@DCGoldPants Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/09/politics/rumsfeld-no-democracy-in-iraq/index.html Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld now said that the goal of creating a democracy in Iraq was "unrealistic" and that he was "concerned" when he first heard the idea floated by former President George W. Bush, a stark admission by one of the Iraq War's biggest defenders. "I'm not one who thinks that our particular template of democracy is appropriate for other countries at every moment of their histories. The idea that we could fashion a democracy in Iraq seemed to me unrealistic. I was concerned about it when I first heard those words," Rumsfeld told the Times of London last weekend. The comments mark a rare departure for Rumsfeld, who has been one of the staunchest defenders of the Iraq War started by Bush, but also a sharp critic of President Barack Obama's handling of it. Rumsfeld also raised broader concerns that the global nation-state system faces a threat of replacement by Islamic caliphates and said that NATO and the United Nations may be unequipped to handle threats from Islamic extremists. Thanks, jerk. More from the link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The 12th Commandment Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Springfield Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Only about 12 years too late. Thanks for wasting our times, lives and money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TradeTheBeal! Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 However, the plan to create a great deal of wealth for defense contractors by creating an enormous trillion-dollar boondoggle in Irag was very realistic and worked perfectly. Also, some of us were saying this in 2004....some of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bacon Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Far too little, far too late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinsmarydu Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 One of the biggest facepalm "DUH!" statements ever made. We know, dude...we know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaGoonie55 Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 but but but....WMDs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riggo-toni Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 This is about as worthless as McNamara saying he had doubts about Vietnam 30 years later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s0crates Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Would have been nice if he said that 12 years ago while Iraq was still a stable country and before hundreds of thousands of people died. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaGoonie55 Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 I'm proud of what my unit accomplished in Mosul. We did a lot of good over there. Unfortunate that the greater country fell apart, for a plethora of reasons. I hope that area of the world gets their shizz together. Gorgeous and full of history. Unless, of course, Isis continues to destroy all things history related. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky21 Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 However, the plan to create a great deal of wealth for defense contractors by creating an enormous billion-dollar boondoggle in Irag was very realistic and worked perfectly. For example.... Houston-based energy-focused engineering and construction firm KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR), which was spun off from its parent, oilfield services provider Halliburton Co. (NYSE:HAL), in 2007 was given $39.5 billion in Iraq-related contracts over the past decade, with many of the deals given without any bidding from competing firms, such as a $568-million contract renewal in 2010 to provide housing, meals, water and bathroom services to soldiers, a deal that led to a Justice Department lawsuit over alleged kickbacks, as reported by Bloomberg. http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/308-12/16561-focus-cheneys-halliburton-made-395-billion-on-iraq-war Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chew Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Some people just have a boner for war. Lindsey Graham "dint vote for me if you want to avoid going to war." wow, just wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonez3 Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Did it matter what Dumdsfeld thought... Only Cheney, only Cheney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twa Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 so ya'll are saying we shoulda installed a puppet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chew Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 so ya'll are saying we shoulda installed a puppet? Prolly would've been better off.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGoodBits Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Incredible how in 2002 we had the world behind us 100% on the anti-terror effort and in a matter of 2 years pissed it all away. Along with trillions of dollars, thousands of American lives, tens/hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, regional stability, and possibly the longterm prosperity of our nation. The extent of the ripple effect from this unilateral decision is yet to be determined and will play out over decades. Maybe generations. So yeah, thanks a lot jerk. Tell your bud Cheney to go **** himself too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgold Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 I'll never forget the story my friend Katie once shared with me. She was working for the State Department and had been sent as apart of a team to Iraq. Their mission was to help hammer out the peace terms. She said that the going was grueling and tough. Finally, after one 72 straight hour stint they thought they had it. An agreement everyone could live with America, Sunni Shia, Kurd, but just when they were about to sign one of the representatives stood up and declared... "This is all well and good, but you are forgetting what he did to my people" and he pointed at one of the other faction representatives, "300 years ago!" and the whole thing broke down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The 12th Commandment Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 I think we should have left well enough alone. Saddam could be managed, and while the results weren't perfect they were more to our benefit than what we have now. It was supremely arrogant to think we can impose our will on folks over there with anything short of total annihilation/occupation. And no one wanted that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 so ya'll are saying we shoulda installed a puppet? 1). Actually, that's what Rumsfield claims that he DID say. To the President. At the time. 2). And I'll point out, that IS what I said, on this board, at the time. (Not that a puppet is what we SHOULD do. But that the odds are overwhelming that that's what we were going to wind up with). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaGoonie55 Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Shoulda coulda woulda. Bottom line is those people need help. We're responsible for the situation, as is most of the world. And we continue to sit on our hands and do nothing. The bigger problem is that if we were to go and stomp out ISIS, another group would take over. Square one. I don't know the answer, but someone somewhere who is smart on these things must know what to do. Failure to act is supporting the current status quo. We suck right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abdcskins Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Any type of order in the Middle East is unrealistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twa Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 1). Actually, that's what Rumsfield claims that he DID say. To the President. At the time. 2). And I'll point out, that IS what I said, on this board, at the time. (Not that a puppet is what we SHOULD do. But that the odds are overwhelming that that's what we were going to wind up with). Personally I support/ed giving them a chance, it is not going to be w/o growing pains. the game encompasses much more than Iraq, though even there the Kurds have progressed....and it is a looong game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The 12th Commandment Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 I don't know the answer, but someone somewhere who is smart on these things must know what to do. Failure to act is supporting the current status quo. We suck right now. Open up the immigration lines? I lean towards ripping off the bandaid and being done with it. We ****ed up really badly and there is no way to fix it. It will have to heal on its own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s0crates Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 We're responsible for the situation, as is most of the world. I'm wondering how most of the world is responsible for the mess we created in Iraq. The "coalition of the willing" was a joke. The UN opposed us on the invasion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsburySkinsFan Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 so ya'll are saying we shoulda installed a puppet? Should have? Dude....you didn't even give an effort in that post. Normally your trolling is pretty good, this is novice level. But, everyone gets an occasional pass for an off day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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