A couple thousand dead American soldiers. Thousands and thousands wounded. Somewhere between 25K and 100K Iraqis dead.
$300 billion wasted. So far.
Lies. Torture. Vote manipulation. A declining image with the rest of the world.
No end in sight.
All this, so that Iran's allies could become stronger.
Iraq = "Baja Iran"?
Think about that for just a second. Leave aside the lying, the hype, the callousness, and focus on the "real politick", the actual on-the-ground results. How stupid was this war?
I opposed this war at the beginning for moral reasons. I thought it was wrong to go to war based on lies, wrong for the strongest nation in the history of the world to launch a pre-emptive strike on a much weaker nation when we were not being threatened by them.
I opposed this invasion from the beginning for legal reasons, because it violated international law, "just war" theory, and our own treaties--and because Congress never properly declared war.
I protested this war before it started for practical reasons. I had a gut instinct it would become a mess, and I knew it would distract us from staying after al Qaeda (besides giving them a worldwide recruitment boost).
But as much as I objected to the war, even I could not imagine that the Bush Administration was setting out on a war plan that would end up making Iran so much stronger.
Our troops invaded secular Iraq, with the result that Islamic Iran is much stronger.
This might just be the single dumbest, least effective, most poorly thought out foreign policy effort in our history. Certainly it's in the Top 10 Dumbest Foreign Policies Ever.
Anyone have other suggestions? Vietnam, sure. The War of 1812? Our Cuba policy since 1898? What else?