GOP: ‘Would Agree That Iraq Was A Mistake’

Really??

Seems like only yesterday and thousands of soldiers lives, killed and maimed, tens of thousands of Iraqi's lives with millions made into refugee's in their country or fled to their neighbors, least we forget the multi billions of dollars spent and outright lost as well!

Back then we heard this:

Bush: 10 Million People is 'Focus Group'

Antiwar Protests Fail to Sway Bush on Plans for Iraq

February 20, 2003 President Bush dismissed antiwar protests today as a factor in his plans for confronting Iraq and pressed ahead with a strategy to persuade reluctant allies that United Nations weapons inspections would not secure the disarmament of Saddam Hussein.

In his first public comments about the antiwar demonstrations by millions of people over the weekend in the United States and abroad, Mr. Bush said his overriding goal was to protect the American people and that leadership sometimes involved bucking public opinion.

"Size of protest — it's like deciding, well, I'm going to decide policy based upon a focus group," Mr. Bush said in response to a reporter's question at the White House. "The role of a leader is to decide policy based upon the security, in this case, the security of the people." -->-->-->

As that invasion destroyed the security by creating more hatreds of us!!

Now the 'super patriots' are singing another tune, as we still have soldiers in that theater, and it's grown worse in the then ignored theater of opporations and occupation, and yes dying!

GOP Congressmen Say That ‘Everyone’ In Congress ‘Would Agree That Iraq Was A Mistake’

Yesterday, the libertarian Cato Institute hosted a panel discussion on conservatism and the war in Afghanistan with Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-TN). When the conversation shifted to the war in Iraq, Rohrabacher said that “once President Bush decided to go into Iraq, I thought it was a mistake because we hadn’t finished the job in Afghanistan,” but that once Bush “decided to go in,” he “felt compelled” to “back him up.” He then added that “the decision to go in, in retrospect, almost all of us think that was a horrible mistake.”

Snip

Asked for a number by Norquist, Duncan refused to say, but shared an anecdote of how unpopular the war is politically in his conservative military district. Watch it:



Rest Found Here

The Iraq war: still a massive mistake

The Iraq war is now being declared a success by some who point to recent progress. But the March 7 elections won’t change the tremendous cost in lives, money, US image, and geopolitics.

There’s a growing narrative that Iraq’s solidifying democracy makes the seven years of US war and occupation a worthy enterprise.

Some observers have even spun Iraq’s March 7 elections as proof that democracy promotion via military occupation can succeed. Don’t believe the hype. The Iraq war remains a mistake of mammoth proportions. And Iraq’s election represents a pyrrhic victory, as the economic, political, and moral costs of the occupation far outweigh any benefits.

First are the sacrifices in terms of blood and treasure. The broad consensus is that the war has cost the US economy well over $700 billion – with the meter still running. The Iraq war has also left nearly 4,400 American troops dead, more than 31,000 physically disabled, and countless more psychologically traumatized.

Snip

A fourth consequence of the war in Iraq – and one that should determine whether it is deemed a “success” – is that it did little to keep America safe from Al Qaeda, the perpetrators of 9/11. In this respect, what makes “Bush’s war” in Iraq arguably one of the biggest strategic blunders in US history is not just the litany of failures it caused but the opportunities America lost. The disaster in Iraq diverted badly needed intelligence assets, public attention, and congressional oversight from the forgotten war in Afghanistan.

Maybe that’s why two GOP members of Congress who recently visited the Cato Institute in Washington revealed that most Republicans on the Hill now believe the Iraq war was a mistake. They also said that “more than half the Republican caucus” believes the way the US began the Afghanistan war was a mistake. Today, polls show that most Americans say the invasion of Iraq was a “mistake” and “not worth it.” -->-->-->