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Originally Posted by mixedmedia
I believe were lied to because certain strategists in Washington believed that removing Saddam Hussein would inspire a far different reaction from Iraqis than it did and that Iraq would shortly become a model democracy in the ME from which would flow a regional renaissance toward free and open societies which would, in effect, fight terrorism for us. Not an ignoble vision, no. Ignorant of ME history and the level of sectarian volatility? Absolutely, yes.
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You're forgetting the other 2 reasons. Bush wanted to play army, and Bush wanted revenge because Saddam tried to kill his daddy.
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We were lied to because they knew that Americans would never accept such a grand and visionary adventure. "The threat" was pure smoke and mirrors.
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Absolute power corrupts absolutely. . .
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I tend think it's very important that they lied. I think it's very important that they decided to use 9/11 to try and make America into the purveyors of an unpopular and untested worldview while Bush and Cheney and Condi and Powell did a little softshoe number in front of the curtain.
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I tend to think you're absolutely right. I also tend to think it's pathetic that the American public fell for it, considering the lies were never very good to begin with.
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I'm probably the most forgiving liberal on this board when it comes to our epic failure. I agree that opening up the ME to democracy and the global economy will marginalize terrorism. As well as make a lot of rich folks a lot richer - that was the "added benefit" - and as a matter of fact, it was what led to one of our biggest mistakes. We pushed away the ME strategists and people in the neo-con movement who would question the efficacy of our plan and strategy in favor of the businessmen who understood it as a monumental opportunity to make money without really understanding the risks involved. As businessmen so often do. They are impatient and under the illusion of their own infallibilty until they lose. And they lost.
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Very good summary, and you're right on the money. They purposely excluded anyone with any expertise on the middle east because they knew full well that someone who knew what they were talking about would tell them things they didn't want to hear, such as "it will never work."