FDR, Truman and JFK would have preemptively invaded Iraq? Hah?

[bluestateguy]

I'm getting a little tired of these people saying that FDR, Truman and JFK would have preemptively invaded Iraq. That somehow Ned Lamont's victory represents the party's abandonment of a commitment to national defense. For starters, all of the party establishment stood behind Lieberman, including liberal Democrats who opposed the war, like Barbara Boxer and Barack Obama. This was a victory for the rank and file of the party sending a message to the party establishment. Secondly, the WWII and Cold War analogies to past Democratic presidents are laughable. Truman and JFK were old-school Cold War "realists", while FDR actually preferred a softer line on the Soviet Union than his successors pursued. These Democratic presidents of the Cold War valued stability in the world more than anything else, not neoconservative "nation-building" exercises. All three of these presidents would have seen that a preemptive invasion would have done far more harm than good, and that frankly, the world would be better off (or less bad off) with a secular dictator like Saddam in power, rather than an Iraq mired in civil war and rising Shiite fundamentalism.

Scoop Jackson perhaps would have invaded, but he was always more of a hard-liner than Democratic presidents and more so than even many Republicans. I actually don't think GHWB would have invaded either, nor would have Ronald Reagan, who was quite a pal of Saddam Hussein, in fact. I think you'd have to go all the way back to Teddy Roosevelt to find a president who would have applauded the Iraq War.

[MissWaverly]

1. actually I don't think Teddy would have approved

he was not a corporate toadie but a progressive, he did a lot to keep this country from being
pillaged by the short sighted greedy minority as he called them.

[DemPopulist]

2. It isn't clear that Jackson would've supported an Iraq invasion

From a http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-11_23_05_FH.html">conservative website.

Jackson's support of a strong defense did not necessarily translate into an appetite for marching into war -- especially in the Middle East. In 1982, Jackson slammed President Reagan's decision to send peacekeepers into Lebanon, and for reasons that might resonate today. Citing the volatile mix of Christians, Shiites, Sunnis and Druze, he insisted that Lebanon was no place for American troops in a police role.

"The danger of Americans being killed, the danger of divisiveness that would accrue from those developments ... are all too real," Jackson said on "Face the Nation." "A superpower should not play that kind of role in a cauldron of trouble, because sooner or later we are going to get hurt."

I agree that it's laughable that FDR, Truman or JFK would've supported a preemptive war in Iraq. Frankly, the idea seemed pretty preposterous when it was first raised immediately after 9/11.