Just for the Record: My Position on Iraq at Time of Invasion

Not that it really matters, but, since it's come up in comments so often of late, my position on Iraq at the time we invaded was that we shouldn't go, and that citizens should actively oppose the war. Although I'd wanted Saddam deposed since Gulf War Episode I, and although I thought that the humanitarian case for war was strong, I opposed the war because of my strong opposition to the way the war was "justified"--or, rather, rationalized.

As evil as Saddam was, I thought that the greater danger was the threat to American democracy posed by the morally reprehensible rhetorical and political tactics of the Bush administration. And since I still then considered America to be the world's best hope for justice, I concluded that the harm done to America, to democracy, to international law, and to the world was likely to be greater even than the great good I expected to come from destroying Saddam.

The lies, the demagoguery, the militarism, the disdain for the judgment of the people and for the democratic process... In the end I split with pro-war liberal hawks not because I did not think that destroying Saddam was a worthy goal, and, to my shame, not because I thought that the cost to Iraq would be too great, but rather because I thought that the cost to American--and, hence, world--democracy would be too great.

My biggest mistake--and I think this has come out in discussions with Matthew Christman and Azael--was to underestimate the harm that would befall Iraqis by overestimating the competence of the administration and overestimating its commitment to Iraqi democracy. I really thought that they were going to do it right once they started it. I do now think that I should have seen that this was unlikely, and opposed the war on these grounds, too. (I still do not agree that this was a conclusion that all rational, well-informed, well-meaning people should have drawn at the time--but that's a different subject.)

But I still stick to my original grounds as sound reasons to oppose the war. I would be willing to sacrifice a great deal to establish a sane government in Iraq. One thing I am not willing to sacrifice is American democracy itself. And I still believe that the health of our democracy was on the line. Consequently, I think that we now have the worst possible outcome: American democracy took the hit--we allowed ourselves to be manipulated by the administration and its cabal of lackeys (or, perhaps, a cabal and its administration lackeys) despite the fact that this manipulation was fairly obvious at the time--and we still probably aren't going to see a sane government in Iraq.

(Incidentally, I don't think that these conclusions, either, should have been obvious to all rational, well-informed, well-meaning people. It took me quite awhile to figure all this out and articulate it with relative clarity. I was still unsure what I thought until a few weeks before the invasion.)

The situation is, of course, worse when one reflects on the fact that it is not clear that this administration was even legitimately elected. But that's a different tale of woe, one I've gone on about too many times already.