There is a difference between asking, "Was it worth it?" and "Should we have done it?" The latter question does imply an after-the-fact awareness of the consequences that was arguably not present at the time, a completely separate debate. But asking if, knowing what we know now, it was worth it, regardless of what shenanigans, misunderstandings, asleep-at-the-switches, lies, etc. took place at the time is extremely valuable. Because it can (should, at least) inform the people and process the next time we're faced with that sort of a crisis and someone suggests we just send in the troops for a "short, victorious war".
Asking if it was worth it is a critical part of learning from history. And those who fail to learn from history …
(And, for the record, I was "for" the war, as the unexpurgated annals of this blog will witness. I bought the rationale, I drank the Kool-aid, I recognized what a tyrant Saddam Hussein was and thought it highly plausible that he was involved in WMD programs. Heck, I think he would be today if the opportunity were there. I lose no sleep over his fate or, per se, the fate of his regime. But that doesn't change the questions of (a) whether the military action taken was, in fact, necessary at the time; (b) how much to trust in the future the rationale being presented by an administration that wants to go to war; (c) how we should have actually executed the war and the nation-building that followed to ensure we didn't leave behind as huge a mess as we have; and (c) what to expect the final, bloody butcher's bill to be when we do decide in the future to "send in the Marines". Those are all lessons I've tried to learn, and ones I hope to God this country has.)
Reshared post from +Les Jenkins
" I’ve got to say I think that is not a reasonable question. What we did at the time was done in the belief that it was necessary to protect this nation. You can’t, a decade later, go back and say, “Well we shouldn’t have done that.”
Um, yes you can. It's a totally reasonable question. Especially given the fact that the rational for the war was a lie and the administration at the time knew it was a lie, but they pushed it anyway.
Embedded Link
Top Iraq War Advocate Says It’s Unreasonable To Ask Whether War Was Worth It
Richard Perle One of the most outspoken advocates for the war in Iraq said on NPR on Wednesday that asking whether the war was worth fighting is an “unreasonable question.” During an interview with Richard Perle — who was chairman of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee during the run-up to the war — NPR host Renee Montagne noted some of the war’s more grim results: hundreds of thousands of Americans and Iraqis dead or wounded a…
I'm with you on this +Dave Hill
Likewise. Quite simply, there was enough information to ask the question BEFORE the invasion (the media may have not represented it, but many people opposed the war then). The evidence was not compelling. And if it's legitimate to ask it then, it's certainly reasonable to ask it now.
Richard Perle is a war criminal and should be in prison at The Hague, along with the rest of the Bush administration and those that voted for the AUMF.
That NPR had him on to lie to the American public some more in a softball interview, just goes further in proving that NPR should no longer be taxpayer supported. They cheerlead us into war, banned anyone that was against the war from the airwaves, and are unrepentant in doing so.
Yes, the war was wrong at the time and is still wrong.
The fact that he objects to the very asking of the question is all the answer you really need.
So all that's required to justify an action is the belief that it's necessary? If somebody believed Richard Perle was a threat and shot him dead, it would be unreasonable to ask if they should have done that? There goes our whole legal system!
Necessity is the mother of justification.
While it's true that necessity can serve as, at least, an excuse, or can identify a least-worst course of action, it's also very convenient …
So spake the Fiend, and with necessity,
The Tyrant’s plea, excus’d his devilish deeds.
— John Milton, Paradise Lost