Thursday, March 27, 2008

John Cole's Mea Culpa

My wife is pretty good at admitting when she is wrong. She is not wrong often, so I especially relish it when it happens.

However, she has nothing on cartoonist John Cole. He listed everything he got wrong about the Iraq war. It is a list that is not very different from what most people believed at the time:


I was wrong about the Doctrine of Pre-emptive warfare.
I was wrong about Iraq possessing WMD.
I was wrong about Scott Ritter and the inspections.
I was wrong about the UN involvement in weapons inspections.
I was wrong about the containment sanctions.
I was wrong about the broader impact of the war on the Middle East.
I was wrong about this making us more safe.
I was wrong about the number of troops needed to stabilize Iraq.
I was wrong when I stated this administration had a clear plan for the aftermath.
I was wrong about securing the ammunition dumps.
I was wrong about the ease of bringing democracy to the Middle East.
I was wrong about dissolving the Iraqi army.
I was wrong about the looting being unimportant.
I was wrong that Bush/Cheney were competent.
I was wrong that we would be greeted as liberators.
I was wrong to make fun of the anti-war protestors.
I was wrong not to trust the dirty smelly hippies

I can be pretty stubborn once I take a stand, so had I supported the war, I have to admit that I would have been tempted to continue justifying it, like so many others are doing. It is hard to come to terms with support for a policy that has wreaked such havoc. So, it took a lot of guts for John Cole to stand up and say this, and I appreciate his sentiments. I just wish there were good choices left for an exit strategy, rather than choices ranging from terrible to awful.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who is John Cole and why does he matter any more than your wife?

Or is it that you relish in shadenfruede when someone else has to eat crow?

Be honest.

Dan S said...

I had no antipathy towards John Cole - I just noticed that there is someone in the world who was willing to admit that they were wrong about the war, and appreciate his honesty.

It would shadenfruede if Bush or Rove or Cheney had to eat crow. But, I don't see that ever happening...