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April 11, 2003
Enough with the triumphalism
The crowing of the pro-war side is getting silly. The propaganda racing through the media since the toppling of the Saddam statues is claiming that the anti-war side was completely wrong and the pro-war side completely right. Actually, both sides were largely wrong, at least in those of their predictions which are now testable.
On the anti-war side:
The war would last several months, and be difficult. Wrong.
There would be tens or hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilian casualties. Wrong.
This war is about oil. Too early to tell.
This war is fought for Israel's benefit. Too early to tell.
The US will turn Iraq into a de facto American colony. Too early to tell.
Iraq will fall apart into ethnic strife after Saddam falls. Too early to tell.
On the pro-war side:
Saddam had hidden stockpiles of WMDs. Wrong.
Saddam had an undiscovered link to Al Qaeda. Wrong.
Iraq's army would collapse in only a few days. Wrong.
Saddam was a major military threat to his neighbors. Wrong.
There will be a reverse domino effect spreading democracy throughout the Arab world. Too early to tell.
Iraqis will greet Americans as liberators. Only partially true.
Too often, commentators on both sides of the issue seem more interested in making points than in analyzing the situation. The truth is that the results of this war have been mixed. They have not been the catastrophe feared by war opponents, and they have not been the cakewalk promised by war proponents.
Posted by Tyrone at April 11, 2003 08:47 PM