Lindsey Graham’s Screwy Plan For Iraq Is Why He Should Never Be Taken Seriously
Amid the atrocities taking place in Iraq at the hands of jihadis operating as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), three opinions about the region have been vindicated:
1) Given the instability of the Middle East, perhaps Iraq was better off under the control of a despotic, secular strongman.
2) We really have no business meddling in the Middle East.
3) And we should never again take the Iraq War hawks seriously on anything.
Regarding point three, as the situation in Iraq deteriorates, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has been making his usual television rounds proving exactly how galactically incompetent he really is, especially on foreign policy. Why anyone would actually give him air time at this point is beyond me, but there he was Sunday morning in spite of the fact that he’s been wrong about Iraq from the beginning. But now, he’s more than just wrong, he’s not only contradicting himself, he’s also coming off as a Middle East dilettante, with a minimal grasp of the sectarian alliances and divisions that have fueled violence there since forever.
As if he dusted off the “mushroom cloud” script from 2002, Graham appeared on CNN’s State of the Union and said the following with a straight face somehow:
“This is another 9/11 in the making. The FBI director has warned us in Congress that Syria and Iraq present a direct threat to our homeland.”
I accept that we Americans are notorious for having frustratingly short memories, but I’m old enough to remember when this was part of the list of justifications for the invasion of Iraq in the first place: that Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 plot, and that he’d follow it up with weapons of mass destruction. If we didn’t invade and replace Saddam with a western-friendly government, more 9/11-style attacks were inevitable.
With Ground Zero still smoldering throughout the 2002 pitch for Iraq, it was a predictably effective strategy given the nearly unanimous popular and congressional support for invading (including, by the way, such names as Kerry, Biden and Rodham-Clinton). The pitch turned out to be, shall we say, inaccurate, and the execution of the war was badly botched. Sadly for thousands of American soldiers and many more Iraqi civilians, not to mention untold casualties yet to come, there’s no CTRL-Z in Iraq. The damage is done and more damage will surely continue into the foreseeable future, just as so many Middle East wonks had predicted from day one.
Lindsey Graham might fancy himself a Middle East expert, but his words betray his delusional self-image, exposing him as a twangy, out-of-his-depth buffoon (with apologies to buffoons). He continued… READ MORE
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By: Bob Cesca
Bob Cesca is the managing editor at The Daily Banter (www.thedailybanter.com) and a Huffington Post contributor since 2005. He's worked in journalism since 1988 as a print writer/editor, a radio news anchor, a digital media columnist/editor, a book author and blogger. He's the co-host of the Bubble Genius Bob & Chez Show podcast and a Thursday regular on the syndicated Stephanie Miller Show. He's appeared on numerous other radio shows including the John Phillips Show and Geraldo Rivera Show in Los Angeles. Bob has been a commentator/analyst on the BBC (TV and radio), MSNBC, Current TV, CNN and Sky News. Following him on Twitter: @bobcesca_go
38 responses to Lindsey Graham’s Screwy Plan For Iraq Is Why He Should Never Be Taken Seriously
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Aielyn June 16th, 2014 at 10:09
I disagree with the suggestion that the current circumstances vindicate the idea that Iraq was better off under the control of Saddam Hussein. What recent events do is vindicate the idea that gung-ho foreign policy is a bad idea, both before the Iraq War and afterwards. The war itself might have been inevitable… but it wasn’t there, yet.
America should have used the failure of the UN to justify raising the idea of reforming the UN to be more representative, more reasonable. It might have made their relationship with Israel a little weaker, but otherwise it probably would have been hailed as a great step forward. And THEN they should have pushed for stronger responses to Hussein’s actions against his own people (not the WoMD crap).
But he still needed to go.
fahvel June 16th, 2014 at 13:34
why? anymore so than gbush who murdered all the boys and girls and also citizens of Iraq because of oil and lies and repeated lies and lies and just plain bullshit?
Judy Mccracken June 17th, 2014 at 23:30
Thank you fahvel…. I agree…. when they hung SH, he said “Bush is the real Satan”…. and unfortunately, he was right……
Aquaria June 20th, 2014 at 04:04
Word salad is word salad. The UN and the rest is immaterial to the fact that the US had no business in Iraq. Saddam was bad, but the alternative couldn’t have been any worse. You don’t inflame nutbars worse than Saddam if you want peace in the region, cupcake.
Only the US is so stupid that it can’t understand that.
Aielyn June 16th, 2014 at 10:09
I disagree with the suggestion that the current circumstances vindicate the idea that Iraq was better off under the control of Saddam Hussein. What recent events do is vindicate the idea that gung-ho foreign policy is a bad idea, both before the Iraq War and afterwards. The war itself might have been inevitable… but it wasn’t there, yet.
America should have used the failure of the UN to justify raising the idea of reforming the UN to be more representative, more reasonable. It might have made their relationship with Israel a little weaker, but otherwise it probably would have been hailed as a great step forward. And THEN they should have pushed for stronger responses to Hussein’s actions against his own people (not the WoMD crap).
But he still needed to go.
fahvel June 16th, 2014 at 13:34
why? anymore so than gbush who murdered all the boys and girls and also citizens of Iraq because of oil and lies and repeated lies and lies and just plain bullshit?
Judy Mccracken June 17th, 2014 at 23:30
Thank you fahvel…. I agree…. when they hung SH, he said “Bush is the real Satan”…. and unfortunately, he was right……
Aquaria June 20th, 2014 at 04:04
Word salad is word salad. The UN and the rest is immaterial to the fact that the US had no business in Iraq. Saddam was bad, but the alternative couldn’t have been any worse. You don’t inflame nutbars worse than Saddam if you want peace in the region, cupcake.
Only the US is so stupid that it can’t understand that.
Elliot J. Stamler June 16th, 2014 at 16:14
With absolutely no foreign policy credentials of his own and with no detailed or even clear general plan of what to do in the middle east , this talk-show boob, Bob Cesca, who calls himself “Bubble Genius Bob” lambastes Sen. Graham’s ideas. I do not know if Graham is right or wrong; it is a dreadful situation which to some degree is another consequence of both Bush’s involvement in Iraq to begin with AND Obama’s utter failure, as Tony Blair has said, to intelligently and carefully intervene almost 2 years in Syria with armaments (not troops) to the responsible, sane rebels. Cesca has absolutely no knowledge or constructive ideas and you might as well get an analysis from Joe Wurtzelbacher the Plumber. Mr. Colmes might ask himself what instilled in himself the decision to print this opinion by an unqualified nincompoop?
arc99 June 16th, 2014 at 16:42
Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Peggy Noonan and Sarah Palin do not have foreign policy credentials either.
I presume they are also unqualified nincompoops?
oh and the only thing President Obama failed to do is to commit endless hundreds of billions of dollars and an unknown number of American casualties trying to put a band aid on the catastrophe created by President Bush.
Elliot J. Stamler June 17th, 2014 at 10:43
That’s right – the six blabbering gasbags of extremist ultra-conservatism have no foreign policy credentials and with the exception of Noonan they certainly ARE unqualified nincompoops. (Noonan is just plain mean and narrow-minded.) Bush does deserve tremendous blame; Obama is however far from blameless and even he recognizes when you now have a castrophe something must be done.
Bunya June 17th, 2014 at 14:42
And tell us, Einstein. How would you handle a clusterf*ck of this magnitute that was left by the last administration? The only thing I fault Obama for is refusing to go after Bush, Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld.for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Elliot J. Stamler June 17th, 2014 at 15:34
First of all I don’t claim to be Einstein and I wrote in my original comment that I do not know if Sen. Graham was right or wrong. Second, you strike me as the kind of overwrought LEFTIST liberal who gives such a horrible odor to the word “Liberal” that liberals today are scared to even use it and use the alibi word “progressive.” The problem in Iraq is very very serious and has grave consequences to us and to our allies. I do not claim I sitting here writing this know what exactly we should do but what I do know is we can not afford to adopt the leftist-liberal AND rightist-tea party policy of isolation or total disengagement. I live in NYC and was here and saw what happened on 9-1-1. Third and lastly, the four Republicans you mentioned certainly screwed up badly but they did not commit any crimes against humanity or war crimes…not legally or otherwise. The only crimes against humanity in terms of intl. law were committed for decades by Hussein who put people alive into ovens.
If you read the books by Hicks and Chandrasekaran on Iraq and others you would comprehend the difference between wrongheadedness, incompetence and extreme over-zealousness on one hand and committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. Of the four, by the way, the guiltiest morally, is Cheney who was the mastermind of it all.
Bunya June 17th, 2014 at 16:00
So torture isn’t a crime against humanity? And believe it or not, water boarding IS torture. Maybe you should try it sometime and let us know how you make out.
And I, too, saw what happened on 911, but I wasn’t gullible enough to believe everything I was told by the Bush administration. If you believe Muslims attacked the WTC because “they hated us fer our freedumbs”, and we invaded Iraq because they harbored WMD’s, and all that “smokin’ gun/mushroom cloud” bullsh*t, then I have an invisible bridge in Alaska I’d like to sell you.
Elliot J. Stamler June 17th, 2014 at 18:59
It must be nice to know everything as you apparently do. Why aren’t you secretary of state?
And as for torture if that is necessary to save one American life, considering we are dealing with an enemy who are uncivilized, fanatical barbarians I have no problem with it all…indeed water boarding as far as I am concerned is gentle. I know of other techniques far quicker and more effective and unlike you I do not worry about what a Jihadist murderer will feel afterward. American lives do not mean much to you-typical leftist infantile thinking. And I am no conservative or Republican.
Bunya June 18th, 2014 at 09:49
Obviously I’m not smart enough to be secretary of state, but I’m apparently more intelligent than you. As for waterboarding being “gentle”, that’s what Sean Hannity thought, until someone offered to waterboard him.
Of course you don’t care what an alleged Jihadist thinks. You Christians are really into that sort of thing. I’ve read about some of the torture techniques those folks would use back in the 1500’s when they thought somebody might be a heretic. I guess religious sadism is passed down from generation to generation.
But keep those right wing personal attacks coming. It just proves my point that you’re losing the argument.
Elliot J. Stamler June 18th, 2014 at 11:11
This is my last response to you. You are not smart enough to be secretary of anything. I love that intended smear “you Christians” and implying I am a “religious sadist.” Pay attention, peanut-brain: I am not a Christian (although I greatly respect Christianity) and those inquisitional tortures you claim my ancestors supported were in fact used ON MY ANCESTORS.
Bunya June 18th, 2014 at 11:52
More personal attacks. That is all the proof I need that you have nothing! Please don’t respond until you can have a reasonable, intelligent conversation. Try Glen Beck’s site. He’s about your IQ.
Aquaria June 20th, 2014 at 04:10
They most certainly did commit crimes against humanity. They lied about another country’s leader to gin up a fake war. Then they proceeded to murder that leader and his family in a show trial, AND murdered hundreds of thousands of the people in that country. And for what? NONE of them had anything to do with any of the things they were accused of, moron.
Let us know when show trials and murdering people aren’t the hallmarks of criminal behavior on the part of a nation-state, stupid.
Judy Mccracken June 17th, 2014 at 23:18
What’s your solution when you are handed a hot bag of chit with giant hole in the bottom?…… “tremendous blame”….. now that’s a joke……. Bush deserves ALL THE FRIGGING BLAME, him and the other war monger, Cheney…. and we are not going to let him inch his way into history with a “tremendous blame”….. NO NO NO
Elliot J. Stamler June 16th, 2014 at 16:14
With absolutely no foreign policy credentials of his own and with no detailed or even clear general plan of what to do in the middle east , this talk-show boob, Bob Cesca, who calls himself “Bubble Genius Bob” lambastes Sen. Graham’s ideas. I do not know if Graham is right or wrong; it is a dreadful situation which to some degree is another consequence of both Bush’s involvement in Iraq to begin with AND Obama’s utter failure, as Tony Blair has said, to intelligently and carefully intervene almost 2 years in Syria with armaments (not troops) to the responsible, sane rebels. Cesca has absolutely no knowledge or constructive ideas and you might as well get an analysis from Joe Wurtzelbacher the Plumber. Mr. Colmes might ask himself what instilled in himself the decision to print this opinion by an unqualified nincompoop?
arc99 June 16th, 2014 at 16:42
Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Peggy Noonan and Sarah Palin do not have foreign policy credentials either.
I presume they are also unqualified nincompoops?
oh and the only thing President Obama failed to do is to commit endless hundreds of billions of dollars and an unknown number of American casualties trying to put a band aid on the catastrophe created by President Bush.
Elliot J. Stamler June 17th, 2014 at 10:43
That’s right – the six blabbering gasbags of extremist ultra-conservatism have no foreign policy credentials and with the exception of Noonan they certainly ARE unqualified nincompoops. (Noonan is just plain mean and narrow-minded.) Bush does deserve tremendous blame; Obama is however far from blameless and even he recognizes when you now have a castrophe something must be done.
Bunya June 17th, 2014 at 14:42
And tell us, Einstein. How would you handle a clusterf*ck of this magnitute that was left by the last administration? The only thing I fault Obama for is refusing to go after Bush, Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld.for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Elliot J. Stamler June 17th, 2014 at 15:34
First of all I don’t claim to be Einstein and I wrote in my original comment that I do not know if Sen. Graham was right or wrong. Second, you strike me as the kind of overwrought LEFTIST liberal who gives such a horrible odor to the word “Liberal” that liberals today are scared to even use it and use the alibi word “progressive.” The problem in Iraq is very very serious and has grave consequences to us and to our allies. I do not claim I sitting here writing this know what exactly we should do but what I do know is we can not afford to adopt the leftist-liberal AND rightist-tea party policy of isolation or total disengagement. I live in NYC and was here and saw what happened on 9-1-1. Third and lastly, the four Republicans you mentioned certainly screwed up badly but they did not commit any crimes against humanity or war crimes…not legally or otherwise. The only crimes against humanity in terms of intl. law were committed for decades by Hussein who put people alive into ovens.
If you read the books by Hicks and Chandrasekaran on Iraq and others you would comprehend the difference between wrongheadedness, incompetence and extreme over-zealousness on one hand and committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. Of the four, by the way, the guiltiest morally, is Cheney who was the mastermind of it all.
Bunya June 17th, 2014 at 16:00
So torture isn’t a crime against humanity? And believe it or not, water boarding IS torture. Maybe you should try it sometime and let us know how you make out.
And I, too, saw what happened on 911, but I wasn’t gullible enough to believe everything I was told by the Bush administration. If you believe Muslims attacked the WTC because “they hated us fer our freedumbs”, and we invaded Iraq because they harbored WMD’s, and all that “smokin’ gun/mushroom cloud” bullsh*t, then I have an invisible bridge in Alaska I’d like to sell you.
Elliot J. Stamler June 17th, 2014 at 18:59
It must be nice to know everything as you apparently do. Why aren’t you secretary of state?
And as for torture if that is necessary to save one American life, considering we are dealing with an enemy who are uncivilized, fanatical barbarians I have no problem with it all…indeed water boarding as far as I am concerned is gentle. I know of other techniques far quicker and more effective and unlike you I do not worry about what a Jihadist murderer will feel afterward. American lives do not mean much to you-typical leftist infantile thinking. And I am no conservative or Republican.
Bunya June 18th, 2014 at 09:49
Obviously I’m not smart enough to be secretary of state, but I’m apparently more intelligent than you. As for waterboarding being “gentle”, that’s what Sean Hannity thought, until someone offered to waterboard him.
Of course you don’t care what an alleged Jihadist thinks. You Christians are really into that sort of thing. I’ve read about some of the torture techniques those folks would use back in the 1500’s when they thought somebody might be a heretic. I guess religious sadism is passed down from generation to generation.
But keep those right wing personal attacks coming. It just proves my point that you’re losing the argument.
Elliot J. Stamler June 18th, 2014 at 11:11
This is my last response to you. You are not smart enough to be secretary of anything. I love that intended smear “you Christians” and implying I am a “religious sadist.” Pay attention, peanut-brain: I am not a Christian (although I greatly respect Christianity) and those inquisitional tortures you claim my ancestors supported were in fact used ON MY ANCESTORS.
Bunya June 18th, 2014 at 11:52
More personal attacks. That is all the proof I need that you have nothing! Please don’t respond until you can have a reasonable, intelligent conversation. Try Glen Beck’s site. He’s about your IQ.
Aquaria June 20th, 2014 at 04:10
They most certainly did commit crimes against humanity. They lied about another country’s leader to gin up a fake war. Then they proceeded to murder that leader and his family in a show trial, AND murdered hundreds of thousands of the people in that country. And for what? NONE of them had anything to do with any of the things they were accused of, moron.
Let us know when show trials and murdering people aren’t the hallmarks of criminal behavior on the part of a nation-state, stupid.
Judy Mccracken June 17th, 2014 at 23:18
What’s your solution when you are handed a hot bag of chit with giant hole in the bottom?…… “tremendous blame”….. now that’s a joke……. Bush deserves ALL THE FRIGGING BLAME, him and the other war monger, Cheney…. and we are not going to let him inch his way into history with a “tremendous blame”….. NO NO NO
Cainer June 16th, 2014 at 23:03
Pluck the Chickenhawks!!!!!
dmcrane June 18th, 2014 at 16:00
Make this a hashtag #PluckTheChickenhawks
Cainer June 18th, 2014 at 22:32
I took your suggestion and did that. Of course I had to open up a Twitter account first. Hopefully I did it correctly @Cainer1212. Cainer was already taken.
Cainer June 16th, 2014 at 23:03
Pluck the Chickenhawks!!!!!
dmcrane June 18th, 2014 at 16:00
Make this a hashtag #PluckTheChickenhawks
Cainer June 18th, 2014 at 22:32
I took your suggestion and did that. Of course I had to open up a Twitter account first. Hopefully I did it correctly @Cainer1212. Cainer was already taken.