Maze of Mirrors

[liadnan]

"Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.

In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."

I look back now on what I wrote in early 2003 about how, albeit reluctantly and with massive reservations, I thought it might be possible to bring this off and come out somewhere better than where we went in, and I don't know what to say.

Comments

[rparvaaz.livejournal.com]

I am beginning to find the current mess a bit of a relief actually - I used to get so emotional when I could see a way out, a clear, obvious answer to the problems that kept on cropping up. Now, it has gone beyond anything I can find an easy answer to [or even an answer other than 'if we are lucky, they wouldn't implode'], and I can just observe without feeling the need to jump up-and-down and shout 'Watch what you are doing!'

[hano.livejournal.com]

I'm getting angrier and angrier about the whole thing - it's just such a senseles fucking waste of lives, espeially as it was so avoidable.

[brelson.livejournal.com]

As the first bombs started to rain down on Baghdad last spring, I thought, "well, that's that fucked then". The divergence between what was happening and what I wanted to happen was too radical for me to be able to adapt my own opinions after the invasion began. Effectively, I washed my hands of the whole thing.

It got very frustrating to see how supporters of the war, immediately after its commencement, would say things like "you don't support our troops!" or "you're on the side of Saddam Hussein!". My reply was always along the lines of, "we're in a situation that I never wanted us to be in; you don't have the right to come up to me now and put words in my mouth about what's happening, about what you've caused".

[rparvaaz.livejournal.com]

Oh, I went from angry, to stunned, to resigned, to angry again...I think I have now run out of emotional reactions. I still get annoyed when I come across Merkins who seem to think that it is okay to cut and run, regardless of what might happen in that case [it is not our headache, they say], but then I have a blind spot - I expect people to feel responsible for their actions.

[etherealfionna.livejournal.com]

It *was* possible to bring it off and come out somewhere better. It's just that the Powers That Be believed their own spin and didn't plan anything.

[memetic-glutton.livejournal.com]

I seem to remember a conversation between you and Martin at the time, about the requirements for a just(?) war. The point that stood out to me was the addition of the correct intent; I believe Blair, in his skewed increasingly fundie manner, went in with the best intentions, but the US administration were clearly in it for the wrong reasons (at least, to anyone with a healthy sense of cynicism). Hence the complete lack of post-war planning or regard for the needs and rights of the Iraqi populace.