Why We Invaded Iraq

[bourbon]

We'll likely never know. If Bush writes a memoir, he may or may not be totally honest and even if he is fairly honest, later events can color the memory. I strongly doubt anyone else really knows what drove his decisions. So all of, us including Record and future historians are or will be speculating to an extent. Mayhap the 2033 declas will provide more...

NBC News correspondent Richard Engel interviewed President Bush last year, reportedly he had some pretty candid comments.

Among the excerpts of the interview captured in Engel’s new book, “War Journal: My Five Years in Iraq”:

- “‘This is the great war of our times. It is going to take forty years,’” [Bush told Engel]. “Bush said in forty years the world would know if the war on terrorism, and conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, had reduced extremism, helped moderates, and promoted democracy.”

- Bush admits to Engel that going to war was a decision based on his personal instinct and not on any long-range strategy for the Mideast:

“I know people are saying we should have left things the way they were, but I changed after 9/11. I had to act. I don’t care if it created more enemies. I had to act.”

In the tidal wave of memoirs soon to be unleashed, there is only one potential book that I would really be interested in reading: Cheney’s. As Brent Scowcoft’s comment illustrates best: "The real anomaly in the administration is Cheney…..I consider Cheney a good friend -- I've known him for 30 years. But Dick Cheney I don't know anymore." What’s the story there?

[Ken White]

...In the tidal wave of memoirs soon to be unleashed, there is only one potential book that I would really be interested in reading: Cheney’s. As Brent Scowcoft’s comment illustrates best: "The real anomaly in the administration is Cheney…..I consider Cheney a good friend -- I've known him for 30 years. But Dick Cheney I don't know anymore." What’s the story there?

I'd trust Cheney's version about as far as I could throw the Capitol. Devious dude -- and a very poor VP and SecDef IMO. I worked under every SecDef except the very first and the last three. Rumsfeld was a piece of work but he, much as I despise micromanagers, across the board did a better job than Cheney. Louis Johnson was hands down the worst, followed closely by McNamara, Charley Wilson, Lovett, Gates and Clifford. Rumsfeld is in the middle of the pack but he's ahead of Cheney...

I think Cheney was the big Republican donors price for supporting Bush and the baggage he brought with him in the form of Wolfotwits and Feith among others has not been beneficial.