Wrong Before, Wrong Now

Technorati Tags: Bob Kerrey, Iraq war

Bob Kerrey (D-NE) strongly supported the invasion of Iraq because, he said, it was "the only way to safely reduce our military commitment to the region." Now that the United States has been in Iraq for over four years with our military committed -- if war supporters have their way -- for the next 20 years or more, has Kerrey acknowledged his mistake?

Far from it. In fact, he's doing what many other war supporters have done: He is using American failure in Iraq to justify staying there:

The key question for Congress is whether or not Iraq has become the primary battleground against the same radical Islamists who declared war on the U.S. in the 1990s and who have carried out a series of terrorist operations including 9/11. The answer is emphatically "yes."

This does not mean that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11; he was not. Nor does it mean that the war to overthrow him was justified--though I believe it was. It only means that a unilateral withdrawal from Iraq would hand Osama bin Laden a substantial psychological victory.

Those who argue that radical Islamic terrorism has arrived in Iraq because of the U.S.-led invasion are right. But they are right because radical Islam opposes democracy in Iraq. If our purpose had been to substitute a dictator who was more cooperative and supportive of the West, these groups wouldn't have lasted a week.

Kerrey does not attempt to explain why, then, there was no radical Islamic terrorism in Iraq when there was an anti-democracy dictator there who cooperated with and supported the West.

Via Think Progress and Memeorandum.