GOVERNMENT ETHICS IN THE POST-IRAQ WAR ERA

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

http://www.jameswebb.com/speeches/ethicsinpostwariraq.htm

GOVERNMENT ETHICS IN THE POST-IRAQ WAR ERA
Remarks by James Webb at
The Investment Dealers Association, Canada
23 June 2003


It pains me to point this out, but in my view the United States invasion of Iraq was one of the most ill-advised and reckless actions that the US government has ever taken. I make this statement not as a knee-jerk anti-war activist, but as one who still proudly defends our effort in Vietnam, and who has spent a total of five years inside the Pentagon.

We should start with the premise that a unilateral war - a war in which a country attacks another when it has not been itself attacked - must be undertaken only when the country's national survival is clearly at stake, or under circumstances where the international community is so threatened that a strong power such as the US must save it from an enormous menace. Iraq clearly did not meet either of those tests.

Additionally, I find it regrettable that the Bush administration squandered an historic opportunity to unify most of the world against the notion of organized international terrorism, and through its relentless pursuit of war against Iraq created instead an era of unprecedented bad feelings. The present administration accomplished this through a puzzling campaign of arrogance and condescension toward long-time allies, and by completely redefining the war against terrorism until it became a war against Iraq.

(snip)

Did these key players then lie to achieve their objective of an invasion and long-term occupation of Iraq? If so, why? And what are the immediate consequences? And given the immediate consequences, what are the long-term ramifications, both for the Bush Administration and for the United States?

(snip)

[teryang]

1. All these issues were discussed on DU

...starting one year before the invasion. While the contribution of a former repuke secretary of defense is heartening, where was this critique before the war happened? Maybe he could have made this argument publicly back then or spoken to Congressional leadership in support of Senator Byrd, who basically said much the same.

As to the notion that the chimp in chief is not a liar like the rest of them but merely incompetent, that fig leaf of an excuse is hardly credible. The smirk is for real. He smirks because he is a liar and a fraud. Like his father and his brother, JebFRAUD, he is always working on the next "devious plan."

By the way, is Bush family friend John Hinckley Jr., out of the asylum yet for shooting Reagan?

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Fri, Nov. 08, 2002:

Former Secretary of the Navy James Webb said the country should focus instead on eliminating international terrorism. Speaking at the Naval Postgraduate School, Webb said that without a clear understanding of consequences - or a clear exit strategy - U.S. forces face a decades-long occupation that could sap American resolve and resources.

The United States also risks inflaming Arab anger even more if it invades without first finding a solution to the Palestinian problem - which would include establishment of a Palestinian state, Webb said.

"I am very concerned with the direction this country may be going with regard to Iraq," Webb told several hundred students and faculty members. "Are we going to reshape American foreign policy to put (soldiers) on the ground in the Middle East? I think it's a mistake."

Webb, a best-selling novelist who also has written nonfiction since leaving the military, cautioned against an invasion in a Sept. 4 article in the Wall Street Journal.


http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/mcherald/news/local/4473702.htm