot keep the left at bay, you are going to lose a war.  So, don't get into a war, and especially a long one.

Unfortunately, being right isn't good enough.  Not even for something as simple as getting credit for being right.

The world doesn't work that way.

I'll be right about a lot more things before its over.  But I won't profit from it, most likely.