Were Americans deceived into the Iraq war?
There’s a common perceptiont that the Bush administration somehow decieved the public in the run up to the Iraq war. It’s most simply expressed on the bumpersticker, “Bush Lied. People died,” though the argument is made with more nuance elsewhere, notably in Jon Stewarts interview with Douglas Feith on Monday.
I think this whole “If I knew now what I knew then” argument is a bunch of self-righteous handwashing. Americans overwhelmingly supported the Iraq war. The arguments presented to the Americans may have been incomplete in detail—but the essence was conveyed pretty clearly. The Bush administration promised a war. What did you think it would be, a tea-party?
Sure, it was claimed that Iraq had a few more chemical weapons than they turned out to have, but not that there was an imminent threat to the United States. Perhaps it was insinuated that there was some link between Saddam and Al Qaeda—but are we really going to support a war based on insinuation?
Has anything happened in Iraq that shouldn’t be expected from a war? What alleged misrepresentation would have to have been true to make this whole thing a good idea?