Top Ten Lessons of Iraq War - STEPHEN WALT

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...q_war?page=0,0

Lesson #1: The United States lost.

Lesson #2: It's not that hard to hijack the United States into a war.

Lesson #3: The United States gets in big trouble when the "marketplace of ideas" breaks down and when the public and our leadership do not have an open debate about what to do.

Lesson #4: The secularism and middle-class character of Iraqi society was overrated

Lesson #5: Don't listen to ambitious exiles.

Lesson #6: It's very hard to improvise an occupation.

Lesson #7: Don't be surprised when adversaries act to defend their own interests, and in ways we won't like.

Lesson #8: Counterinsurgency warfare is ugly and inevitably leads to war crimes, atrocities, or other forms of abuse.

Lesson #9: Better "planning" may not be the answer.

Lesson #10: Rethink U.S. grand strategy, not just tactics or methods.

Lesson one, a war in the name of freedom for Iraqi arabs but really motivated but by greed, revenge, racism in the end is a bitter pill to swallow once initial blood lust subsides and leads to election of Barack Hussein Obama and all that comes with it.

Lesson two, Judith Miller of NYT like notorious David Frum is a dooshbag or that would be impolite wording for lessons chapter.

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Originally Posted by moderate libertarian

Lesson two, Judith Miller of NYT like notorious David Frum is a dooshbag or that would be impolite wording for lessons chapter.

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Just impolite spelling... I believe its "douchebag". As a matter of fact, when spelled correctly "david frum douchbag" gets 103,000 google results, which does pale in comparison to the search "david frum criminal" which gets 2.4 million. For those of you new to Frum, he's succinctly described as an aipac warmonger that coined the infamous term "axis of evil" and has been on a long campaign to invade Iran. He tends to have the painful/sickening look on his face when being interviewed that makes you just want to smack him and send him to his room for whining.

:)

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Originally Posted by presence

Just impolite spelling... I believe its "douchebag". As a matter of fact, when spelled correctly "david frum douchbag" gets 103,000 google results, which does pale in comparison to the search "david frum criminal" which gets 2.4 million. For those of you new to Frum, he's succinctly described as an aipac warmonger that coined the infamous term "axis of evil" and has been on a long campaign to invade Iran.

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Wow, you were not kidding. I had no idea this dude inspires disgust at such a massive level, that was just an impulse comment.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...e+Search&gbv=1

What I learned from Iraq is that my fellow Americans are dumb as hell, that they hide an unpatriotic cowardice by waving a flag,

that the government can take any random group of usually illiterate third world goat-herders, and portray them as 30 foot tall giants of deathbringing who breath fire that turns you into a communist and a muslim on contact, the likes of which panzies like Stalin or Adolf are but mere weaklings not to be compared.

I learned that the government can then use that fear to play into invading a country that is irrelevant to said unstoppable mighty doomgiants.

Also that we are admittedly, are really good at blowing up countries, so long as we're willing to go into huge debt for it.

Oh and that what most people measure for makes the country great or exceptional, is solely our proficiency at said blowing up of other countries. Just like Rome. Or Mongols. Or any other empire or great power in history.
Else what makes up exceptional is the ability to bull and still continue said measures and moreso, with much more tolerance from the formerly opposing side. So long as another person is in office and talked about peace.

I learned that this still isn't enough, and the said maker of the bull will be proclaimed as soft on the deathgiants of doombringing by those who dislike him, because he didn't invade to their satisfaction, and just bombed multiple new ones instead.

Lastly I learned that "fiscal conservatives" usually aren't at all, conservatives probably don't know what their own ideology is aside thinking it's "I Like Whur' un nem
frem'fries herbs gun gitme", and that conservatives in general will put up with anything domestically, so long as the boogeymuslim is at the gates threatening all our babies. And a handful of buildings sometimes once a decade or so I guess.

That is what I learned from Iraq.

I am disappointed that the corporate fuck wads also known as the "media" are not cited as accomplices in selling the lies to the American people. Point #3 does not cut it in my opinion and the author is clueless about point #4 and might as well try to sell us the WMD bullshit again.

Curveball: "I lied"

Curveball reiterates lies

You can't give "freedom" to people. They have to earn it.

Lesson #11: We are now broke.