Should the United States have invaded Iraq five years ago? Revisionist history and partisan politics aside, I happen to believe that large elements of the argument to do so made sense at the time. But so what?That's nice as far as it goes, when it comes to Iraq. But what MacKinnon wants you to forget, as we go into another electoral season, is that it actually does matter how we got into Iraq.
Neither my belief in the need to confront Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction program, nor the belief of those who felt that under no circumstances should we have set one foot in that country, means a thing. It is what it is. We broke it, and we need to fix it.
You see some candidates for President, like Sen. Obama, opposed the war and thought it was a bad idea. That speaks to their judgment.
Other candidates were uncertain of the war but gave the President the authority to pursue it anyway, like Sen. Clinton. Again, that speaks to their judgment, and possibly, their integrity.
Still other candidates actively campaigned for the invasion and occupation of Iraq, telling us a lot of fairy tales along the way. Candidates such as John McCain. Again, it speaks to McCains character that he fought to get us in the mess we are in now.
And that's why it's worthwhile to remember what happened 5 years ago to get us to where we are today.
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