frostbite
Full Member
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2021
- Messages
- 3,366
Bush was a criminal and the war in Iraq was definitely a blunder. But back then, some people believed that the US will bring Democracy to the Middle East. Sure, that was stupid, and we don't know what the decision makers believed probably they were not that naive, but at least some people had good intentions. And definitely the US never had any plans to annex Iraq, it was always a temporary thing. Still, it gives an excuse to other countries to stage invasions without good reasons, and this is the lasting legacy of Bush jr.Let's not forget the effect that 9/11 had. Counter-terrorism became the lead security concern for at least the 10 years following, and also helped drive the invasion of Iraq, which was a blunder to say the least.
I agree that there can be some deterrence value to hawkishness, the main issue with hawks is often that they are hawks about both important and unimportant matters. I'm thinking about how guys like Rumsfeld and Cheney thought that invading Iraq would "show our power" to other nations, while instead it just reveals foolishness.