I continue to be utterly mystified.

[davidthegnome]

249. Hmm.

You make a point about accountability. This particular issue is one of the reasons why I'm not a strong Clinton supporter. It was also the biggest reason I supported Obama when he ran for President. Yeah, you're right, it's pretty damned awful. What I wonder though, is whether those who supported the Iraq war knew the truth - or whether they even cared to know. I mean... no weapons of mass destruction, no really capable military force (until we created one hell of an insurgency) a Nation that had been brought to it's knees (and was still on it's knees) by our bombs and our sanctions. Yet we invaded. The inspectors all but begged for more time, but all the shit about WMDs and being an immediate threat somehow convinced a whole lot of people to go to war.

It doesn't escape my notice that the people of influence who supported this invasion were also partly responsible for bringing it about. The thing is... it goes so far beyond Clinton, beyond even Bush, I think. We had a media that seemed dedicated to 24/7 war promotion, to the demonizing of the people of Iraq, of the middle east. We had a populace still grieving after 9/11. People were angry, hurt, wanting vengeance perhaps as much as (or more than) justice. Then there was an attempt to promote the idea that Saddam had something to do with 9/11, that he was somehow connected to Bin Laden. So many lies, that smart and informed people told us were lies to begin with. After so long, I still suspect that the primary motivation was greed - and that we will never know the whole story.

A lot of people failed in their responsibilities. They failed in their responsibilities to engage in military conflict only when truly necessary, to demonstrate a valid need for an invasion, to demonstrate even solid reasoning for why the hell a ground invasion was even a thought to begin with. We're talking about a land and a people that were already suffering a great deal - and not only did we make them suffer more, we inflicted suffering on our own people. Our soldiers, their families and friends.

None of it was necessary. None of it should ever have even been a serious thought in our heads - to launch a ground invasion of Iraq? It wasn't even sound militarily - not by a long-shot, as the years since have proven. A quick little war with a quick resolution. We would be hailed as saviors, blah blah blah.

The argument I still hear most frequently from those who supported (and still support) it, is that everything is better for us having been there. That we removed an evil dictator, helped bring about a democracy, etc. Truth is, we created the next generation of terrorism, of hatred for the west - and for America in particular. We brought about an age of reckless war mongering and military spending, of lies promoted as truth without challenge. Of false flag waving, fascism.

The question though, of who is truly responsible is what gets to me. Was it Clinton? Bush? Kerry? Cheney? Was it our elected officials (well, except Bush) or... was it the people who enabled them? Was it those of us who voted them into power, those of us who gave them the ability to bring about this war? Our tax dollars paid for it, our blood paid for it, rivers of Iraqi blood paid for it.

We are still paying now. We may never be able to make payment in full for this catastrophe, for this disaster, for this crime against humanity. It was - and is, a terrible crime.

We must keep in mind though, that none of these individuals accomplish these things alone. Our votes, our support, our money... enables it. So we share the responsibility. Whether we objected to the war or not, if we supported the people who promoted it, who sold it to our populace, then we too, I feel, must take some of the obligation.

There is also the matter of a key intelligence report that was available just prior to the authorization for war. Clinton did not read it. Obama did. We should take note of their votes - and of how they met (or failed to meet) their responsibilities.

I'll share the blame, because people I supported, supported the war. It is highly unlikely though, that any of those who did are going to gain my vote in the future. Not without some serious soul searching on their part. I've done my own, but I'm not a millionaire running for political office. They want my support... well, now they have to earn it.