Comments on: Gates: ‘I don’t know’ whether Iraq war was a ‘good idea.’

By: Musk

Musk — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 07:51:28 +0000

I hate to go out on a limb like this, but I’m thinking that it wasn’t a real clever idea going into Iraq.

By: Gregor Samsa

Gregor Samsa — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 05:34:00 +0000

“I donâ€™t think you invade Iraq to bring liberty. “

And there, in a nutshell, Gates has summarised what the non-Kool Aid drinkers have been saying all along.

Maybe now the Bushbots will begin chanting their usual “that talk undermines the troops’ morale” nonsensical babble.

By: Rich2506

Rich2506 — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 04:16:56 +0000

I asked if it was a mistake to put the Pentagon in charge of postwar reconstruction in Iraq instead of the State Department.

Major problem with having anybody but the military do reconstruction tasks – Bush tried and failed to get any pro-war conseratives to go overseas and act as on-the-ground administrators. Yes, Jonah Goldberg could have served as a paperwork kinda guy, doing some backroom administrative work, but nobody signed up for that duty. The complete lack of any sort of colonial corps means that the whole neo-con project of resurrecting the age of empires is a complete waste of time, blood, money and resources.

By: Doc Rock

Doc Rock — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:36:59 +0000

You can’t expect the Secretary to eff the ineffable.

By: theswan

theswan — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 23:19:57 +0000

Gates should be summoned to the Hague to state so.

By: Timothy Miller

Timothy Miller — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 23:18:26 +0000

I didn’t see it, Marie, but to be fair to Fredo, the memories he was talking about were centered on the excellent cookies and punch he’d had just five minutes before.

If you asked him now, he couldn’t tell you whether those cookies were Nutter Butters or Chips Ahoy, but he could assure you that he was not included in the cookie selection process.

By: theswan

theswan — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:54:53 +0000

The “I don’t know President”. Perfect!

By: Marie

Marie — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:41:24 +0000

Timothy, speaking of Gonzo — did everyone see Jon Stewart mock Gonzo’s comment about having some great memories as AtttGen when he claimed he had no recollection of anything more than his name at the hearings.

By: Timothy Miller

Timothy Miller — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:38:32 +0000

It’s hard to work for this administration when you’re not a natural-born liar. Gates needs to watch more tape of the Gonzalez hearings to see how it’s done.

By: Chocolate Jesus

Chocolate Jesus — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:21:03 +0000

Gates is still a reptile, but hes the closest thing this administration will get to “honest”…..either that or he simply knows well enough that anyone who keeps making rosy statements at this point just looks more and more foolish to those of us with a fully functional frontal cortex…

By: Marie

Marie — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:40:09 +0000

He will be summoned to Cheney’s undisclosed location for additional “education.”
It’s pretty scary though to realize that the SecDef is unsure of the mission in Iraq.
Petraeus said he doesn’t know if we’re safer — before he was called in on the carpet.
Gates says he isn’t sure the invasion was a good idea — let’s see how many days (no, hours) before he is backtracking.

By: hellinabucket

hellinabucket — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:14:08 +0000

Are you refering to the dead Iraqis with bullet holes in the front of the head or back?

By: RUCerious

RUCerious — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:57:39 +0000

Juan, better yet, ask the dead Iraqis, and if they don’t respond, count that as a NO.

By: Juan C.

Juan C. — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:43:30 +0000

Well…lets just ask the families of dead Iraqis.

By: Candyce

Candyce — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:42:05 +0000

Operation Iraqi Byproduct 4evah! woo!

By: AngryOne

AngryOne — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:37:43 +0000

Gates’ is just the latest eulogy for the Bush Doctrine. For more on the demise of a bad idea whose time never came, see:
“The Death of the Bush Doctrine.”

By: Hemlock for Gadflies

Hemlock for Gadflies — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:34:02 +0000

Hi, Dave? Bill, here. You know that thing I said about “I don’t know?”

What I meant to say was “I don’t know how you could ask such a stupid question. Of course invading Iraq was a great idea. Oh, and we did it for liberty and we got disarmament as a byproduct (or would have) — no, wait, I didn’t mean that. The Syrians got the WMD. Yeah, yeah. The Syrians. And the Iranians. But we’re not going to bomb them. No, no, I mean we are. No, I mean we might. Uhhhh. Wait a second. Oh! Oh! Okay, Ma. Yeah, I’m hanging up now, Ma! Okay! Hey, uhhh, I have to go. Okay. Yeah, uh, forget I called. Just put down, “No comment.” Okay, bye.

By: gummitch

gummitch — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:31:08 +0000

â€œYou do it to eliminate an unstable regime and because sanctions are breaking down and you get liberty as a byproductâ€

Nah â€” you get an even MORE unstable regime as a byproduct.

Comment by missmolly â€” September 19, 2007 @ 4:22 pm

Indeed. Chaos. Liberty is the one thing the Iraqis have not gotten, as a byproduct or otherwise. Not to mention, what’s this “unstable regime” jive? If it was unstable, why did it take a war to end it?

By: Candyce

Candyce — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:27:33 +0000

Does Bush know freedom was merely a byproduct? I thought that was one of the goals of the invasion? In fact, isn’t it called Operation Iraqi Freedom?

By: missmolly

missmolly — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:26:09 +0000

That ought to be good for troop morale.

Comment by Candyce â€” September 19, 2007 @ 4:22 pm

No, no, no — as everybody knows, what’s bad for troop morale is the Webb amendment. What’s bad for troop morale is troop withdrawal. What’s bad for troop morale are leftist bloggers who want the U.S. outta there. Just ask McCain — or any of the war cheerleaders.
sarc/off