Chris Mathews: The Iraq War is the Fault of the American People

I really could not believe my ears. Chris Mathews, host of MSNBC's Hardball, made the breathtakingly stupid statement yesterday morning on MSNBC during an interview with Norah O'Donnell on a segment entitled, The Iraq War: Four years In, that the Iraq War is the fault of the American people

He assertion went something like this: When President Bush and the Republicans presented their case for war to the American people they painted a picture that was so rosy as to be unbelievable. So the American people should have known it was based on faulty intelligence and/or misstatements and they should have opposed the invasion.

Chris, what have you been smoking?

This line of illogic is, well, so illogical that one hardly knows where to begin to dissect it. But let's try.

First, in the fall of 2002 a majority of the American people believed that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the 9/11. We now know this isn't true. Of course, some of us knew it then. However, if people were unaware that the 9/11 - Hussein connection was a lie being perpetrated by the Bush Administration, whose fault might that be? Got a mirror handy Chris?

To add insult to injury, Mathews asserts that, for a democracy to work, the American people must be smart and rationale. I guess he is excluding the mainstream media from this requirement. Apparently, the media have no role is seeing that democracy functions except, oh heck, TO MAKE SURE THE PEOPLE GET THE INFORMATION TO MAKE SMART AND RATIONALE DECISIONS THE FIRST PLACE--sigh - sorry about the yelling. I just couldn't contain myself.

Mathews asks the question, "Why didn't we see it coming". Why didn't we see that among the various approaches to pursue the war on terror, this was probably the worst? Exactly who is the we, you are referring to, Chris? If it isn't the job of the media to present the other side - to hold the powers that be accountable and question them at every turn, exactly what is your function?

In the fall of 2002, long before the invasion of Iraq and before Congress voted to authorize such an invasion, Al Gore set forth a rational, smart, and articulate case against the invasion. As it happens, events have shown him to have been absolutely right. He admonished,

"I believe we should focus our efforts first and foremost against those who attacked us on September 11th and who have thus far gotten away with it. The vast majority of those who sponsored, planned and implemented the cold-blooded murder of more than 3,000 Americans are still at large, still neither located nor apprehended, much less punished and neutralized. I do not believe that we should allow ourselves to be distracted from this urgent task simply because it is proving to be more difficult and lengthy than was predicted. Great nations persevere and then prevail. They do not jump from one unfinished task to another. We should remain focused on the war against terrorism."

And on Afghanistan, he predicted,

"Nevertheless, President Bush is telling us that America's most urgent requirement of the moment - right now - is not to redouble our efforts against Al Qaeda, not to stabilize the nation of Afghanistan after driving its host government from power, even as Al Qaeda members slip back across the border to set up in Afghanistan again; rather, he is telling us that our most urgent task right now is to shift our focus and concentrate on immediately launching a new war against Saddam Hussein."

And finally, he worried,

"I am deeply concerned that the course of action that we are presently embarking upon with respect to Iraq has the potential to seriously damage our ability to win the war against terrorism and to weaken our ability to lead the world in this new century."

So, a man who was the Vice President of the United States and who won (at least) the popular voted for President in 2000 and who was then still considering another run for the White House, warns prophetically against the invasion of Iraq -- and no one in the mainstream press pays any attention whatsoever. No one sounds the alarm or spread the message.

Yes, Chris, it was a disastrous idea to invade Iraq. No, Chris it isn't the fault of the American people.