Powerful Fareed Zakaria Newsweek article on Iraq

[buycitgo]

title: Why Kerry is right on Iraq

from the Aug 23 edition.....I think Al Franken read it on radio. somebody did. This section has the makings of a good speech:

Bush's position is that if Kerry agrees with him that Saddam was a problem, then Kerry agrees with his Iraq policy. Doing something about Iraq meant doing what Bush did.
But is that true?

Did the United States have to go to war before the weapons inspectors had finished their job?

Did it have to junk the United Nations' process?

Did it have to invade with insufficient troops to provide order and stability in Iraq?

Did it have to occupy a foreign country with no cover of legitimacy from the world community?

Did it have to ignore completely the State Department's postwar planning?

Did it have to pack the Governing Council with unpopular exiles, disband the Army and engage in radical de-Baathification?

Did it have to spend a fraction of the money allocated for Iraqi reconstruction—and have that be mired in charges of corruption and favoritism?

Was all this an inevitable consequence of dealing with the problem of Saddam?

Perhaps Iraq would have been a disaster no matter what. But there's a thinly veiled racism behind such views, implying that Iraqis are savages genetically disposed to produce chaos and anarchy. In fact, other nation-building efforts over the past decade have gone reasonably well, when well planned and executed.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5709288/site/newsweek

[oasis]

1. Buy Newsweek.

[buycitgo]

2. why? just curious

they have a lot of suck-oes on staff; mostly so, IMO

especially their top people

everything I've seen worth reading is available online

[blm]

3. Because if you and many others buy THIS issue, they will NOTICE the spike

in sales and take into consideration that there is an audience out there appreciating articles such as this.

[buycitgo]

4. why would buying that issue make them think it was FZ's article?

don't they judge sales by the covers?

wouldn't it be more effective to contact them?

[buycitgo]

5. anyway, is there NO reaction to the article itself?

when I heard it read, I was moved by the call/response nature of the questions

anybody else?

I thought it'd make an excellent section of a speech on the subject

[oasis]

8. Supporting those who support one's own views is always useful. The

results are not always immediate.

BTW, Eleanor Clift is a senior staffer at Newsweek.

[neoSattva]

6. Clarity wins ...

It is possible to boil complex issues down to a few, clear statements or questions. I agree, it could be the core of a good speech - clear, direct and persuasive.

[MasonJar]

7. In general Newsweek has done a better job of showing our side

too than any other comparable magazine.

[buycitgo]

9. I really can't stomach Evan Thomas

he makes my skin crawl. reminds me too much of Racicot, and is just as unctuous

he's CLEARLY a Bush camp follower

[jab105]

10. NOT our side...they are showing the TRUTH!!

n/t

[Cha]

11. Sounds like Fareed Zakaria is for Kerry!

I remember loathing Fareed when he was touting the "war" in Iraq. In fact I cancelled my subscription for just such touting by newsweek and time.

I can see now that he has seen the error of his ways.

This is a really encouraging article ..thank you.

He's laying it out there in black and white just what the big mistakes were by this miserable failure.

"Did it have to spend a fraction of the money allocated for Iraqi reconstruction—and have that be mired in charges of corruption and favoritism?"

This is a big shout out to dick cheney yourself.

"Did it have to ignore completely the State Department's postwar planning?"

Please remind me again..what the State Department's postwar planning was?

"Did it have to junk the United Nations' process?"

Only if it didn't want to share the oil!

"Did the United States have to go to war before the weapons inspectors had finished their job?"

Only if they wanted to bomb the shyte outta Iraq and kill thousands of innocents.

" Is Bush suggesting that despite this knowledge, he would still have concluded that Iraq constituted a "grave and gathering threat" that required an immediate, preventive war? Please. Even if Bush had come to this strange conclusion, no one would have listened to him."

This is an excellent point! Turn the question back on that smug sob..Would bush have gone in knowing what he Now knows?!

I'll bet rove and his flunkies are seething at this!

[buycitgo]

12. great responses! that's why I thought this was so good.

somebody needs to get this to Kerry's camp, so they can use it, cause it DOES cut through the nuance, and puts it to the junta in a clear, concise format

dem strategerist, you seeing this?

[Cha]

13. Thanks.. I'm betting the Kerry team has seen this and I

hope they capitalize on it.

I need to bookmark this so I can refer if needed.

[librechik]

14. another media flipflop.

Why did he go along in the first place? I think Fareed knew it was wrong all along. Why didn't he step up?

[greenman3610]

15. Zakaria

is another f-ing whore.
When it counted, he bent over.

And don't give me that "Everyone thought there were WMDs"

Not everyone did, former Chief Weapons inspector Scott
Ritter being one.
Of those that did, many, like the French, the Germans, the
UN, Hans Blix, and Bill Clinton, still believed it was not
enough of a threat to justify aggressive war.

I am sick and tired of this excuse "oh, we were
all victims of groupthink". Bullshit.
They were all willing accomplices to mass
murder, and damn them for it.

[no name no slogan]

16. Right on about Zakaria

He's as bad as Tom Friedman, but not nearly as pro-Israel. He's another whore for American Neo-Imperialism, and seems to think that all those brown-skinned folk need the guidance of us fine Anglo types to show them what freedom and democracy are all about.

I'd hardly call Zakaria's position (or Kerry's) a "revelation", or the "correct" one for that matter. Many people (over 20 million, in fact) KNEW damn well that there were NO WMDs in Iraq, that Saddam WAS cooperating with inspectors (when they weren't busy illegally spying on him under the guise of "inspections"), and that Iraq posed ABSOLUTELY NO IMMEDIATE THREAT TO ANYBODY.

But, folk like Zakaria are probably feeling a little guilty by now, and need to spin/justify the war, now that everything that the anti-war folk said would happen has come true. Let 'em spin....we know who's right.