General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I'm tired of the "I'm sorry I was mislead on Iraq" meme. [View all]laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)I wasn't on DU at first either. Truth be told, I was a bit hawkish (and centrist, not left) and had been in argument with left wing friends online about Afghanistan. A few of them made the prediction that GWB would use 9/11 as an excuse to go into Iraq. I thought they were overreacting. My view about 9/11 and Afghanistan at the time was, "what else are you going to do? You can't do nothing." Being Canadian, I knew about the camps there, and figured they were going after OBL. I knew no hijackers had been from Iraq, so wasn't too concerned about it. Surely they wouldn't be that dumb/bold to use 9/11 as an excuse for THAT, and surely Americans weren't dumb enough to buy it.
Anyhow...the very SECOND I heard the word Iraq leave GWB's mouth, it was like the entire curtain had been pulled down over my entire worldview. My first thought was "THAT FUCKER!" and I KNEW. I knew my left wing friends had been right about everything (from that moment on, I was pretty hard left). So, I began to research like crazy. As aforementioned, being Canadian, I knew a lot more than most Americans because, well, we had real news. So I started with a leg up and then found Bartcop which led me to DU.
I had the same reaction to Powell. By then I was lurking at Bartcop and DU and wiser people tore his address apart. I was shocked, as you were, that people were buying the BS. That's when I realized my father...who grew up 15 min from the US border during Vietnam and had many American friends...was right about the US war machine.