Andy Galligan writes:
“Thanks for the column today re the Iraq war. All for naught. Can you believe that Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz are still claiming to be right in selling the war to the nation?”
Yes. The neocons learned nothing from Iraq. That’s why they went after Chuck Hagel so vehemently when Obama nominated him for Defense Secretary. He is a Republican, a war hero — but he came to see the folly of Iraq, and for that they can never forgive him. They remain devoted to the idea that democracy and American interests should be promoted agressively worldwide, by military force if necessary.
Learning nothing from the $6 trillion fiasco is a shibboleth among neocons, a badge of honor. Here’s neocon hawk Richard Perle on NPR:
Montagne: Ten years later, nearly 5000 American troops dead, thousands more with wounds, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead or wounded. When you think about this, was it worth it?
Perle: I’ve got to say I think that is not a reasonable question. What we did at the time was done with the belief that it was necessary to protect this nation. You can’t a decade later go back and say we shouldn’t have done that.
Commented blogger Andrew Sullivan, “Neoconservatism: never look back; never question; never take responsibility; always avoid accountability. Just seek power. Then wage war.”
