It has been 10 years since Bush made the fateful decsion to invade Iraq. At the time the pretext was WMDs but in reality it was Bush testing out the “Spread Democracy” canard that the GOP foreign policy establishment belives. As we have seen, Islamic nations do not want democracy, they want Sharia law and an Islamic government. Although militarily a success, the Iraq war was a political disaster for Republicans.
Ever since the Iraq war the GOP is no longer trusted by the American voting public on national security. It does not help that since Iraq the Republican Party’s response to foreign policy is for more war and nation building. This lack of credibility has enabled the rise of the progressive movement. There is a direct correlation between the Iraq war and Obamacare.
This week brought two milestones: It has been 10 years since the United States invaded Iraq, and three years since President Obama’s health care legislation became law. It’s fitting that the two events coincided, because it was the Iraq War that made the passage of Obamacare possible.
Ten years later, many supporters of the Iraq War spent this week either apologizing for or justifying their backing of the war. Personally, I supported the war at the time and the subsequent “surge” strategy, but in hindsight, given the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, it’s hard to see how the endeavor was worth the tremendous financial cost and American deaths involved.
As if that weren’t enough, one of the realities that should tip the scales for pro-war conservatives is that the Iraq War paved the way for one of the most significant expansions of the federal government in U.S. history.
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It’s quite possible that a Democrat still would have won the White House in 2008, even had the Iraq War never been fought. But that Democrat would not likely have been Obama, nor anyone nearly as liberal. And were it not for the war, no Democratic president would have come into office with as much political capital — or with such large majorities in Congress — as Obama did.
It’s hard to see how Obamacare would have become law if Bush had never invaded Iraq. This is a bitter pill to swallow for those conservatives who supported the war and bitterly fought Obamacare.
Conservatives need to own up to the unpopularity of the Iraq war. The US gained very little out of that war and lost many lives and treasure. The Republican party has lost its edge for the time being on national security and is seen as nothing but nation builders. Its time for the Right to admit Iraq was a mistake and vow to never again get involved in nation building. It is time for the McCain Wing of the GOP to be neutered and silenced.
The Iraq war enabled a Far Leftist like Obama to become President. Without that war, its very probably we would not have President Obama. Sometimes wars have unintended consequences.
