Maddow Skewers Tom Ridge.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
He thinks, despite the fact that the neo-cons dreamt of deposing Saddam long before 9-11, that the regime only acted with the very best interests of the country at heart.
And, when he makes an argument which basically amounts to "we'd do it again", she skewers him:
The Republicans simply can't stop thinking that they have to look tough all the time when it comes to foreign policy, which is why McCain behaved like such an arse regarding Russia and Georgia during the election.Maddow: I think that is an eloquent argument and I have to tell you….I think you making, I think you making that argument right now is why Republicans after the Bush and Cheney administration are not going to get back the country’s trust on national security. To look back at that decision and say we got it wrong but it was in good faith and not acknowledge the foregone conclusion that we were going to invade Iraq that pervaded every decision that was made about intelligence, looking back at that decision making process, it sounds like you’re making the argument you would have made the same decision again.
Americans need to believe that our government would not make that wrong a decision, would not make such a foregone, take such a foregone conclusion to such an important issue that the counter, the intelligence that proved the opposite point was all discounted, that the intelligence was combed through for any bit that would support the foregone conclusion of the policy makers. The system was broken and if you don’t see that the system was broken and you think that it was just that the Intel was wrong, I think that you’re one of the most trusted voices on national security for the Republican Party, and I think that’s the elephant in the room.
I don’t think you guys get back your credibility on national security until you realize, that was a wrong decision made by policy makers, it wasn’t the spies fault.
They still can't admit that they were wrong when it came to the Iraq war. If I think back to friends and family members who I argued with prior to the Iraq invasion, there isn't a single one of them who is still making the arguments which they made at that period in time.
It's almost universally understood, certainly here in Britain, that the Iraq war was a hugely counter-productive blunder.
And yet even Tom Ridge - and he was one of sensible Republicans - can't bring himself to admit that this was an error brought about by the Bush regime seeing what they wanted to see in the intelligence and discounting anything which did not support an ideological determination which they had always held to depose Saddam Hussein.
As Rachel says, though I'm not sure how right this will prove to be in actuality, they certainly don't deserve to be taken seriously on the subject of national security until they admit that Iraq was a terrible blunder.
2 comments:
She spent more time with Ridge than any guest that she's had on recently. You should watch all four segments. He's holding his own. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/
Nunya,
I agree that Ridge did very well. He's a very plausible guy, and easily likeable.
But, on the subject of the Iraq war, I do think she skewered him. If the Republicans are going to keep arguing "no regrets" then they deserve to pay a price for that.
I don't buy this notion that the Intel got it wrong. The neo-cons salivated for years about invading Iraq and WMD - as Wolfowitz admitted - was simply the one reason they all agreed they could sell to the public.
They sold us a lie. I thought it was a lie as they were selling it to us, and it's turned out that that's what it was.
Their claims now that it was all the fault of Intel is not remotely plausible. And their argument, that they would do it all again in similar circumstances, is an attempt by them to evade any responsibility for the ideological fanaticism which led them to invade in the first place.
As long as they hold that mindset, they deserve to be unelectable.
Post a Comment