Here’s the sentence: “ Regardless of whether you think America’s war against Saddam Hussein, and our follow-on fights against ISIS to retain Iraq as an ally of democracy and lawful order, were justified in our national interest, or the lie-encrusted megalomaniacal obsession of George W. Bush to spread democracy like pollen over a corrupted and wilting world, the war at home, in real time, was presented as truth from our side.”
I didn’t say if I believed either. I am actually somewhere in the middle, because things are more nuanced than extreme positions. I used the extremes on purpose but I added an edit to help understand my own position.
The author doesn't like GWB. There's still no proof that GWB constantly "lied" about Iraq. Is there a way to receive the non-Berman newsletters without getting his?
Not true. I am a big GWB supporter. I simply recognize that he followed bad intel that had he shown more restraint, he could have confirmed as bad and avoided a very costly war of adventure. Should we have gotten rid of Saddam? It helped the world. Did it help America? Not really, no. Did it help Iraq? Open question.
There are not enough Substack hearts to give to this post.
Well done.
Excellent and informative piece Steve. Well done.
Isn't "the Third Side" the same in every war?
Indeed it is. It's rare that the public hears from their side, in their own voice, the hell of war.
“Followed bad intel” is a far cry from “lie-encrusted megalomaniacal obsession.”
Here’s the sentence: “ Regardless of whether you think America’s war against Saddam Hussein, and our follow-on fights against ISIS to retain Iraq as an ally of democracy and lawful order, were justified in our national interest, or the lie-encrusted megalomaniacal obsession of George W. Bush to spread democracy like pollen over a corrupted and wilting world, the war at home, in real time, was presented as truth from our side.”
I didn’t say if I believed either. I am actually somewhere in the middle, because things are more nuanced than extreme positions. I used the extremes on purpose but I added an edit to help understand my own position.
The author doesn't like GWB. There's still no proof that GWB constantly "lied" about Iraq. Is there a way to receive the non-Berman newsletters without getting his?
Not true. I am a big GWB supporter. I simply recognize that he followed bad intel that had he shown more restraint, he could have confirmed as bad and avoided a very costly war of adventure. Should we have gotten rid of Saddam? It helped the world. Did it help America? Not really, no. Did it help Iraq? Open question.
Kamil Galeev has some good info who's really supporting Putin (the elderly) and how little respect for the military there really is in Russia (https://twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1504586169056522246). He's done a large number of Twitter threads (over 30 at this point) all compiled/compiling at https://twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1498377757536968711.