Thursday, June 19, 2014

With Iraq---As In most Domestic + Foreign Policies---Progressive Hypocrisy Knows No Bounds

The aircraft carrier George H W Bush has been moved to the Persian Gulf. Now there's a Bush to blame if things go wrong...Jay Carnie Tweet





As I've written in the past, there will be plenty of time for historians to write the full history of our involvement in Iraq. However, since Iraq is now back in the news and progressives keep blaming Bush and Cheney, it's time for a short history lesson (history Democrats conveniently deny):

  • "He will use weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983." That was Sandy Berger, Bill Clinton's National Security Adviser in 1998. Note: In 2005, Berger was found guilty of removing classified material from the National Archives in D.C. 
  • "Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region..." Nancy Pelosi in 1998.
  • "Hussein has chosen to spend his money on weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies." Then Sect. of State Madeleine Albright in Nov. of 1999.
  • "We know he has stored away secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." Al Gore in September 2002.
  • "I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force---if necessary---to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction is a real and grave threat to our security." Then Democrat Sen. John F. Kerry in October 2002.
  • "We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction." The late Democrat Sen. Ted Kennedy in Sept. of 2002.
  • "He {Hussein} has consistently violated, in the course of the past 11 years, every significant UN resolution that has demanded that he disarm his chemical and biological weapons. This he has refused to do." Democrat Sen. Henry Waxman, Oct. 2002.
  • "Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator...So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real." Sen. J.F. Kerry in Jan. of 2003.
And what may surprise you is---at the time---these creeps were largely right. The evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and it's connection to terror groups like al-Qaeda is credible and overwhelming. Allow me...
  • In 1988, Saddam attacked the Kurd city of Halabja where over 5000 Kurds were killed by a gas attack and over 10,000 were injured.
  • In March of 1998, the UK Daily Mail reported Saddam was planning a deadly Anthrax attack in Britain. (Sound familiar?) 
  • In 1999, ABC News carried a report that Saddam Hussein had a long history of harboring terrorists including Carlos the Jackal and Abu Nidal to name just a few.
  • NPR in 1999 reported that there were reports Osama Bin Laden was considering moving his operations to Iraq. Their report was based on CIA counterintelligence reports.
  • In 1999, The Herald (out of Scotland) reported that Osama was granted sanctuary in Iraq.
  • In Dec. of 2001, USA Today reported (based on intelligence reports) Hussein was funneling money through the al-Qaeda network since 1999.
  • Human Rights Watch estimated that Saddam murdered up to half-million people during his reign of terror in Iraq.
Note: Reports such as the few referenced above are just a small sampling of 100's of similar reports throughout the 1980s and early 2003 in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.

So when you hear and watch progressives blaming Bush and Cheney for going into Iraq, keep the above in mind. And you will know why their hypocrisy knows no bounds.

So how do civilized nations deal with barbaric savages? One might believe that any choice is a bad one. In my opinion, that kind of thinking is pre-9/11 thinking. After all, Osama bin Laden planned his attack on WTC from Afghanistan. As Victor Davis Hanson wrote recently: "So for now we will blame each other for ensuring savagery and vow to let the Middle East be the Middle East...at least until the next time Islamic terrorist slaughter our diplomats, blow up our embassy, take down an airplane or topple a NY skyscraper."

In other words, the answer is to keep hunting and killing every one of them---no matter how long it takes.