Antiwar.Com Founder Explains Why We Shouldn’t Engage In Iraq. Period.
Eric Garris of antiwar.com appeared on radio with me Tuesday night to argue, persuasively, that we shouldn’t be sending bombs, troops or anything else to Iraq, or anywhere else. Confronted with ethnic cleansing, Garris opines, we have never been able to fix it. We’ve never gone into a country where there hasn’t been mission creep, disastrous results, and more fatalities. So, if we go in and we save the Yazidis, we next are asked to save the Kurds, then the next group, and the next one. It’s not something we do well.
When I asked him to respond to Lindsey Graham’s position that, unless we went to get ISIS, they’d come here and get us, Garris said we’re more likely to be attacked by being involved overseas and creating more enmity.
Copyright 2014 Liberaland
12 responses to Antiwar.Com Founder Explains Why We Shouldn’t Engage In Iraq. Period.
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fancypants August 13th, 2014 at 01:26
So the ISIL is coming over here ? and what makes anyone think ( if such a threat can actually be carried out ) that if we fall for deploying more troops they are not going to make the trip anyway ? I think [ they ] are having more fun scaring our most intelligent ( if that’s what you want to call them ) over listing the reasons why this most likely wont happen
fancypants August 13th, 2014 at 01:26
So the ISIL is coming over here ? and what makes anyone think ( if such a threat can actually be carried out ) that if we fall for deploying more troops they are not going to make the trip anyway ? I think [ they ] are having more fun scaring our most intelligent ( if that’s what you want to call them ) over listing the reasons why this most likely wont happen
greenfloyd August 13th, 2014 at 04:26
Eric Garris makes a compelling case and he’s correct the risks are great. However he was incorrect about Obama’s ultimate position on bombing Syria last year. After the August gas attack on a Damascus neighborhood that killed over a 1,000 people The President made it clear he wanted Congress to green-light an attack which then motivated the Assad regime to offer-up its chemical weapons and Obama withdrew the bombing option.
KABoink_after_wingnut_hacker August 13th, 2014 at 07:29
It’s curious that our media forgets this important tidbit. Congress didn’t act, as always, but the President successfully negotiated the destruction of Assad’s chemical weapons.
floyd[@]greenfloyd.org August 13th, 2014 at 04:26
Eric Garris makes a compelling case and he’s correct the risks are great. However he was incorrect about Obama’s ultimate position on bombing Syria last year. After the August gas attack on a Damascus neighborhood that killed over a 1,000 people The President made it clear he wanted Congress to green-light an attack which then motivated the Assad regime to offer-up its chemical weapons and Obama withdrew the bombing option.
KABoink_after_wingnut_hacker August 13th, 2014 at 07:29
It’s curious that our media forgets this important tidbit. Congress didn’t act, as always, but the President successfully negotiated the destruction of Assad’s chemical weapons.
Abby Normal August 13th, 2014 at 07:01
Confronted with ethnic cleansing, we have never been able to fix it? I would argue that the Allies were successful in stopping Adolf Hitler. I think Mr. Garris is half right – we did make a huge mess of the middle east and should never have gone into Iraq in 2003. But I don’t agree that the civilized world should always stand by and do nothing when murderers go on a rampage against innocent people, gassing them, beheading them and burying them alive. Surely there are times the civilized world has to stand up and say “enough!”
Tommy6860 August 13th, 2014 at 07:09
This^ so much. Exactly what is happening to the Yazidis is something I cannot let go by and turn a blind eye. If this man began experiencing this himself, I wonder…
Abby Normal August 13th, 2014 at 07:01
Confronted with ethnic cleansing, we have never been able to fix it? I would argue that the Allies were successful in stopping Adolf Hitler. I think Mr. Garris is half right – we did make a huge mess of the middle east and should never have gone into Iraq in 2003. But I don’t agree that the civilized world should always stand by and do nothing when murderers go on a rampage against innocent people, gassing them, beheading them and burying them alive. Surely there are times the civilized world has to stand up and say “enough!”
Tommy6860 August 13th, 2014 at 07:09
This^ so much. Exactly what is happening to the Yazidis is something I cannot let go by and turn a blind eye. If this man began experiencing this himself, I wonder…
mea_mark August 13th, 2014 at 10:56
We don’t know how effective an air campaign with latest generation drones can be since it hasn’t happened yet. If we can save innocent people while remaining more or less detached, I think it is worth a try. We must be very cautious of over reach and escalation though. The MIC would love see the US spend many billions of dollars on hardware. We need to be very wary of the influence of greed coming from the oligarchy that owns large stakes in the MIC. Any involvement should be based on the highest principals and ideals, not on greed and ambition. The last war in Iraq clearly showed that misplaced ideals is a very bad idea for fighting a war.
mea_mark August 13th, 2014 at 10:56
We don’t know how effective an air campaign with latest generation drones can be since it hasn’t happened yet. If we can save innocent people while remaining more or less detached, I think it is worth a try. We must be very cautious of over reach and escalation though. The MIC would love see the US spend many billions of dollars on hardware. We need to be very wary of the influence of greed coming from the oligarchy that owns large stakes in the MIC. Any involvement should be based on the highest principals and ideals, not on greed and ambition. The last war in Iraq clearly showed that misplaced ideals is a very bad idea for fighting a war.