I haven't posted much political stuff, but...

Pentagon report says ex-policy chief gave questionable info to White House..

WASHINGTON - Intelligence provided by former undersecretary of defense Douglas J. Feith to buttress the White House case for invading Iraq included "reporting of dubious quality or reliability" that supported the political views of senior administration officials rather than the conclusions of the intelligence community, according to a report by the Pentagon's inspector general.

Feith's office "was predisposed to finding a significant relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda," according to portions of the report, released yesterday by Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.). The inspector general described Feith's activities as "an alternative intelligence assessment process."

 

Well, just before the invasion of Iraq in '02 I was considering joining the Army, but decided not to because I believed at the time (indeed since Sept. 11th) that we would be invading Iraq and that it would be a mistake. It's not that I was unwilling to die for my country, more that I didn't want to risk it for such a frivolous cause.

Well, after reading about the results of the Pentagon's internal investigation of the actions taken by one of their former leader I have to say I'm glad I didn't. It really seemed to me back then that there was nothing Sadamm could have done to avert war.

I'm not really sure what drove him (heck, I just know what is printed in the papers). Did he just fall in love with the idea of being a war time president? Did he truly believe everything he was saying? Or did he just make him self believe it because of "victory disease" as the Japanese would come to call it after WWII?

Whatever the reason, we're in Iraq now, and it seems to be stuck there. Unlike what many in the newly elected Democratic majority seem to think, it's my belief that at this point we can't just leave. There can't be a phased redeployment starting immediately, no troop with drawls.

Lets face it, we blew them to kingdom come, and now they are left with a weak government that is in capable of defending it's self against Al-Quida insurgents and sectarian militants. If this "unity" government in Iraq were to fail, I have no doubt that no matter who stepped in we, and the entier middle east community would be significantly worse off.

Oh well, perhaps next time we find our selves in a highly charged political environment calling for war against some tiny nation for whatever dubious reason the leaders of the day will look back on Iraq, then on Vietnam, and think better of it.

Link to full MSNBC news item