No Joy in Vindication
May/30/2008 09:49 AM Filed in: Thoughts
from Purple Land
In the book, McClellan says this:
“History appears poised to confirm what most Americans today have decided: that the decision to invade Iraq was a serious strategic blunder. No one, including me, can know with absolute certainty how the war will be viewed decades from now when we can more fully understand its impact. What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary.”
The other passage I call your attention to is from McClellan's interview with Keith Olbermann last night. Keith spent the entire show with McClellan, and they covered a lot of ground. But there was one part of the interview that somehow broke a well inside my soul. Here is the question from Keith:
Olbermann: "...I'm asking this for every person that ever came up to me on the street and said, 'I feel I am going out of my mind living through this...this cannot be the America that I grew up in'....Were the critics inside and outside the media, of the President, largely...right?"
McClellan: "In terms of the Iraq War?
Olbermann: "Specifically that, and you can go out in any direction from there that you like...specifically Iraq..."
And here is McClellan's response:
McClellan: "I think certain in terms of Iraq, there was a lot that they were right about, as I went back and reflected on this. It's not that I'm necessarily aligned with them on some other views and things...but certainly on the buildup to the Iraqi War, we should have been listening some more to what they were saying...the American people should have been listening a little bit closer to some of what was being said.
But I, like a lot of Americans was caught up in the moment of post-911 and wanting to put my faith and trust in the White House, and the President I was serving."
You can watch the exchange here, if you like. The relevant passage starts at the 5:25 mark:
There was something about OIbermann's question --about asking a question on behalf of Americans, like me, who DID felt like they were "going out of their mind" during the start of this war...
There was something about McClellan's response, which was basically to say, "Yes, critics of the war were right, and we should have all listened to them"...
There was something about that exchange that unleashed a torrent of emotion in me. There, on the couch, watching the TV, tears poured out.
Honestly? I hadn't thought about the war --really thought about it-- in weeks. But there was something about McClellan-the-insider going on record and saying, "Yes, you were right to raise your questions" which, at one and the same time, brought me the comfort to know I was not crazy then, but also brought me the shame to know that I get absolutely no pleasure in that now.
So, I end with a word to all my friends who supported this war at the beginning...to all those who said things like:
"What IF Saddam has WMD?"
"Surely the President knows something we don' t know..."
"They will greet us like liberators..."
"This will be short and sweet..."
"The situation has changed....it's a different kind of war..."
To you, I say this:
The only possible redemption of this sad situation will be if you can promise to remember this horrible time, promise to listen critically to your leaders in the future, and promise to never to rush to judgment again.
Despite what you've heard, the evidence was there at the time. People were raising objections at the time. We can redeem this situation by learning from it. But only if we consciously choose to remember to remember.
Even then, though, there is no joy in being vindicated on this war now.
None whatsoever.
| Comments |
|---|
|
paginate="10"
permalink="http://www.ericfolkerth.com/wheneftalks/files/nojoyinvindication.html">
|