Richard Perle Claims We’ve ‘Already Won’ The Iraq War But It’s Also ‘Far From Over’
Richard Perle Claims We’ve ‘Already Won’ The Iraq War But It’s Also ‘Far From Over’
Exploring the question “Iraq: What if we win?” in the latest issue of The American Interest, neoconservative Iraq war architect Richard Perle offers a series of false, incoherent, contradictory and misleading statements in an effort to not only, again, distance himself from the disastrous Iraq war policy he helped create but also to tout the war’s successes.
In his article, which is headlined “We Won Years Ago,” Perle claims that the Iraq war — which he argues was “imposed on us” — is “far from over.” But later, he claims that “we have already won in Iraq” because “Saddam will not be sharing WMD with anyone.” Missing from this line of thinking, of course, is that Saddam never had any WMD to share:
[D]espite the widely, if grudgingly, acknowledged progress of the surge, the war is far from over. [...]
Without military action we could not have decisively managed the threat from Iraq. It is now managed: Saddam will not be sharing WMD with anyone. Judged against that measure, we have already won in Iraq.
Perle takes a number of confusing positions on the issue of Saddam’s WMD. First he correctly noted that the pre-war intelligence on Iraq’s weapns “proved to be wrong” but only in “some” respects. Unfortunately, Perle does not expound upon which intelligence was correct on Iraq’s weapons.
Next, Perle asserts that if Saddam had only said Iraq didn’t have WMD, the U.S. wouldn’t have invaded:
If Saddam had provided solid, confirmable evidence of the destruction of the stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction he was believed to possess, we would not have invaded.
But Saddam did tell the U.S. he didn’t have any weapons. In late 2002, Hussein’s government allowed UN weapons inspectors inside Iraq who subsequently did not find any “smoking guns” after visiting some 125 Iraqi sites. Moreover, in December, 2002, Iraq sent 12,000 pages of documents to the UN explaining how its WMD stockpiles had been eliminated.
Despite his earlier claim that “we have already won” the war, Perle also argues the U.S. should stay anyway because withdrawal would be “foolish” and “irresponsible.” But even though the U.S. needs to stay in Iraq, Perle claimed that “we have…created” a Pax Americana in the Middle East. Perle of course does not offer evidence of any such “Pax.”
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75 Responses to “Richard Perle Claims We’ve ‘Already Won’ The Iraq War But It’s Also ‘Far From Over’”
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"Pax Americana" under Chimpy? How deluded is this guy?
February 20th, 2008 at 8:50 pmCount him with Bolton in the 19% club.
That is the face of the Dark side of Zionism.
Anyone seen the article White Man's Burden from the Ha'aretz
February 20th, 2008 at 8:51 pmGreat news! We won! Let's bring home the troops!
February 20th, 2008 at 8:51 pmRichard Perle Claims We’ve ‘Already Won’ The Iraq War
Well on that note, it's time to get the hell out of Dodge.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:52 pmGood grief, TP, no post about McCain's lobbyist problem??
February 20th, 2008 at 8:52 pmYou want to know why we have committed a war crime? Here it is...
February 20th, 2008 at 8:53 pmhttp://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=280279&contrassID=2&subContrassID=14&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
that guys looks drunk.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:55 pmI've always argued that we've both "won" and "lost" a long time ago, so I guess it depends on your point of view. I usually try to make the distinction pretty clear, however.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:56 pmCome on folks...let's give credit where credit is due for the genocide we are committing in Iraq.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:59 pmSomewhere around 600,000 innocent people have been murdered by the United States of America because of a cadre of Zionists. Richard Perle is one of them, a monster in the likeness of the Devil or Henry Kissinger...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=280279&contrassID=2&subContrassID=14&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
And they control our media too, just took over Harper's Magazine about a year ago...
February 20th, 2008 at 9:02 pmUnless we take back the media our republic is lost.
...
February 20th, 2008 at 9:04 pmanybody watching the lunar eclipse?
about 1/3 is covered, from central illinois vantage point...
Don't these fools ever go away?
February 20th, 2008 at 9:05 pmKaty,
February 20th, 2008 at 9:05 pmI called all the kids - got the binoculars out.
Uh, ok, so them there insurgents really were in their last throes?
February 20th, 2008 at 9:06 pmi think you need to find an uglier picture...
February 20th, 2008 at 9:09 pmthat one doesn't do him justice...
Yea! Exactly!! It's "far from over" if you are pulling for Israel !!!
February 20th, 2008 at 9:13 pmThis moron actually thinks they can win TWICE! HA!
February 20th, 2008 at 9:16 pmit's Perle's Last Theorem; neo-cons will try to solve it for generations to come.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:25 pm"Perle then went on to say that he wasn't really 'Richard Perle', but since only he can prove that fact, it's irrelevant."
February 20th, 2008 at 9:26 pmPerle is just one of thousands of GDumbya groupies who is running hard to get clear of the impact zone before the cold hard reality of this presi-dunce and his Keystone Kops comes crashing down.
Gotta give Little Richie credit, though. He's one of the first to desert the sinking ships. I'll give him a gentlemen's B for foresight.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:30 pmway cool with binoculars... thanks, marie!
February 20th, 2008 at 9:31 pmtom - one of the first?
i'm trying to figure out why it's taking them so long...
we need some heroes... ... or is THAT even necessary at this point?
February 20th, 2008 at 9:34 pmI don't know if the mistake is TP's or Perle's, but "Its Over" is the abbreviated version of "It Is Over," so the "Its" requires an apostrophe between the "t" and the "s," to make it IT'S.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:36 pmIn any case, even if this is TP's mistake, Perle's error about Iraq is much more significant.
Perle is either confused or a BS artist or both
February 20th, 2008 at 9:42 pmAnd there's nothing more confusing then trying to make sense out of a confused BS artist
Perle is either confused or a BS artist or both
Comment by flavorino — February 20, 2008 @ 9:42 pm
Both! And an enemy of the state!!!!
February 20th, 2008 at 9:45 pmI know it's been said a million times about giving a rifle to and putting a helmet on these Neoclowns and sending them to Iraq, but
there's something about that picture of Perle that makes me really want to see him dropped off and left in some Iraqi town......
February 20th, 2008 at 9:49 pmHere you go genius..let's see how smart you are now, use that big brain of yours to deal with it.
Use that big brain of yours.
Guys like him are big know-it alls sitting around in the Beltway and mid-town Manhattan, but put them out in the real world, dealing with events on the ground...........eh..not so smart
Would you buy a car from this man? Would you buy anything from him?
February 20th, 2008 at 9:52 pmI think his outsides reflect his insides. Not always true, but in this case, yeah.
One of the great mysteries of the Iraq debacle is why there appears to such a poor understanding of what I consider an obvious fact:
The US won the war against Iraq in about a month. One day later, we started losing the occupation of Iraq.
This is a pretty fundamental issue to understand our involvement there, but nobody talks about it in those terms.
To all the war cheerleaders, of course we won the war! It was a cakewalk, and we destroyed much of Iraq in the process. There was never any doubt that we would win, and the US would do the same against every other third world country, and many first world countries if we were nuts enough to try.
HOWEVER, the US will never win an occupation of any country, and we should never try. Occupations are inherently unwinnable unless you are prepared to completely destroy a country. Occupation has never been successful in the history of modern civilization. It simply cannot be sustained by any outside force.
Therefore, we have no choice but to get out of Iraq and Afganistan. We have no business being there as occupiers, and will never succeed as occupiers. What we can and should do (esp with Afganistan who really did attack us on 911) is monitor their activities from afar, and bomb the hell out them as soon as they show any real signs of preparing to attack us again. Let our military do what they are good at, and get them the hell away from doing what they cannot do.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:53 pmPerle is just one of thousands of GDumbya groupies who is running hard to get clear of the impact zone before the cold hard reality of this presi-dunce and his Keystone Kops comes crashing down.
Gotta give Little Richie credit, though. He’s one of the first to desert the sinking ships. I’ll give him a gentlemen’s B for foresight.
Comment by tom — February 20, 2008 @ 9:30 pm
No Tom. He is not a mere groupie. He is one of the architects of the neocons. He is not deserting the ship, he is throwing BushCo under the bus! BushCo failed to bring the PNAC wet dream into fruition. In order for the neocons to resurrect their failed agenda, they have to separate themselves from the BushCo failure.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:54 pmIt looks like this guy had a stroke. Or he's overflowing with evil.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:56 pmOverflowing with evil, I'm sure. I say let's send everyone who voted for this war and continues to propagate this evil do the fighting. My son and his fellow soldiers would be more than happy to hand it over to them!
February 20th, 2008 at 10:00 pmEclipse! Thanks to Katy for the reminder. Just went out to see it and it's pretty much total. Even with all the ambient light from the nearby hospital it's a hell of a thing to watch. Very cool.
February 20th, 2008 at 10:01 pmOh shit. Thanks, gummitch...
February 20th, 2008 at 10:03 pmComment by tballou — February 20, 2008 @ 9:53 pm
The US won the war against Iraq in about a month. One day later, we started losing the occupation of Iraq.
There was no war! There was an illegal INVASION. We won the FIGHTING, (although I see it as KILLING with our far superior military and nightmarish air bombardment), if it must be put in a "won/lost" context.
What we can and should do (esp with Afganistan who really did attack us on 911) is monitor their activities from afar, and bomb the hell out them as soon as they show any real signs of preparing to attack us again.
And this is PREEMPTION. You are enabling the very reason the we are in this quagmire in the first place. We have no right to start a preemptive war at all. Period.
And you are saying that Afghanistan attacked our country??
February 20th, 2008 at 10:06 pmWTF???
It's amazing.
February 20th, 2008 at 10:07 pmIt's total here, clould cover.
February 20th, 2008 at 10:12 pmThe Moon is gone. Help us Jebus!
February 20th, 2008 at 10:13 pmAfghanistan DID NOT attack our country. 16 of the hijackers were from SAUDI ARABIA. Come on folks, get real. FOLLOW THE MONEY. If you want to know why we are in Afghanistan, think OIL PIPE LINES, POPPY PLANTS, etc.
February 20th, 2008 at 10:15 pmWow. The eclipse is amazing. I really hope my son is taking pictures of it.
February 20th, 2008 at 10:15 pmOT - listening to the replay of thom hartmann...
with a caller's pointing it out, he's found out that the recording of
michele obama's profession of pride, that he got from brietbart (sp?)
has been spliced (or whatever) to have left out the word "really"...
and mike malloy says there are 3 versions - 2 of which were edited -
"deliberately distorted what she said"
she said, "... i'm really proud of my country..."
the uncut, actual version, from milwaukee, is on cspan...
later that day, in madison, she actually did leave out the word "really"
from that line... but the one that's getting airplay and denunciation
is the edited version...
huh... ... here it comes...
February 20th, 2008 at 10:18 pmComment by Zooey — February 20, 2008 @ 10:15 pm
Yep! One of the best I've seen. Too bad it's about 10 below zero.
February 20th, 2008 at 10:19 pmkaty,
Why is there a controversy about Michelle O saying she's proud of her country?
February 20th, 2008 at 10:20 pmComment by pete — February 20, 2008 @ 10:19 pm
Ouch! Even with all the snow we got this year, we never got that cold. I'm glad you can see it!
February 20th, 2008 at 10:22 pmThe lunar eclipse that I remember best is the one that occurred when my family lived in Baltimore. We had gone out on the flagstone porch out back and had left the back door open. A bat entered the house via that route and settled into the drapes in the family room. Mother and sister jumped into the family sedan and went to grandpa's house, leaving us boys to settle the issue. Dad just opened the sliding glass door and the varmint disappeared into the night. Women!
February 20th, 2008 at 10:32 pmzooey - haven't you heard? it's not gotten wide play except for the righies... cindy mcCRAZY, wife of john mcCREEPY, first raised a fuss -
February 20th, 2008 at 10:37 pm"i've ALWAYS been proud of my country"...
you know - the usual self-righteous righty indignation...
but oLIElly says he won't send out a "lynching party" on her
until he knows and understands what she means...
or something like that...
but he didn't call her a b!tch...
February 20th, 2008 at 10:40 pmThanks katy,
I hadn't heard all the details. My computer crashed last Friday, and I just got it back. I'd heard about the BO scuffle, but didn't understand what the fuss was about. I didn't know about the McCain angle.
February 20th, 2008 at 10:42 pmhttp://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=280279&contrassID=2&subContrassID=14&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
Only fools underestimate the power of the media.
February 20th, 2008 at 10:43 pmAnd a genocide has been committed in the name of the American people by a cadre of Zionists.
Good Lord, TP! Take that picture down! Put up photos of a train wreck, a building imploding, or a dog crapping, but not that picture!@
February 20th, 2008 at 11:14 pmYes, extremely clear here in the NW, can see just a sliver of the bottom now...
February 20th, 2008 at 11:15 pmAmber was real proud, she "found' the moon tonight.
If it's not over, we haven't won, but don't tell that to a naive neocon zionist prick!
February 20th, 2008 at 11:37 pmThe F-in' fog FINALLY lifted here. Got a pretty good look at it.
Cool...
February 20th, 2008 at 11:57 pmIs he blowing a saliva bubble?
February 21st, 2008 at 12:18 amHow come only the wee ones get to do that?
Try it.
It is fun!
We must stay there to defend the country's interests.
Also, we must attack Iran to teach them a lesson, also to further the country's interests.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:40 amMillion dollar question - WHICH COUNTRY?
If you want to know these people "Neo-Cons" look into their past, one after one have a record of being involved in some kind of fraud with the American government or US militarism regime, basically they are the government within the US government and that’s why they love America and its social economic and social political regime because the system dose what they been asking it to do since Henry Kissinger, but don’t be upset, they been doing it to the English- Swedish and other present and the past Europeans government as well, therefore, they have to be stopped because they are dangerous to the world peace. What is supervising is that; none of them been prosecuted for what they have done to Iraq or in other matters, like Paul Wolfowitz world bank and this man fraudulent acts.
February 21st, 2008 at 2:56 am.
What Perle meant to say was:
"MISSION ACCOMPLISHED...
.
.
A L M O S T!"
.
February 21st, 2008 at 3:15 amPerle has the blood of thousands of innocent Iraqis on his filthy hands. He is repulsive. My only solace is watching George Galloway verbally rape the swine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl9TmYjfTBk
February 21st, 2008 at 6:56 amTo Merlin and SoldierParent - Please recall that Osama bin Laden was hosted and supported by the Taliban leaders of Afganistan. The government of Afganistan helped bin Laden, and bin Laden was clearly the mastermind behind 911. Sure he had help from a bunch of Saudi nationals, but this attack was conceived and carried out by a terrorist organization under the auspices of the Afgan government.
We were completely justified in attacking Afganistan and removing the Taliban goverment. Given their well known track record of supporting real live terrorists, if the Taliban or any other similar group take power there, we have every right to monitor them closely and if they are demonstrably planning other attacks, we have every right and obligation to stop them. That is not preemption given their past actions, that is self defense.
This is all contrasted completely with Iraq, who did not attack us, was not planning to attack us, and could not attack us.
Either way though, occupation of either country is totally unsustainable and a ridiculous waste of lives and money. Occupations do not work.
February 21st, 2008 at 7:48 amThose who control the media control our nation.
February 21st, 2008 at 7:55 amCheck out Google News Homepage and look for the Voice of America news articles they regularly post.
For those of you who don't know, VOA is the OFFICIAL propaganda arm of the U.S. government, now being directed at American citizens via Google.
Google is the parent company of You Tube. Do a brief search of You Tube videos of Hillary Clinton and then Barack Obama, and a cursory count of which has the most negative videos. Clinton wins hands down.
Oddly, enough, across the board, throughout the U.S. corporate media Clinton has been given by far the most negative coverage. (This is NOT because she "deserves" it for any real or perceived reason.)
Check out who the board of Governors are of VOA network.
Ultra Right Zionist James Glassman is one of them. Another is Condoleeza Rice.
Now ask yourself, Why is You Tube dishing Clinton such negative coverage?
Propaganda works best when you don't realize its working.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=280279&contrassID=2&subContrassID=14&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
#58 -- and I would remind you that the FBI does not have sufficient evidence to determine Osama bin Laden was involved with 9-11. Check out the FBI Most Wanted Terrorist webpage -- he is not charged with 9-11.
February 21st, 2008 at 8:07 amIsn't Rupert Murdoch's son-in-law Sigmund Freud's grandson?
February 21st, 2008 at 8:11 amWasn't the "Father of Modern Propaganda" Sigmund Freud's nephew?
Edward Bernays,wrote "Propaganda" 1928.Aren't all these characters Zionists,like Perle?
Modern American propaganda is subtle and discreet, characterized by omission and distortion.
EX: Jack Abramoff bribes at least 13 GOP congressmen but the media give equal time in coverage to ONE Democratic lawmaker possibly guilty of accepting a bribe.
EX: Mitt Romney and Arnold Schwarzenegger push through truly REGRESSIVE draconian HEALTHCARE MANDATES on their respective states (Arnie's failed to win senate passage) but in the minds of the average citizenry it is Hillary Clinton promoting mandates as her tentative proposal earns disproportionate coverage.
EX: Henry Kissinger calls the Iraq Invasion lost militarily. Three months later Harry Reid echoes that exact statement and the U.S. media, for the most part, omit Kissinger's statements but give extensive air time for Reid's.
We will not see a return to progressive taxation while the Zionists control the American media.
And we will see no true progressive, such as Hillary Clinton in the White House either.
But we will definitely see more Richard Perles living wealthy lives, enriching themselves on the spoils of war and the American Treasury.
#60
February 21st, 2008 at 8:23 amOsama bin Laden, as the titular or symbolic leader of the organization known as "Al Waeda" should have been taken out long ago.
Of course, seeing how he and his family have such close ties to the Bush Administration, and seeing as how 9-11 was a gift to the Bush Administration, don't expect his violent death or apprehension anytime soon.
Looks like he will die a peaceful, natural death as time drags on and the Iraqi civilization dies.
SEE "No End In Sight". Check out who was behind the decisions in post invasion occupation Iraq that created the absolute devasation there.
If you have time do some research on Selim Zilkha too. And his family history...
Make that "Qaeda"! Damn typing in the dark at 5:00 am is a drag...
February 21st, 2008 at 8:24 amHere is another reason why the likes of Perle et al wanted really to totally destroy Iraq.
http://www.nysun.com/article/30769
The Zilkha family were ejected from Iraq by the Baaths in 59 or 60. Selim went on to be involved in the California "Energy Crisis" as the largest shareholder of El Paso Energy (some of their traders were just convicted of fraud this past month. Totally downplayed by the New York Times with a ONE sentence brief on C2.)
February 21st, 2008 at 8:34 amTo tballou: Ah, the propaganda machine at work! Rather convenient that Afghanistan was chosen to invade instead of any of the numerous other countries worldwide that support terrorism. Why would you just assume that this criminal cabal of neofacists is telling you the truth about ANY of this stuff? Check out the facts. This war is about oil and profit. Don't kid yourself otherwise. Hence, the oil pipeline that was built through Afghanistan. Obama lovers beware. Dispite his rhetoric, he's the other side of the same coin. Ron Paul has "them" pegged correctly, although I disagree with a lot of his platform. There really is no viable candidate at this point. Voting has become a choice of the lesser of several evils. Sad statement on American life, but one that's been around for a long time.
February 21st, 2008 at 9:09 amKool-Aide container must have been refilled....
February 21st, 2008 at 9:29 amThis piece of shit is part of the Policy for a New American Century along with Cheney/Bush. They were the architects of 911. They are murders and the world knows this. Americans are just starting to wake up to these facts.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:56 amWell TP, my post went away again! What's up?
February 21st, 2008 at 11:03 amMissing from this line of thinking, of course, is that Saddam never had any WMD to share.
Actually, it should read like this:
Missing from this line of thinking, of course, is that Saddam no longer had any WMD to share.
Saddam did have WMD at one time, but he got rid of them way before the US invasion. Unless they mean that Saddam never wanted to share his WMD when he had them, which is also a strong possibility.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:05 amThe U.S. government is spying on innocent average Americans without warrants, peoplel are being kidnapped and flown to torture shops, the Iraq war is bogus and...documented lies were told by Bush et al to get it going, the "supreme" court, using the term loosely, has become a rubber stamp operation for Bush, Bush has been legislating with signing statements, ruling out the need for congress, a special gulag has been set up in Guantanamo Bay to run kangaroo courts, habeus corpus is dead and my grandmother has to take off her shoes at the airport because the government it's fighting a "war on terror." You've got your neocon head up your ass Perle. The terrorists have made us do all of this.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:27 amRichard Perle is nothing for than a chickenhawk plan and simple. This guy helps talk that idiot into war, now he's distancing himself from it. This is what you get when you let chickenhawk have a say in US foreign policy. These guy love to fight wars as long as it's not their blood being shed. If you asked Perle, Libermann, and all of the other idiots to put on a uniform, they'd say no.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:51 am#30: Or both. Either way, he is one ugly mo-fo.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:17 pmPerle: "Saddam will not be sharing WMD with anyone."
Neither will the Tooth Fairy. Good job, good thing we invaded, and sorry about those 4000 dead soldiers....
Cheers,
February 21st, 2008 at 2:54 pmLet's hope the egg-sucking degenerates like Perle get their justice...criminal justice...when we finally get some honest people in office.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:20 amHe said well "the war", because what they are doing there is "invade" for the oil interests.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:29 am