Ignatieff Says Supporting Iraq War Was A Mistake: YA THINK?!!
There are moments of absolute clarity in my life when I understand fully and clearly why I cannot EVER be a Liberal. Former Liberal leadership candidate, Michael Ignatieff, has now publically stated that he was WRONG in his support for the American invasion of and ongoing war in Iraq.
A man of his age and education clearly was NOT able to connect the dots that identify the similarity between the war in Iraq and the war in Vietnam of the 60's & 70's. I will acknowledge that it is better to be correct late in a debate rather then maintaining an incorrect position indefinitely.
"What was the Key military lesson that was learned during the Vietnam War? The lesson was simple; when you deploy conventional military ground forces against a civilian insurgent or guerrilla force, it is hard to determine who the actual enemy is. During the '60's and '70's , the US military threw everything they had at the Viet Cong and still lost the war. The smiling citizens who walked amongst the troops during the day were often the same guerrilla fighters who shot and bombed US troops after the sun went down.
Flash forward to today, 2006. Iraq & Afganistan. Was nothing learned from the disaster of Vietnam? Exactly who in the Canadian Armed Forces High Command believes that we are going to be effective in curtailing insurgent activities when we aren't even sure who it is that is planting roadside explosives ..."
Did We Not Learn Anything From the Vietnam Experience?
March, 2006
CTV
POSTSCRIPT: - August 5, 2007
Here is the article from the New York Times - August 5, 2007 by Michael Ignatieff.
A man of his age and education clearly was NOT able to connect the dots that identify the similarity between the war in Iraq and the war in Vietnam of the 60's & 70's. I will acknowledge that it is better to be correct late in a debate rather then maintaining an incorrect position indefinitely.
"What was the Key military lesson that was learned during the Vietnam War? The lesson was simple; when you deploy conventional military ground forces against a civilian insurgent or guerrilla force, it is hard to determine who the actual enemy is. During the '60's and '70's , the US military threw everything they had at the Viet Cong and still lost the war. The smiling citizens who walked amongst the troops during the day were often the same guerrilla fighters who shot and bombed US troops after the sun went down.
Flash forward to today, 2006. Iraq & Afganistan. Was nothing learned from the disaster of Vietnam? Exactly who in the Canadian Armed Forces High Command believes that we are going to be effective in curtailing insurgent activities when we aren't even sure who it is that is planting roadside explosives ..."
Did We Not Learn Anything From the Vietnam Experience?
March, 2006
CTV
POSTSCRIPT: - August 5, 2007
Here is the article from the New York Times - August 5, 2007 by Michael Ignatieff.
And with this, Iggy becomes the last person in the country (outside of a few reality-starved Bush backers in the CPC) to acknowlege that Iraq was a bad idea.
"I make rash decisions I later regret" is a pretty poor mea culpa for a man who still has dreams of leading his party.
Posted by
Blogging Horse |
3:09 pm, August 03, 2007
I never could fathom what Iggy was doing running for the Liberals in the first place. At best, the guy's a Libertarian.
I shudder to think how close he came to leading the party.
Posted by
Jennifer Smith |
10:38 am, August 04, 2007
Some of the pundits are now speculating that Iggy is contemplating another run for leadership after Stephane Dion fails to win election next time around. This 'mea culpa' helps clear the deck of dunb things said for the next time around ...
Posted by
leftdog |
11:20 am, August 04, 2007
"contemplating another run and clearing the decks"
Particularly this bit :
"A prudent leader will save democracies from the worst, but prudent leaders will not inspire a democracy to give its best. Democratic peoples should always be looking for something more than prudence in a leader: daring, vision and — what goes with both — a willingness to risk failure. Daring leaders can be trusted as long as they give some inkling of knowing what it is to fail."
Posted by
Alison |
4:26 am, August 05, 2007