‘If I Had to Do It Over Again’

It is intresting to note that while the media is beating up on Bill Clinton for taking the blame for the Heathcare fiasco of the 1990's that they like to lay on Hilary they are still giving free passes to Bush, Rice et.al. who refuse to accept blame for anything. I will take all of the mistakes of the Clinton years if Bush can give us back one lost american life from his fiasco.

Ms. Rice as well as Colin Powell have both ascribed to the Bush-Cheney mantra war war and more war. So why are we now going to yet another war with Iran? when we haven't completed the first two wars. Does it take a rocket scientist to figure it out? I don't think so. This is what happens when you go to war to finish the senior bush's foray into Iraq. Cheney knew Iraq was a quagmire, he said so a long long time ago, in a far far galaxy. Neocons all have led us down this long and twisted path to destruction.

The blood of millions of innocent Iraqis is on her hands as is the blood of thousands of dead and wounded Americans! Rice should be tried for war crimes in front of the Hague as should Rummy, Cheney, Bush, Ashcroft and Powell!

SHAME ON THOSE WHO STOOD BY AND DID NOTHING TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST THIS MADNESS! OUT OF IRAQ! OUT OF KOREA! STOP NATIONBUILDING! STOP THE LIES! END THE WAR!

It is intresing to note on a day when the media is beating up on Bill Clinton for accepting the blame for the medical program fiasco of 1992 that everyone wants to put on Hilary Clinton's shouders, Condie, George and Cheeny et.al still refuse to accept any responsibility for their mistakes. Where is the outrage.

The blood of innocent Iraqis and Americans is on her hands! In addition to violating the Geneva Convention and the continued use of Rendition and torture Rice should be hauled up in front of the Hague for war crimes as should Bush, Cheney, Rummy, Ashcroft and Powell for their hand or the complicity in these acts.

They do not represent the values of being an American and SHAME ON THOSE THAT STOOD BY WITHOUT SPEAKING OUT AND AGAINST THESE PEOPLE!

Condi would like to know who gave the advice to go through the local, provincial and tribal rulers? None other that TE Lawrence (of Arabia) long before she was born. He knew that the potentially warring factions forced together politically could never peacefully co-exist. That is why he urged the British (then) Empire that they should withdraw. Her assertion thatr Arab states are very centralized cheerfully ignores the reality that that is true only under a dictator with the support of at least one major power. 2 prime examples of this are our present support of Pervez Musharraf and our past support of Saddam Hussein. We propped up for 18 years a tyrant representing a minority faction of the Iraqi people. Now we wish to impose democracy and we cannot foresee backlash by the long-repressed majority against their erstwhile tormentors? Dr. Rice, please shred your PhD. It is not worth the paper it is printed on.

there are many smart people on this blog, unfortunately your not one of them Notaknowitall. If you were, you would have realized by now, as so many other americans have, that the administration botched Iraq from the get go. They've continually done incredibly short sighted and stupid things, over and over again. They've also lied to cover up their shortcomings. The war was a mistake from the start, anyone that knows history even a little bit could've seen this coming from a mile off.

First I have heard about Iraqis moving home. How come we have to take 12,000 of them?

I would like to see statistics on Iraqis moving back to Iraq from Syria. First I have heard of this.

Even in a puff ball interview, Rice shows her disdain for fact and her ignornace of history. When told that some advised at the outset 'that mideast scholars had long advised that controlling Iraq would require winning over local, provincial and tribal authorities,' her breezy assesment was 'I'd like to go back and see who gave that (advice)...Arab countries can be very centralized.'
Well the person who gave that advice was none other than TE Lawrence (of Arabia), who knew that the post war creation of Iraq had thrust together potentially warring factions, and who had no confidence that the British Empire could control events there-and advised their withdrawal. Arab countries can be centralized behind dictators who are supported by major powers. How much responsibility do we as a nation bear for propping up Saddam Hussein just because he was the sworn enemy of our then-and-now enemy Iran? It doesn't take a political science professor to see that the Sunni minority which ruled Iraq through the Hussein years would bear the brunt of a backlash from the Shia majority if a representative democracy was put into power. In fact, any idiot could have predicted that, with the notable exception of our President, Vice President and Secretary of State.
And she blows right past that with rosy pictures of things now. Almost 4000 American soldiers dead, hundreds of thousands wounded. Millions of Iraqis dead, and the upper and middle classes have fled the country.
Water and power are not commodities anyone in Iraq can take for granted. Soldiers are sent for third and fourth tours. I ask: What good has come of this, now that we have spent more time at war in Iraq than we spent defeating the Germans and the Japanese in World War II?

Things going badly in Iraq - we must stay. Things going well in Iraq - we must stay. Oil in Iraq - we will stay.

Things going badly in Iraq - we must stay to. Things going well in Iraq - we must stay. As long as there is oil in Iraq - we must stay.

This administration is an absolute joke. Unfortunately no one is laughing because it is not humorous. Bush/Cheney Company have made an absolute mockery of everything that our country stands for and has stood for since 1776! I, for one, do not understand where is our sense of outrage over the incompetence, the lies, the scandals? This will go down, if it already isn't, the most incompetent, inept and scandalous administration in our history. God help us all....
Jamie

Rice has a PhD but does not realise that "centralize" control in Arab countries is due to dictators. There was no way to pull that off in Iraq without another Saddam. And to think that she still does not see (or at least want to really admit) that Iraq fracturing on ethnic and religious line was self evident.
I think the White House exist in a parallel universe - they cannot possibly be existing in the same planet as the rest of us - talk about bubble thinking.

I am pretty sure they will be totally surprised by the falling dollar as well.

The Bush lackeys are no different than Bush himself when asked during an interview before the 2004 eloction what he might have done wrong in Iraq: There may be something but I can't think of it now. They never stray from the talking points.

The Cold War, as far as I know, was the first adversarial event ov it's kind'. The type of thing we face in Iraq goes back thousands of years: tribes, city states, mini-kingdoms and fiefdoms. We have repeated the experience of a numbe of powers, including the Ottomans and Brits most recently., in Iraq. It was never truly a country except by force. Even the Persians tried for a while. That's when Iran, known as as Persia, was a great power. As a religious studies major, I had toknow the bare minimum of "Iraqi" history, though Islam was not my focus.. Ah , the advantages of of a Liberal educuction!

I think the day of reckoning is coming too fast and becoming a haunting legacy for all those who served in this administration. Some jumped ship early, others did not; hoping for a miracle out of the mess to leave behind.I am hoping some good may come out, but Rice has the best capion "If I Had to Do it Over Again" and that explains the lasting legacy.

The big question is why did Bush even consider Condi Rice for positions as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State? She had no experience for either position and has proved to be neither a leader nor a diplomat. Like Bush and Cheney, she has never ventured outside the Green Zone in Iraq, yet she can't understand why State Department professionals are adament at serving outside the central fortress. But I guess it is only fitting for the worst president in American history to put mediocre people in top positions.
P.S. Her Russian Language 101 skills are on a par with Bush's Spanish. Muy Malo,