Selective Amnesia?
Howard Fineman, Newsweek's paragon of fairness (insert sarcasm), declares on IMUS that the problem was not the war so much as the way Bush sold the war. Fineman said that Bush could've made a more truthful and complex justification for the war by saying that Hussein, sitting on the world's second biggest oil supply, would siphon off more and more "protection money" to the Osama bin Laden's of the world. But he said that would be a clear case of preemptive war and you can't sell a preemptive war. (And going to war because Hussein had WMDs would not be preemptive?!)
But I followed along and nodded my head until it occurred to me: What the heck is he talking about? What about resolutions like 1441 that demanded Saddam Hussein allow weapons instructors in the country? What about the fact that there were conditions to the ending of the Gulf War? It's as if history began in the day the Iraq war began. The long story of Hussein's flouting the UN resolutions and enjoying his palaces while his people starved due to economic sanctions was simply forgotten as though it were dust in the Arabian wind.
It reminds me of how the "conventional wisdom" is now that Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives for adultery in the Oval Office. There is absolutely no mention of the fact that Clinton was given numerous opportunities to avoid perjuring himself and he took no avail. There were huge signs held by congressmen all along the parade route that said: "You can tell the truth now and all will be forgiven!". But the Clinton story was just like Hussein in that personal responsiblity was never the issue. It's that awful Kenneth Starr and that awful George Bush who are at fault.
But the maddening thing about Fineman and the like is that they never even throw out an occasional, "well, Hussein did throw the weapons inspectors out. He did violate the ceasefire." Perhaps, to be fair, I simply lack mercy. Prosecutors don't have to prosecute. They choose all the time not to, in fact. You could argue this was a technicality. What do Al Capone, Bill Clinton and Saddam Hussein have in common? They were all gotten on a "technicality": Capone on tax evasion, Clinton on perjury and Hussein on violating a ceasefire.
Thomas of Endlessly Rocking comes out looking good. He argued with me back in '02 or '03 that whether or not we could fight morally-speaking, should we fight is the question. He said that it would only mint new terrorists and that this war is exactly what the terrorists want. I thought that was a possibility at the time but said that evil-doers - like Hussein - have power in this world. We must react to them. But events on the ground have power too, and events on the ground say that we still can't secure the road to the Baghdad aiport.
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