IN THE REALM OF EMOTION: Planet Hysteria

Victor Davis Hanson takes a year-end look at the Iraq war:

Views on the war in Iraq now transcend reasonable discussion. The war rests in the realm of emotion, warped by the hysteria of partisan bickering.

The result is that we have forgotten why we invaded Iraq in long-ago 2003. We cannot agree why we had problems after the stunning removal of Saddam Hussein. And we are not sure either whether we are winning — or why we even should....

Some of the critical points made by Hanson (and you should read the whole piece):

"We invaded because, "after September 11, and the realization that state-sponsored terrorists from the Middle East had the desire to destroy the United States and the capability to do it great harm, the decade-long containment of Saddam Hussein, in light also of his serial violations of both armistice and U.N. accords, was considered inadequate. Few disagreed."

"So both houses of Congress, backed by an overwhelming majority of the American people, authorized the use of military force to remove Saddam Hussein, at the vigorous request of the President."

About WMD:"... when such weapons were not found in Iraq, and the insurgency imperiled the brilliant three-week victory, the case for the war, in the eyes of many, collapsed. It did so on both moral and practical grounds. For some reason, no one cared that the other twenty-some Congressional causes were still as valid as when they had been first approved in October 2002."

"The debate, since 2003, has hinged on our own culpability, and postfacto, on our reasons for going into Iraq in the first place. It has focused almost solely on American lapses, not recognition of either the capability, or zeal, or brutality of the enemy."

"So we stayed, and we learned, and we persevered. Classical arguments for victory prevailed, despite being caricatured and deemed simplistic: whatever transient emotional, financial, and moral advantages were to be had by fleeing Iraq, they would all be overshadowed by the eventual human and financial costs of our utter defeat."

"There is no longer serious doubt that by any fair measure the situation in Iraq has radically improved by the end of 2007."

The entire last six years have been lived in the realm of hysterical partisan bickering. The Republicans are certainly not blameless in this; but I have to say that my contempt for the Democrats and their lunatic base is at an all-time high. Just when you think they cannot be more ridiculous and insane, they go to great lengths to prove you wrong.

What planet do these people live on?


NOTE: I will have the New Year's Carnival up tomorrow, then be off until Wednesday morning. Happy New Year!