Posted on 10/09/2015 6:46:49 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Speaking Tuesday night to Brett Baier, Donald Trump sounded more like Democrats Sheila Jackson Lee and Dennis Kucinich than like the Republican front-runner for president. Asked whether he stood behind his 2008 interview where he said it would have been a wonderful thing if Nancy Pelosi had attempted to impeach President George W. Bush, Trump said this: I think he was a disaster and I think it was one of the worst decisions ever made. [He] has totally destabilized the Middle East. If you had Saddam Hussein, you wouldnt have the problems you have right now.
Im sorry, but this is nonsense. The Middle East was not stable with Saddam in power, and the present instability is far more related to the Arab Spring and the American pullout from post-Surge Iraq than it is to the initial decision to invade. In 2009, Barack Obama inherited a Middle East where American and Iraqi forces had crushed the al-Qaeda insurgency, Libyas Moammar Qaddafi was effectively neutralized agreeing months after Saddam fell to abandon his own WMD stockpiles and Irans power was checked in part by the presence of American combat troops next door.
First, lets dispense with the absurd notion that with Saddam Hussein still in power, you wouldnt have the problems you have right now. From 1980, when he launched his war with Iran, until the fall of his regime in 2003, there were few greater agents of instability in the world (much less the Middle East) than Hussein. He invaded his neighbors, gassed his people, built up a vast stockpile of chemical weapons, supported terrorism, and triggered multiple military confrontations with the U.S., including Operation Desert Storm the largest American military deployment since Vietnam.
Even when he was allegedly contained walled in by no-fly zones, hampered by sanctions, and subject to periodic bombing raids he still fomented regional discord. He was a prime financial supporter of the Palestinian suicide-bombing campaign that caused more Israeli civilian casualties on a relative basis than American casualties suffered on September 11. He hatched a terror plot to assassinate George H. W. Bush. He fired on American planes and pilots who were lawfully enforcing the no-fly zones. He interfered with lawful weapons inspections. And we now know thanks to comprehensive New York Times reporting and the stories of countless Iraq vets that he maintained secret stockpiles of chemical weapons.
If these historical facts dont persuade, then why not the example of Husseins Baathist comrade in Syria, Hafez al-Assad? No Western power invaded Syria, yet the nation is the site of the worlds bloodiest war, its the incubator of ISIS, Syrian migrants are now swamping European shores, and U.S. and Russian forces now find themselves in combat in the same country and in dangerous (and hostile) proximity.
#share#Trumps statement also discounts the Arab Spring a movement that had little (if anything) to do with Iraq. In December 2010, a young Tunisian grocer set himself on fire to protest his treatment at the hands of local police. Within days, protests swept the nation, and by January 2011 the government was overthrown. Less than two weeks later, Egypt erupted in protest. The first Syrian protests started in January also. In February, Libya was torn apart by violence.
While no one should pretend there was an easy or obvious American diplomatic or military response to the Arab Spring, the Obama administration did worse than fail it kept choosing to back the wrong side. It launched a war on behalf of a ragtag group of jihadist militias in Libya jihadists who soon enough transformed into violent enemies of the U.S. It backed the revolutionary Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt even to the point of sending it advanced American weapons even as it violated the Camp David Accords, persecuted Christians, and supported Hamas. Then, when the Brotherhood was overthrown in one of the worlds largest political protests, the Obama administration incredibly imposed an arms embargo on the new, allied government that took power.
The Obama administrations history of incoherence and weakness in Syria is by now well-known, but we cant overlook the single most destabilizing thing that the Obama administration did during the Arab Spring complete its withdrawal from Iraq. At perhaps the most strategically critical moment in the Middle East since the Arab-Israeli wars, the Obama administration created a yawning power vacuum one that has since been filled, with gusto, by ISIS, Iran, and now Russia.
For Trump to look at this recent history and declare that it would all be better if only Iraq still had its 78-year-old genocidal dictator in power complete with his history of invading other nations, manufacturing and using chemical weapons, and supporting terrorists is simply astounding. No one is denying that serious mistakes were made in Iraq, beginning with the invasion and continuing until our decisive tactical and strategic shifts during the Surge. But facts are facts, and by 2010 even the Obama administration was bragging about Iraqs prospects, with Joe Biden declaring that it would be one of the great achievements of this administration.
Trumps foreign-policy reasoning is not only dangerously simplistic, it plays directly into Democratic hands. Faced with the disasters on Obamas watch, their response is to blame Bush. Its a shame that the Republican frontrunner is reading from that same, tired playbook.
David French is an attorney, a staff writer at National Review, and a veteran of the Iraq War.
National establishment review , so no more.
I happen to agree with the article.
True that, he’s probably not “nuanced” enough for NR and the GOPe-he might do what a majority of patriotic Americans would do if we had the power, and he doesn’t need Saudi money.
RE: National establishment review , so no more.
Nothing they say is right at all? Even when they tell us the sun rises in the east and sets in the west?
Please remember that "Regime Change" was Bubba's and the Dems agenda. I believe at some point, even Hillary said it "directly". That quote is around someplace.
Is “nuanced” in the popular context code for mendacious?
Hope is something we don't have with anyone in the GOPe or Democrat stable.
There is no short answer to these questions.
I’m coming to understand that any secular strongman who keeps a tight leash on his muzzies isn’t all bad. They are the worst animals to exist on this planet since the Holy Spirit was given to us almost 2000 years ago.
Agree as well. Trump's foreign policy ideas, especially where Putin is involved, are nonsensical.
Doesn't much matter, Trump will not be the nominee.
I agree also. I'm certainly not anti-Trump but will acknowledge that he's very, very weak on foreign policy. Of course, I don't think Hillary or Biden are any better. The Donald can bone up and remedy his lack of knowledge in this area; Hillary and Biden can never overcome their greed and dishonesty in this arena.
It’s utter nonsense.
Yet I am still supporting what Trump is doing.
His presence is beneficial and helped out a huge amount.
The real story is (or was as Yeb is So Yesterday as iCarly might say) is Yeb was saying the same nonsense.
RE: Millions of people have said Iraq (and George) was the wrong move.
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Except members of those here at FR, which I remember Overwhelmingly supported the deposing of Saddam Hussein.
Suddenly, when Trump says something, everything FReepers supported before (including opposing the Kelo vs City of New London eminent domain decision ) is wrong.
I agree with the article as well.
I generally agree with your main point. I think we should never apologize for removing that madman, Saddam. Removing him was the right thing to do. Disbanding his army and sending them home and starting from scratch was the fools thing to do. Electing Obama and having him “honor” his campaign commitment of removing all US forces (too early) is why we are were we are today. Saddam’s officers and disgruntled others is the backbone of modern day Islamic State. Regime change and “spreading democracy” is debatable but can’t be forced is the hard lesson. Trying to reason with 7th century throwbacks is proving to be pointless.
I wasn’t against taking out Saddam but I was against Bush’s attempts at nation building in the middle east. I think we should have been there to kill as many terrorist as possible. The real mess happened when Executive Anus took over and started supporting our terrorist enemies.
The Mid East is never stable. But it was stable-er with the dictators in power. That’s the point.
Trump isn’t saying is was nirvana over there before Saddam was taken out.
The problem was we did not have a good plan for what happens after. We stupidly thought we could put in a puppet government and hold ‘democratic’ elections and ‘nation build’ and everything would be better than before. That’s STUPID.
Let me repeat. ‘Nation building’ in these regions is STUPID!
Unless you are going to stay in the middle east and personally run every blessed thing yourself for 1000 years, the ME will never be ‘stable’. And even if we did that we’d lose several hundred of our people every year ... if not more.
The place is not worth that.
Neocons: every bit as destructive to civilization as Democrats.
I think he was a disaster and I think it was one of the worst decisions ever made. [He] has totally destabilized the Middle East. If you had Saddam Hussein, you wouldnt have the problems you have right now.
Trump is not the man we need as president, but really, who can argue with this?
“In 2009, Barack Obama inherited a Middle East where American and Iraqi forces had crushed the al-Qaeda insurgency, Libyas Moammar Qaddafi was effectively neutralized agreeing months after Saddam fell to abandon his own WMD stockpiles and Irans power was checked in part by the presence of American combat troops next door.”
And the idiot Neocons, just as they overestimated our reception as “liberators,” underestimated the Left’s ability (and willingness) to use Iraq to weaken America. Because the Neocons were orgasmic over their cute little nation building project, they failed to win the war.
“He invaded his neighbors, gassed his people, built up a vast stockpile of chemical weapons, supported terrorism, and triggered multiple military confrontations with the U.S.” Yeah, and up until about 2 years ago there were Christians in Syria.
“Palestinian suicide-bombing campaign that caused more Israeli civilian casualties..” Now Russia will own the ME outright.
What can you say though? A Neocon is a Neocon because they’re hopelessly naive.
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