And in this case, I think we'll be vindicated when we discover the weapons of mass destruction and when we liberate the people of Iraq. They will follow us, but they won't do it on their own. But, look, I think what we've learned over the last ten years is that America has to lead. And I think we actually will have lots of help in the reconstruction and democratization, actually, of Iraq. One would always prefer to have more allies rather than fewer. TED KOPPEL: Does it bother you that it appears that it is going to be a largely unilateral policy? I don't want to diminish the influence of our British friends, but this is clearly an American policy.īILL KRISTOL: It is. At that time, Kristol - one of many conservative voices drumming up support for the war - claimed American forces “will be welcomed in Baghdad as liberators” and argued that “we'll be vindicated when we discover the weapons of mass destruction.” From the Maedition of ABC's Nightline: Kristol's stance on the war's justifications today differs considerably from his arguments in favor of invading Iraq in 2003. Bush did when it became clear his strategy in Iraq wasn't working. We see, this week in Ramadi but this year throughout the Middle East, the predictable consequences of this disastrous policy of withdrawal and retreat.Īnd even though the threat is now clear as day, this administration shows no sign of changing course, as President George W. troops from Iraq at the end of 2011, and allowed the Syrian civil war to spiral out of control from 2011 on. It failed to support the dissidents in Iran in 2009, mishandled the Iraqi elections in 2010, removed all U.S. The Obama administration threw it all away. Iran, meanwhile, was under pressure from abroad (due to sanctions) and at home (due to popular discontent, manifested by the Green uprising in the summer of 2009). When President Obama took office, Iraq was calm, al-Qaeda was weakened and ISIS did not exist. We were able to bring the war to a reasonably successful conclusion in 2008. Kristol went on to blame President Obama for the failure of the war and the rise of ISIS, writing, “Obama threw it all away”:Įven with the absence of caches of weapons of mass destruction, and the mistakes we made in failing to send enough troops at first and to provide security from the beginning for the Iraqi people, we were right to persevere through several difficult years. intervention in Iraq was justified in 2003 “to remove Saddam Hussein, and to complete the job we should have finished in 1991.” Kristol added that “we were right to persevere” in Iraq, “even with the absence of caches of weapons of mass destruction.” In a May 20 op-ed for USA Today, Kristol argued that U.S. Kristol's justifications for the war, however, have changed dramatically. invasion of Iraq would be “vindicated” upon the discovery of weapons of mass destruction there, is holding fast to the idea that the deadly and expensive conflict was the right move. Bill Kristol, the Weekly Standard editor who predicted in 2003 that proponents of the U.S.
0 kommentar(er)
