NYT Op-Ed ~ The Wrong War

[maddezmom]

By BOB HERBERT

Published: April 19, 2004


Follow me, said the president. And, tragically, we did.

With his misbegotten war in Iraq, his failure to throw everything we had at Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, and his fantasy of using military might as a magic wand to "change the world," President Bush has ushered the American people into a bloody and mind-bending theater of the absurd.

~snip~

President Bush may truly believe, as he suggested at his press conference last week, that he is carrying out a mission that has been sanctioned by the divine. But he has in fact made the world less safe with his catastrophic decision to wage war in Iraq. At least 700 G.I.'s and thousands of innocent Iraqis, including many women and children, are dead. Untold numbers have been maimed and there is no end to the carnage in sight.

Meanwhile, instead of destroying the terrorists, our real enemies, we've energized them. The invasion and occupation of Iraq has become a rallying cry for Islamic militants. Qaeda-type terror is spreading, not receding. And Osama bin Laden is still at large.

Even as I write this, reporters from The Times and other news outlets are filing stories about marines dying in ambush and other acts of mayhem and anarchy across Iraq. This was not part of the plan. The administration and its apologists spread fantasies of a fresh dawn of freedom emerging in Iraq and spreading across the Arab world. Instead we are spilling the blood of innocents in a nightmare from which many thousands will never awaken.

more:http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/19/opinion/19HERB.html?ex=1082952000&en=19f6a759579a3b3e&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

[LittleApple81]

1. At least Herbert says "we did" follow. NYT's J. Miller was one of

the pied pipers.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. The saddest words I ever wrote are:

"I told you so when I marched against going to war last year."

[Nordic65]

3. Spot on!

"his catastrophic decision to wage war in Iraq"

Hope to see more of that in the media leading up to november...

[newyawker99]

7. Hi Nordic65!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[girl gone mad]

4. "spilling the blood of innocents"

surprising to finally see it written in mainstream media.

Yes, we told them so, and we were shouting, not whispering. Sadly, that hollow din of nationalism was all that they heard.

[buddy22600]

5. My question is

How many people in middle America actually read the NYT?

[LittleApple81]

6. Not many. n/t

[reprehensor]

8. Scathing. n/t