Notes from the war with Eastasia

I try not to do agitprop too much. It almost all comes back to “I told you so” and the only people who listen are those who were also telling them so. But this is Rafe Coburn, whom I have known online for about ten years now, and who strikes me as a perfect example of the decent, not unnaturally political American:

I remember when Iraq was a gathering threat. I remember when Saddam harbored the kinds of terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. I remember when the next smoking gun could be a mushroom cloud. I remember when Iraq’s oil revenue would pay for reconstruction. I remember when the idea that stabilizing Iraq would take hundreds of thousands of troops was ludicrous. I remember when Iraq could develop nuclear capabilities within a year. I remember when the mission was accomplished. I remember when killing Uday and Qusay Hussein would end the insurgency. I remember when capturing Saddam Hussein would end the insurgency. I remember when putting the interim government in power would end the insurgency. I remember every time attacking Fallujah would break the back of the insurgency.

And this is of course gratifying. Then he goes on to say the bit — just as true for us — that make it better than “you told us what was not so, and we told you so”:

“I think that for most people who have opposed President Bush and his agenda from the beginning, there’s at least a side of them that wants to see him fail. To leave office in humiliation. Only there’s a huge problem with that, because he’s gambling with our future, and he’s gambling with the future of those people in Iraq who never asked for what they’re dealing with today. So much as I detest what he’s done and how he’s gone about it, I have to hope every day for President Bush to succeed, for our sake and for the sake of the everyday Iraqi. It’s not a very fun place to be.”