2 Years Ago: Were you right about Iraq when being right wasn't popular?

[Sandpiper]

Two years later, all of my opposition to and misgivings about the Iraq war have been vindicated.

Two years ago, I predicted:

1) No WMD would be found

2) We'd get mired down without an exit strategy


Sadly, being right about this brings me no joy.


Pity that being right before the war started got you shouted down and labelled unpatriotic.

[Melodybe]

1. Same here, at least we've been consistant in our arguement.

Bring the troops home.

:dem:

[deadparrot]

Absolutely.

I remember the day after the invasion, we were all forced to "pray for the president."

And when I said I didn't support the war, I was told I was enabled terrorists, that I hated soldiers, and that I should "keep my opinions" to myself.

Yeah, that was fun.

[Maat]

2. Yep. Both my husband and I were against any idea about...

invading Iraq.

This 46-year-old ol' married ma was in law school, and was asked to leave both law school and my country by pro-Bushies. Boy, did I give them what-for! They NEVER bothered me again.

It gives me no pleasure, though.

[The Doctor.]

3. LOL!

I said that Saddam would export his weapons JUST to kill our international credibility if, in fact, he had any...

I'm still not absolutely sure he didn't - but all the facts say so.

[Up2Late]

4. Yup

Listened to the REAL Experts, not the Spinning Heads.:evilgrin:

[Sannum]

5. You still are labeled.

I can't believe it has been two years.

I never thought it would be *this* bad though. I thought it was going to be terrible, but never to the point of horror where it is now.

[Jack Rabbit]

6. My words were etched in stone two years ago

From Democratic Underground
Dated February 28, 2003

Mr. Bush`s Colonial War
By Jack Rabbit

In the past year, Mr. Bush and those in his inner circle have put together several reasons for going to war against Iraq. However, each reason that they have given either has been called into question by credible sources or outright refuted. It would seem that if there were a good case for war, it would have been made now. Furthermore, it would seem that if there were a good case for war, Mr. Bush's people would be in foreign capitals making that case instead of resorting to threats and bribes in order to secure a favorable vote in the Security Council.

The reasons given for the war have been that Saddam Hussein is a threat to America; that he is a threat to his neighbors in the Middle East; that he aids al-Qaida; that he is in material breach of UN resolutions; that he possesses weapons of mass destruction; that he is a brutal dictator.

The first reason is simply preposterous. Whatever weapons Saddam possesses or merely have been suggested he possesses, none are able to reach the shores of the United States. For the second charge, Saddam's neighbors have shown very little enthusiasm for this war. Were he a bona fide threat, they would be showing much more. That he aids or is even associated in any way with al-Qaida or Osama bin Laden is absurd. Osama regards Saddam as a socialist infidel who should be overthrown and killed. Meanwhile, Islamic fundamentalists in Saddam's Iraq come in for some of Saddam's harshest repressive measures. These two are not allies. The charges that he is in material breach of UN resolutions and that he possess weapons of mass destruction are for the most part the same charge, since the resolutions of which he accused of breaching are those that directed his disarm after the 1991 war as well as a more recent resolution under which inspectors have returned to Iraq. The inspectors have found nothing of significance and while the chief insppectors, Dr. Blix and Dr. ElBaradei, have expressed a belief that Iraq's cooperation could be better, they have not indicated that they have been prevented from executing their mission.

That Saddam is a brutal dictator is true. However, this is not in and of itself reason to go to war. If it were, we would go to war against many other brutal dictators, some of whom are our allies . . . .

This war is not about UN resolutions or weapons of mass destruction. It is colonial piracy. This war will not make Americans safer from any external threat. It will do little to protect people in the Middle East from any threat. It will not bring democracy to Iraq. It will not benefit the Iraqi people. The only people who will benefit will be Mr. Bush's cronies.

I was right.

[Lindacooks]

7. Yep.

eom

[The Doctor.]

8. It still gets you shouted down and labelled unpatriotic...

Especially because you can PROVE you were right.

[derby378]

11. That's when you call THEM unpatriotic...

...for not standing up for the ideals this nation was built on.

For the record, I was right about Iraq all along, too. The only time I was afraid WMDs would enter the picture was when US troops approached Baghdad. When no sarin gas made the scene, I was convinced once and for all the WMD line was a big fucking lie.

[Sandpiper]

12. Yep, first you were unpatriotic for questioning Dubya

Now you're unpatriotic for pointing out that he was wrong.


Too much hubris from the conservatives to admit that all of their justifications were dead ass wrong.

[JanMichael]

9. My ONLY misjudgement was that I figured that a barrel or two of some...

...chemical agent that Rumsfeld sold Saddam back in the 80's would be found.

Frankly I'm shocked that ZIP, NOTHING, has been located.

[deminks]

10. I knew something was terribly wrong.

No exit strategy, and * had said something about the plot against Poppy. I thought this couldn't just be about revenge, could it? Surely not. That is when I started looking for information.

[Clark2008]

13. Yes, I was, and I still am making the proper predictions regarding

Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Iran.

I actually HAVE some expertise in understanding this region, something the Shrub Administration also has at its disposal, but chooses to ignore.

However, because of who I married and who my son is, most people - average people - will listen to me. I am rarely called out for my opinions, locally, because the wingnuts KNOW I know what the hell I'm talking about.

[mike_c]

14. yes....

My opposition was even derided by some DUers, mostly by people who are long gone.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. Yup. Got into an argument with a freeper relative

where I said I thought the invasion was a really bad idea, and what were we going to do to prevent another Vietnam after it was over? And I was told in no uncertain terms that it wasn't like Vietnam at all; we'd be in and out in a few weeks; and that Saddam was a Bad Man and he had nuclear weapons that he would use against us, so what the hell was wrong with me that I would be so foolish as to rely on those stupid, useless UN inspectors?

I haven't said "I told you so" to this relative yet. Strangely, he never brings the subject up any more.

[Dr.Phool]

16. I called it back then.

I said the absolute best that can come out of this is another fundamentalist, Islamic Republic, something on the order of Iran.

It wasn't that hard to see. Supressed Shiite majority. Secular dictator.

[GreenPoet64]

17. I told my sister we would never find WMDs . . .

She thought I was absolutely insane. In fact an argument between us over this very issue has strained our relationship--still not entirely the same since. Kept hoping she would eventually say something after * admitted there were none. She hasn't said a word.

[The Doctor.]

22. Some will hold their hand to the flame...

and bury the pain while never admitting it burns... because that would mean they might have been wrong.

What many of these so-called 'conservatives' (not that I'm judging your sister) do is purport their rightness without ever doing the painstaking research that said rightness requires.

It is simple intellectual laziness.

But then the admission of error is, to them, a 'character flaw' and not a means of growth.
They see being wrong as a flaw which must be 'covered' rather than something to learn from.

My favorite example of this occurred while arguing with a 'conservative' who insisted on attacking me rather than debating the topic. In an attempt to make a case against me, he said, "A crime is a serious felony."
-That's it, not much else in terms of context - he said that my anecdote contained a 'crime' and then said that "A crime is a serious felony."

Now I knew what he was trying to do - to equate my actions in the anecdote to a felony - which of course was absurd.
And I knew that to do so, he had inverted the relationship of the terms 'crime' and 'felony'.
So instead of being gracious, I laughed and told him what a foolish thing that was to say, "A crime is a serious felony."

And of course, as I predicted... he defended the statement doggedly.

He absolutely insisted that he was correct to say, "A crime is a serious felony." -Long after I said, "Look, if I were to accidentally interpose two words in a sentence - I would probably say, "oops - I accidentally switched the words - I meant it the other way around." - Why is that so hard for you?

Eventually he announced that he put me on his 'ignore' list and that he would have no further contact with me.

All because his ego was too big to admit an obvious mistake.

Half of America is broken.

[GreenPoet64]

23. "Half of America is broken." I agree! n/t

[CoffeeCat]

18. Two years ago, I was a nimrod...

I was a Democrat, but I was not plugged in.

The war helped me to slowly wake up.

I remember thinking, "Ok...we're looking for WMD that could be sequestered in a building, the size of a Baskin Robins. There's no way we'll find any WMD."

I was pretty much shell shocked myself. I didn't understand why we were putting on a high-tech "shock and awe" production to kill one man. I kept wondering why we didn't get the CIA to quietly assassinate Saddam.

I began to notice that the goals of the war (get WMD, get Saddam) did not match the violent bombing campaign. Bombs wouldn't get Saddam, and they surely wouldn't find WMD.

I remember posting on another board--questioning "shock and awe" and accusing Bush of organizing a high-tech, pretty war that looked good for the cameras. I was lambasted. Support for the war was around 75 percent at the time.

It was a very rude and lonely awakening.

[TryingToWarnYou]

19. Yep, I was right too...

I argued with a lot of people..was called everything from communist to a Saddam sympathizer.

I hate to say I told them so, but...

[DemBones DemBones]

20. Yes, I was right, and so was Dennis Kucinich. When the war began,

Kucinich issued a statement saying it was a mistake and we should bring our soldiers home immediately. Dennis continued to speak out against the war when others Dems were saying "Well, we have troops on the ground, and I support the troops, blah blah, " or even refused to question Bush** as commander in chief.

Dennis said "I support getting the troops out so they aren't killed in a useless war."

Dennis filed suit to force Bush** to end the war.

Dennis spoke at anti-war rallies and continued to lobby for the Department of Peace he believes we need to work against war and other forms of violence.

Dennis Kucinich is an American hero who had remained loyal to the Democratic Party when it has given him very little respect.

Dennis Kucinich is the only politician I've ever supported who hasn't disappointed me.

DENNIS KUCINICH FOR PRESIDENT 2008

[KaliTracy]

21. my letter to Ohio Representatives prior to them voting on war resolution

War is never anything anyone wants. I understand that. And I understand that there are many, many factors contributing to the White House position that we need to strike quickly and "cleanly" to complete this job of ousting Saddam... but I am not sure that all of these positions have been explicitly stated to the American People and our allies. How can President Bush be so confident that with this attack we will engender a change to democracy? Even Dick Cheney has been quoted more than once against the US going in the Middle East for such a reason. In 1991, he was quoted in the New York Times, on April 13 that

“If you're going to go in and try to topple Saddam Hussein, you have to go to Baghdad. Once you've got Baghdad, it's not clear what you do with it. It's not clear what kind of government you would put in place of the one that's currently there now. Is it going to be a Shia regime, a Sunni regime or a Kurdish regime? Or one that tilts toward the Baathists, or one that tilts toward the Islamic fundamentalists? How much credibility is that government going to have if it's set up by the United States military when it's there? How long does the United States military have to stay to protect the people that sign on for that government, and what happens to it once we leave?”**

and more recently in an interview in 1996

“{I}f Saddam wasn't there, his successor probably wouldn't be notably friendlier to the United States than he is. I also look at that part of the world as of vital interest to the United States; for the next hundred years it's going to be the world's supply of oil. We've got a lot of friends in the region. We're always going to have to be involved there. Maybe it's part of our national character, you know, we like to have these problems nice and neatly wrapped up, put a ribbon around it. You deploy a force, you win the war, and the problem goes away, and it doesn't work that way in the Middle East; it never has and isn't likely to in my lifetime”**

I realize that some things have changed through the years, that Saddam became even more secretive, that he threw out inspectors, etc. But the inspectors are there now -- they have Geiger counters, and other means to check for radioactive residue in the soil and in buildings – and they have other ways to check for other residues. And they are beginning to get the cooperation of some of the scientists. The inspectors haven’t “disappeared” or had “suspect accidents” or been harmed in any way. What is the rush to blow Saddam out of Baghdad, possibly, blowing up more innocent lives than were lost in the World Trade Center? What right do we really have to do that without a “smoking gun” ? What will this say to North Korea and China and the other places that are *also* not democratic nations, but who do have potentially dangerous weapons?

Getting in there before the oppressive summer heat seems to be the only motivation to really speed this process up, but that is just my observation. There is nothing wrong about being prepared to fight as we allow the inspectors to complete their job, but being prepared is MUCH different from dropping the first bomb.

From the very first, all we’ve heard from the White House is that the inspections aren’t working, and this was less than two weeks into the process – when even in countries that “Voluntarily” give up weapons of mass destruction, the process has taken more than a year. All I ask from my representatives is for them to be fully present in this decision. I fear that if Saddam is painted into a corner, there will be action in the States – terrorist or otherwise. He will have NOTHING to loose, and will become a Martyr in the process. As well, little cells that might be around in Europe or in the States that have nothing to do with Saddam now, may strike out of shear need to prove a point (that the US "can" be vulnerable and that US people can die). I fear that this war will not be an action that will only stay in the Middle East, but I hope I am very wrong. You may have people in your family involved in the military, some may have already been deployed, and if so, no doubt you have strong feelings of pride and worry about their presence in the Middle East. And if by chance you have no military family involved in this endeavor, and a draft was reinstated, would you feel your son or nephew was going to fight for a just cause?

**(Quoted Information courtesy of Slate’s “Chatterbox” --- article by Timothy Noah
Posted Wednesday, October 16, 2002, at 4:53 PM PT http://slate.msn.com/id/2072609 )

edit:font fix

[GreenPoet64]

26. Wow! Thank you for sharing! n/t

[KaliTracy]

43. you're welcome. I just love those darn Cheney quotes -- sent them to a

bunch of TalkNews outlets (Tavis Smiley, Diane Rheme, Talk of the Nation, Morning Edition) -- when Kerry was being Characterized as a "flip flopper" -- seems to me, that Cheney is the Dove turned Hawk (fowl flipper), and that his interests in this are Oil and "Rebuilding" efforts.... They never got aired though. Thought recordings/videos of those quotes would have been a good thing for Kerry's team to make commercials of...

[applegrove]

24. I always thought they should go after Saddam and get rid of him.

You should always close down sociopaths. They cause most of the world's genocides. I wish Clinton had done it...with the UN too. Why the repukes took 20 years to realize they were being used by a madman is beyond me...except Saddam was offering them big oil deals and stuff in the early 1980s and 'strong men' was the US/Brit policy in the ME.

I think they had other reasons they could have used. But they were obsessed with it being about breaking new legal ground..so if they had said it was about genocide...then that is old news.

I think they wanted to set a precedent. So they believed what lies they wanted to..all they had to do was to make sure all information on WMD was sent to them..no matter how suspect or how old.. and then build their case backwards. And they very easily could have then believed their own propaganda.

[Selteri]

25. I was dead on.

No WMD

Oil being the real reason

huge cost

no exit

Bush never admits to being wrong.

[LynnTheDem]

27. Yeppers. And suffered from Oct 2002-Aug 2003 being cyber-stalked

and my design business boycotted and myself threatened and my soldier-hubby threatened ("We know people who can get to him") etc from rightwingnut bitches who put their lying war-criminal bush-god ahead of everyone & everything, including US honor, US integrity, US soldiers' lives, and every standard of simple common decency.

And I take joy in knowing that THEY KNOW I was correct, and they were stupid ignorant warmongering little BITCHES.

But that doesn't actually help take away the pain from losing so many friends of ours in Iraq, nor the lost 18 mths of my husband being in Iraq, nor his nephew currently Iraqmired, nor the hundreds of thousands of lives who are now or will be gone forever or destroyed forever, and the total loss of all honor, integrity, morality and respect the United States of America ever once held in the world.

[jburton]

28. I was right, but somewhat surprised

I knew the whole WMD "Massive Stockpiles" was a trumped-up load of shit, but jeez, we didn't even find a little bit!

I thought we would at least find some old Rumsfeld bio-weapons from the 1980's that Bush could declare as "found WMD" but that didn't even happen.

Not only did my bad predictions come true, they came true to a magnitude I never imagined.

[LisaL]

29. Yes. I always believed this war will lead to noting good.

[WilliamPitt]

30. Yup

[Avalux]

31. Yes I was right -

but it doesn't matter. Rational thinking isn't in the vocabulary of this country anymore and being right means nothing when lies are OK.

[nonconformist]

32. Oh yes

When I go back and read posts of mine at another board from 2 yrs ago, from the lead-up to the war to shortly after it began, I was ironically spot-on. The people that disagreed couldn't have been MORE wrong in their predictions, however.

[Nile]

33. What was the NYT story last weekend about WMD.

I heard it was something about WMD being moved to Syria just before the overthrow of Iraq. Anybody have any link to that story? I have not been able to locate one.

[robbedvoter]

34. I was right, and it was more popular than advertised. No satisfaction

in "I told you so". I wish I could have stopped it...

[TrustingDog]

35. not for one bloody SECOND did I believe

invading Iraq was the right thing to do.

[salin]

36. yes, and worse

during the campaign, when asked if he still would have invaded even if he knew there were no WMDs being developed and no ties to al qeada - but said yes, it was the right thing to do. Point - now we have a foreign policy that includes aggressive first-strike with no need to suggest a "preemptive, defensive" strike.

[Mr_Spock]

37. I was 110% right and I SCREAMED AT MY FAMILY "THEY'RE LYING"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"can't you see it in their faces"!! I screamed. They were even on-board for a while - it's because the neo-cons are formers Democrats who believed we could change the world through our "influence".

WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER!

Fucking, fucking FOOLS!

[NoPasaran]

38. Yep, for the good it did

I said at the time that Bush's case for invading Iraq was about as solid as Germany's for invading Poland in 1939... and I predicted that having broken Iraq, we find it hard to fix.

[Cha]

39. Yes, I was wearing my "No Blood For Oil"

pin to work and went to the New York City Iraqi Invasion Protest on Feb 15,2003.

I was always in the "10%" who were against bush after 9/11. If,indeed, it ever was that low!

[Pachamama]

51. I too was always part of the "10%" that were against Bush even after 9/11

(actually before 9/11 too) and totally opposed to the war. I felt that there were never going to be any WMD's found and that this was going to be a costly quagmire, another long drawn out war with many dead like the Vietnam war.

I will however confess that even though I marched in every march opposing the pending invasion of Iraq, I remember seeing signs that said "No Blood for Oil" and thinking, okay, I know that Bush and Saddam have bad blood, but no way that this is about "Oil"...

Here I am two years later and I will tell you, I now know that the blood was for Oil.... :cry:

How much more blood for oil?

[UTUSN]

40. Just about All of Us Here. Without Benefit of FBI, NeoCons, Tweety n/t

[G_j]

41. unfortunately, you don't exist

we don't exist...none of us belong to the club of know-it-all "we were ALL wrong" wind-bags that graces the halls of Congress and American media.

[davsand]

42. I feel only sadness at having been right two years ago.

A little over two years ago I stood in the local grocery store and talked to an old high school classmate of mine about Iraq and about his son-who is in the Army. Like a lot of kids, his son signed up for the Army immediately after 9/11.

Chuck asked me my opinion of "that mess in Iraq" and I told him then that I was opposed to going in there--that we had seen no proof that there was any reason to risk our kids' lives. I also told him that I honestly feel that the lives of our military people are not treated with the reverence they deserve.

He looked me dead in the eye and told me that he HAD to think that there was a reason to go into Iraq. He felt he had to support the president, because it was too difficult to even consider the idea that his kid was going into something that was wrong.

There was nothing I could say. I understand. Thinking my kid was in the line of fire for no reason probably would drive me quite mad too.

I thanked him for raising a good kid who loved his country enough to sign up for the military, and told him I'd carry them all in my heart. I walked away with a much better understanding of how it feels to predict something awful and have nobody take it seriously.

Chuck is not a bad guy. He's not an ultra conservative. He's an average guy who works hard to earn a living and loves his family. He had a reason to feel the way he did, and it made me feel small to try and take that from him.

I ran into Chuck a while back (at the grocery store again!) I was almost afraid to ask, but I had to do it-- I asked about his son. His kid is alive and still in Iraq. He got wounded in some town his Dad couldn't even pronounce, has recovered without much incident, and he's staying to finish his rotation. I told Chuck I was glad to hear his kid is gonna be ok, and that I'll continue to carry them all in my heart.

Chuck looked me dead in the eye and said, "You told me you didn't think they had any reason to go into Iraq--do you remember that?" I told him that I did remember that and that it had haunted me ever since, because I knew how important it must have been to feel his kid was doing something that dangerous for a good reason. He hugged me at that point, looked bewildered, and said, "Why did they lie about it?"

I wish I'd been wrong.


Laura

[KaliTracy]

44. wow.... this brought tears. I feel that so many out there believe in this

war because the adverse -- not believing in it, means that our Government was wrong, and it's just too disturbing to think that.

[Ilsa]

45. Yeah, I'd love to hear some tapes of Mike Malloy and others

on liberal talk radio from two years ago. Of course, I guess AAR can't run them since they are pre-AAR.

I figured no WMD. And I figured there weren't enough troops for policing the place. But I'm not knowledgeable enough about "getting mired down without an exit strategy."

DUers are just too smart.

[Fleshdancer]

46. Yep. And that's why I supported Dean. n/t

[osiristz]

47. It was never a debate

The evidence (or lack of) was there. Saddam posed NO THREAT. It had all been available for anyone to read. But everyone clung to their TV's and here we are....2 years later....more than 4000 US soldiers dead, 100,000 civilians dead, HUNDREDS of tons of DU munitions dumped on them.

I opposed it then and I still oppose it. But then, we have to remember that 911 made it all possible! How convenient for them.

And Bush has the audacity to cut veterans benefits!

[ulysses]

48. yup. n/t

[Coloradan4Truth]

49. Yes -

I didn't have a lot of knowledge about the issues, but didn't trust * and I didn't think that there was a connection between Iraq and 9-11.

[BuyingThyme]

50. Yes.

I kept saying,

"Iraq has absolutely nothing to do with September 11 and they have never done anything to us."

They kept saying,

"We are fucking morons who don't know the difference between one non-American and another non-American. We were raised by mentally deficient, poop-throwing apes, and we have no respect for ourselves or anybody else. Don't you support the troops?"

[leanin_green]

52. Yeah, I had to hear it from my own wife.

Mostly, I was opposed because I saw it as a direct affront to what JFK tried to put forth in his "Pax Americana" speech. I really believe in that concept and I saw us becoming the new Rome. Now, the wife can see what I was talking about, but she still has a great deal of Southern Utah environmental influence shaping her opinions. One of our more conservative Democrats. I'm a Northern California Democrat that is trying to balance the two. Most people here don't have a more universal perspective about issues. Something we have to learn about if we are to reach into the Red states.

[DinahMoeHum]

53. Yes, unfortunately.

n/t

[NoSheep]

54. Yep. I was right.

[gollygee]

55. Yep!

I shouted it from the rafters! There are no WMDs in Iraq! We'll never get out of there! They won't great us with flowers! It's another Vietnam!

If a housewife from Michigan could see it, why couldn't these idiots who have training and experience in international affairs see it?

*sigh*

[immoderate]

56. I called it too.

I sent this LTTE to the Arizona Republic on March 17, 2003. How'd I do?

Dear Editor,

If I read your editorial correctly, the current US policy of invading a country that hasn’t attacked us is "dictated" by the events of 9/11. Au contraire! I think that US policy is “dictated” by (unelected) President George W. Bush. France and Germany supported us after 9/11; they still have thousands of peace keeping troops in Afghanistan and look how we treat them, like enemies.

For those who forgot about Chile, Guatemala, Iran and Vietnam, here’s what you can expect. We will probably defeat Iraq easily. Nobody, but nobody, wants to be in the way when the United States military is bearing down. My money goes on the US in any battle. It’s the aftermath of the war that has not been calculated.

Whatever government we install in Iraq will be viewed as a US colony or puppet in their midst. It will be a magnet for terrorist attacks. The costs of security will soar. We will spend many billions over many years and they will keep attacking. Millions of idle youth plus convenient targets equals many opportunities to make martyrs. Are we ready to institute a homeland security system for Iraq? Can we even do one for ourselves?

Eventually, we will have to leave Iraq. An Iraq occupation, combined with other Bush policies will ruin us financially. Our prestige and credibility will have been decimated. Maybe the endless terror attacks will take their toll, people hate body bags. We will be leaving the Iraqi people and ourselves a lot worse off than we are now.

Hey, for those who see tenuous connections like Saddam and 9/11, why haven’t they detected a connection between gas prices and Republican control of the government?

(Puts away crystal ball.) They never acknowledged this or the follow up "I told you so" letters I sent.
--IMM

[in_cog_ni_to]

57. Sure was right and still am.

The repukes just KNEW they had WMD. I knew better. However, they do have a lot of OIL, but this war isn't about OIL, right? :eyes:

[Tracer]

58. Oh, yes.

I specifically recall the Summer of 2002, when the smirking dipshit was all over the place drumming up his warmongering.

"This is BS!!", I thought to myself. "They are concocting something out of nothing!!"

And look at the mess now.

Nobody shouted me down, because I truly don't even know any "uber-patriots". Even my slightly regressive brother-in-law has come around.

[Desertrose]

59. Yes.

and I told you so brings no comfort.....

[wtmusic]

60. Saw it coming a mile away

as many did. It's obvious, except to the morons who make decisions in this country.

[Brewman_Jax]

61. They looked at me like I was crazy

I said if there are any WMD's, all they have to do is tell the inspectors where to look. The chorus was, "gotta stop Saddam! gotta stop Saddam! WMDs! WMDs! He's gonna nuke us!" The rumor mill ground without ceasing. :dunce:

Now, 2 years and counting. I tell the Bushbots who voted for him and backed all this, Well, your kids will thank you--when they go enlist, 'cause job prospects are so bad, and get sent to Iraq.

Neo-cons never wake up 'til they or theirs are affected, but by then it's too late. :(

[newportdadde]

62. Yep I was right there with you.

And to this day I still catch hell over it. I actually still have people telling me that they did find WMD. That saddam = 9/11. Ow and the everlasting... 'better to fight them over there then here'... um hello 'they' didn't fucking attack us...


ARG. You know this is all going to come up again in 30 years when we have an 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' veteran presidential candidate and we will all once again get called non patriots and soldier haters.

[anarchy1999]

63. I saw this yesterday and could not answer. Okay, now you have it.

These last four years have been way too far painful! Especially on September 11, 2001. September is a way too special month for me and for the other half of anarchy1999.

We marched, we organized, we helped to make history in Dallas!

We'll probably never get over it all.

I'm so proud of those that have continued on. You all are doing well, continue, please to reach out to others. I'm sorry that we have dropped out of being active. We miss and love you all.

There is nothing about being right and we look always to Jenson and many others for the right path to follow.

[rocktivity]

64. About 2 weeks after 9/11, I predicted in one of my first DU posts

that "if we don't put some thought into HOW we retaliate, we'll end up with a war that has Viet Nam's fingerprints all over it."

Figuring out the reason for the Iraq invasion took a little longer. I couldn't understand why Bush seemed to be supporting the inspections one day and threatening Saddam the next. But I saw the light the second Colin Powell huffed, "this evidence is irrefutble!" at the start of his UN presentation. There weren't any weapons, and Bush had to invade before the inspectors made it official: no WMDs, no justification for the invasion, no oil! And even before construction on Iraq's 14 permanent US bases began, I knew why there was no exit strategy--the only exiting Bush would do would be into Iran and Syria!

:headbang:
rocknation

[frictionlessO]

65. Oh hell yes...

Just look at Gulf War 1. The lies surrounding that action leaked out over the next couple of years. Thats when I knew to never trust the RW again in any way whatsoever. As soon as 9/11 happened (that very day) I knew we would be going to Iraq and I knew it would be wrong wrong wrong.


Fuck the neoCON death cult!!

[DARE to HOPE]

66. I wrote, I protested, I yelled, I screamed, I prayed...

...we were invisible, yet there.

I was so excited Saturday about our Chicago NBC 5's 5 pm coverage of the marches this weekend because we had been so totally SHUT OUT in 2003! Then I watched the Schiavo coverage do the same thing again everywhere else.

Nevertheless, I will not forget how it felt! My Housemember Jesse Jackson and Senator Durbin voted with us. But I wrote in desperation to Kerry--warning him that if he supported the Bush War bill, he would never be President! I remember how we all hoped that it would coral Bush in the end, but I thought it WRONG!

I never believed the slurs against Scott Ritter, nor did the country. What a hero of a Marine he is!

My own sister came home from the middle east saying there WAS NO movement against the war! I said she was NOT in a position to say! There were countless demos here in Chicago, in New York, in LA, in Washington! And I must have written one hundred letters!!

I put my banner up on our house this weekend, in honor of the anniversary and the marches:

"Thou shalt NOT KILL, Mr. Bush!!

Thou shalt NOT STEAL Iraq's oil!!

Thou shalt NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS

to the American people!!"

My husband preached peace from beginning to end, prayed for all the Iraqis as well as our young people--we are in an area like Lila Lipscomb's, filled with kids who think the military will give them a leg up. We have both been in the position for many years of trying everything to discourage them. They think we are crazy. At one point our little parish had seven in Iraq. A part of our prayer list, each came back--my own prayer was that they come back whole in mind as well as body. One prays through tears and desperate hope.

We did have one who was in the tent in Mosul only minutes before the explosion. She felt something tug at her, and left with a friend, just yards away when things blew up.

Last Wednesday's Lenten worship was centered on Ezekiel's vision of the dried bones upon the hillside, the devastation of Israel's hope against the conqueror. "Mortal, can these bones live?" "O LORD, You know." "When human hope and power are lost--then, God," said the preacher.

We have been through such a shocking four years, and especially since March 2003. I can only cry every time I think of the children of Baghdad. Or Fallujah! How can we ever repent/repay for that? We are all caught in a frightening web, run by madmen who literally worship the devil IMHO.

But like Bonhoeffer, I am responsible for myself, for the decisions I make, whether to be silent or whether to make a fuss. Our people know we are sixties' kids, and take us with a grain of salt. Nevertheless they are reading, I have a roving bookshelf, they are lifting their heads with surprising statements--they say, "But what can we do?" and I teach them how to write/call.

I do trust God in the end, no matter what comes. I keep waiting for lightening to strike Bush. I do see little things rising up, I have spread the Yurica Report to clergy and lay alike, I think the hypocrisy of the Bush agenda is being challenged by more and more, to the point where Harry Reid is quoting scripture about economic justice on the Senate floor.

We just HAVE to get our vote out and take back the two Houses of Congress in 2006. We are the only nation in the world to have this amount of power. It is an uphill fight with the MSM and the electronic vote theft. THAT is where we must take our energy: spread the Truth about the war and their domestic agenda, light a fire under those we know, and raise heck with our local election commissions about electronic voting. Let them KNOW the LIGHT is on them!

I actually read that Chris Shays of CT is THE most vulnerable!! Wow! He is my Mom's Congressmember. And last summer I had the most amazing opportunity, in a little, traditional ceremony in Southport CT, God whirled this man around and put him right in my arms!

It was at the end of a parade, "blessing the ships," an old Puritan ritual which now blesses pleasure boats.

Anyway, there he was at the end of it, watching the boats. It is a little complicated to explain, but he twirled around in the middle of meeting a few people, and ended up with me! I was able to tell him I used to work for Paul Simon, and due to his respect for Simon, due to his own Peace corps background, we had an amazing conversation. I challenged him that we were doing the same thing in the Middle East as we had done through Iran-Contra et al in Central and South America, with many of the same actors, and certainly many of the same lies! He kept trying to scare me with "terrorist" talk. I was having none of it. I said to him, "If you are a man of God, you KNOW what the truth is, and you will OBJECT to what is going on!" He insisted he IS a "man of God," I said, "Then you know that Bush is no Christian, and that he does not tell the truth!"

He was finally able to wriggle away. And I have come to think he is simply a Bushbot, like Porter Goss or Mark Kirk, groomed secretly on the inside.

But my own mother is ready to work for his opponent, whoever emerges on the Democratic side, after all these years of supporting Shays. The demographics of that part of CT are changing in our favor, so, here goes! Also we have a real chance in Henry Hyde's district in IL for the same reason, demographic changes supporting the growing resentment of raised awareness.

So--we "dare to hope" in spite of how things look. One more thing I have taken in again in the last half week: we HAVE the "mind of Christ," that is, Christ's Love and all the Power and Courage that comes with it.

Ultimately the devil HAS been thrown down. All their worship at Bohemian Grove is in vain. Their clock is ticking even now, quite loudly it seems to me.

As Jesse Sr says, "Keep hope alive!" God bless, everybody.

[Stand and Fight]

67. Yes and I was an Army Corporal at the time.

I was serving active duty at Fort Lewis, WA as a corporal. I was also an old school Republican -- you know, fiscal responsibility and the like.. However, the whole 9/11 mishap stunk to high hell, and the case being put before us on Iraq was completely rancid since Bin Laden was (and still is) on the loose. My views probably held me back from being promoted to sergeant. Nonetheless, I shared them with other NCOs and I was right. I wonder where they are now... (I'm a civilian now...)

[MsTryska]

68. damn skippy i was.

and i got called all sorts of names and blah blah blah - i've even got a cyber-record of my convictions.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

69. I was vindicated!

I opposed this war from the start.

[Norquist Nemesis]

70. I haven't been right about Iraq at all!

But I've been CORRECT on most of it! :)