My thoughts five years later

Yesterday was a day when former supporters of the invasion and occupation documented how wrong they were. For Andrew Sullivan it was:

• Historical Narcissism.
• Narrow Moralism
• Unconservatism.
• Misreading Bush

John Cole admits he was wrong about everything including "I was wrong not to trust the dirty smelly hippies." On the other side Jim Henely tries to explain why he got it right. I think what Jim ends up saying is that he was paying attention.

Now I opposed the invasion and occupation - I got it right. But I didn't get it all right, I am guilty of under estimation. Now I knew that the neocons and the AIPAC Zionists were delusional and crazy but I underestimated just how delusional and crazy they were. I didn't fully appreciate that the only way you could get them to listen to you was to say exactly what they wanted to hear. And that worked even if you were a known con man and Iranian spy (Chalabi). I underestimated how little these mad men knew about the Middle East and as important how little they knew about unsuccessful occupations in the past. I also underestimated just how evil their real motivations were. Perhaps most of all I underestimated their incompetence which I suppose is a result of underestimating their delusions.

I was right - I knew the invasion was a mistake but I really didn't appreciate just how big a mistake it would turn out to be.