We Told You So

News flash: the Iraq war is a failure. The New York Times recently reported that intelligence agencies have "found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks."

Lew Rockwell spells it out perfectly in his latest essay:

Just so that we are clear on this, we should be reminded that the stated policy of the Bush administration, just before bombing Iraq's cities and overthrowing its Sunni government, was to bring freedom, democracy, and pluralistic happiness to the country.

Five years later, the puppet government in Baghdad is still in a bunker, tanks patrol streets, there are curfews and speech controls, major parts of the country have effectively seceded, the water is dirty and disease ridden, electricity is still off, migration out increases exponentially, tribal war is routine, American soldiers' heads are blown off if they so much as poke them out of the foxhole, and religious and ethnic hatreds grow.

We keep hearing that Iraq is "on the brink" of civil war, but how will we know when we move from brink to reality? The Sunnis hate the ruling Shiites, the Kurds hate them both, and everyone hates the Christians and Jews. It's all about a struggle for power: who gets to twist the thumbscrews, and whose thumbs are screwed. If this is the brink, the reality will be unbearable.

Seriously, what did people expect?

I hate to say it, but those of us who opposed the war in Iraq were right all along. No, we didn't have a premonition. We didn't have access to classified intelligence. We simply ignored the pro-war, mainstream media and paid attention to history. Rockwell explains:

Students of government can hardly be surprised that a government program ends up creating the very opposite of what it purported to accomplish. Welfare increases poverty, the minimum wage boosts unemployment, prohibition promotes the banned behavior, and, just as we would expect once we understand the logic, the war on terror has created and encouraged the rise of more terrorism and the ideology that backs it.

In short, government has a tendency to #@$% things up. It really is amazing what the past can teach us about the present and the future.

Again, I hate to say it, but we told you so. America is less free and less safe because of this war. Maybe that's something to keep in mind in 2008.