Quote(s) of the Day: Iraq Edition

First, a flashback quote from Colin Powell in 1992-

“There is this sort of romantic notion that if Saddam Hussein got hit by a bus tomorrow, some Jeffersonian democrat is waiting in the wings to hold popular elections. You’re going to get – guess what – probably another Saddam Hussein.”

Powell said the American people would be “outraged if we had gone on to Baghdad and we found ourselves in Baghdad with American soldiers patrolling the streets two years later still looking for Jefferson.”

Would we still be outraged three years later? {*checks polls*} Okay, that's a yes then.

And where do we stand in the war? Army chief of staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker fills us in-

I'll tell you I think we're closer to the beginning than we are to the end of all this... I do not believe that we are losing, but where I think we are on the scale of winning is very difficult, and time's going to tell."

Very encouraging, thank you.

And to bring this full circle, another flashback quote, this one from VP Cheney in 2002-

"Regime change in Iraq would bring about a number of benefits for the region. …Extremists in the region would have to rethink their strategy of jihad. Moderates throughout the region would take heart, and our ability to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process would be enhanced."

Oops.

The neocons' grand experiment is exploding all around us. And they only want in deeper. God help us all.




[Related reading:
-AP: At least 53 dead in latest Iraq bombing
-Billmon: The Silent Party
-Gen. William Odom : A reverse domino theory may be playing out in the Middle East]