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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Richard A. Clarke: Never Forget: Our Invasion of Iraq Was a Breach of Trust

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Featuring fresh takes and real-time analysis from HuffPost's signature lineup of contributorsHot on the BlogRichard A. ClarkeBernard-Henri LévyAlec BaldwinEvan Handler Richard A. Clarke
Former Advisor to the President on Cyber Security

GET UPDATES FROM Richard A. Clarke   3 Never Forget: Our Invasion of Iraq Was a Breach of Trust Posted: 03/19/2013 7:00 am Follow , , Iraq Invasion , Iraq War Anniversary , Politics News
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On Tuesday, at this 10th anniversary of the American Invasion of Iraq, we would do well to remind ourselves about some painful facts.

Keeping those facts in our collective memory may make it easier for us as a nation to prevent future mistakes. So, let us recall five unfortunate facts about the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

First, the leaders of the Bush administration were intent on invading from the beginning of their time in the White House. When the 9-11 attacks occurred, Bush cabinet members immediately discussed how that tragedy could be used to justify an invasion.

Bush himself asked me to try to pin the blame for 9-11 on Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney propagated a myth that a hijacker had met with Iraqi intelligence officials in Prague, even though we knew at the time Cheney said it that the report was false and that the hijacker was in Virginia at the time of the alleged meeting.

Second, the Bush-Cheney team settled on the excuse for invading that Iraq was making weapons of mass destruction. They trotted out to Congress, the American people and the United Nations a series of fabricated intelligence reports.

Iraq was allegedly buying "yellow cake" uranium from Niger. The documentary proof used turns out to have been a forgery. Iraq had mobile biological-weapons labs. The eyewitness has been shown to be a liar. Iraq was allegedly training al Qaida. The only evidence of that were the ravings of a terrorist under extreme torture.

The proof that these and other fabricated intelligence reports were erroneous was available well before we invaded.

Third, the mismanagement of the war cost thousands of American lives and more than 100,000 Iraqi lives and disfigured, dismembered or traumatized tens of thousands of Americans. The financial and human cost of those casualties will be felt for decades.

The Bush administration had no real plan for occupying Iraq, but it dismissed the Iraqi army, despite the fact that the army had access to a trove of arms. An insurgency immediately followed, and for months thereafter, the secretary of defense not only refused to admit it, he banned the use of the word insurgency.

Fourth, those who profited most were Iran and al Qaeda. For years, Iran's aggression in the region was held in check by the Baghdad government. Since the U.S. invasion, Iran has gained greater influence throughout the area, undermining the U.S. and its allies.

Because we were busy in Iraq, U.S. military and intelligence assets were not available to end quickly the al Qaeda and Taliban presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Thus, the people who actually attacked us on Sept. 11 were free for years to regain their strength.

Fifth, the invasion and occupation of Iraq added between one trillion and two trillion dollars to our long-term debt, depending upon what costs are considered (replacing equipment, caring for veterans).

Defense contractors like Halliburton and Blackwater made huge profits. Those expenses were initiated at the same time as the Bush administration began a tax cut. The financial difficulties our government and economy face today are in large part driven by those twin decisions.

It is appropriate that we thank our veteran soldiers and civilians for their service in Iraq, for they did what was asked of them. It is, however, inappropriate that we thank for their service the senior officials who concocted this debacle.

We may have as a nation implicitly decided that we would be better off without trials or even without a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but we should not forget what those officials did to us as a nation, to our soldiers, to our finances, to our moral standing in the world. For to do that, to welcome them back as elder statesmen, would be to offend our fallen and our wounded, and to reward duplicity by those who swore a public trust.

One of America's great strengths is that it looks to the future, not the past. It may also be one of our greatest weaknesses. We often pay a price for our collective amnesia or ignorance of our own history. Instead, we must remember, we must teach the history, not cover it up, and never forget it.

Richard A. Clarke, the counterterrorism coordinator at the National Security Council from 1993 to 2001, is chairman of Good Harbor Consulting and the author of "Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror."

First published in the Orlando Sentinel.

 FOLLOW POLITICS 221k   Get Alerts #ad_bottom_article_text {margin-bottom: 15px} War WireIraq Read more from Huffington Post bloggers: Robert Scheer Robert Scheer: Time Heals All Hubris Jon Soltz Jon Soltz: Iraq Veterans' thoughts on today's anniversary Robert Scheer

Robert Scheer: Time Heals All Hubris

How is it that there is no palpable sense of soul searching associated with the 10th anniversary of a war based on officially concocted lies and a policy of torture? It is because the presumption of a unique American claim to an original and enduring innocence perseveres, no matter the death and destruction. Jon Soltz

Jon Soltz: Iraq Veterans' thoughts on today's anniversary

This week marks ten years since the launch of the war in Iraq. I was a young Captain at the time, and part of the...
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of our newest badge: Community Curator. View AllFavorites Recency |  Popularity Jay HaneyMy nuclear family imploded when I was 18. I've bee979 Fans 24 minutes ago (12:04 PM)Mr. Clarke, I've always admired you, sir, for being the only visible member of government to do something the entire W administration refused to do: take responsibility for the failures on 9/11. Watching the tragedies that have followed since that grand abdication of what should have been theirs has been a nightmare.

You once asked for forgiveness for your and others' part in failing to stop 9/11. By virtue of your actions then and now (now, of course, encompassing this article), you are forgiven. The others...there can be none without them owning what was theirs all along.Jay_Haney: Mr. Clarke, I've always admired you, sir, for being thehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Jay_Haney/iraq-war-anniversary_b_2904285_238215199.htmlHistory |Permalink |This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation. spinnerLoading comments… photoMetaMD84 Fans 27 minutes ago (12:01 PM)We need a Truth Commission with Bush and Cheney testifying under oath. Simple. Let's get to the truth for our country"s sake, the sooner the better. Just look at the damage.MetaMD: We need a Truth Commission with Bush and Cheney testifyinghttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/MetaMD/iraq-war-anniversary_b_2904285_238214255.htmlHistory |Permalink |This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation. spinnerLoading comments… HUFFPOST SUPER USERyatahayaz248 Fans 36 minutes ago (11:52 AM)Thank you Mr. Clarke for being one of the few in our government who has the guts to call it like it is. Too bad the neo-conservatives could not view reality through their lens of ideology. Tragic for the lives this experiment has cost, and the treasure it has robbed from the next generation. What swine inhabited the White House for 8 years!yatahayaz: Thank you Mr. Clarke for being one of the fewhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/yatahayaz/iraq-war-anniversary_b_2904285_238211873.htmlHistory |Permalink |This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation. spinnerLoading comments… photobeaver72160 Fans   46 minutes ago (11:42 AM)Sad to see a couple of lies still being presented. The Congressional Authorization for War in Iraq listed 23 reasons for the war (in the introductory "Whereas..." paragraphs). Two of those listed WMD leaving 21 other reasons for the war. And as to the Iraqi lost of life one wonders why the death rate dropped from over 8 per 1000 per year to 5 per 1000 per year almost immediately (equal to 75,000 lives saved per year) and the population boomed from 22 million to 31 million during the war.beaver7216: Sad to see a couple of lies still being presented.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/beaver7216/iraq-war-anniversary_b_2904285_238209097.htmlHistory |Permalink |This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation. spinnerLoading comments… leopoldbloom1629 Fans   53 minutes ago (11:35 AM)It would be a lot easier to stomach if we made any effort whatsoever to hold anyone accountable. But Obama decided he didn't want that distraction.leopoldbloom16: It would be a lot easier to stomach if wehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/leopoldbloom16/iraq-war-anniversary_b_2904285_238207239.htmlHistory |Permalink |This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation. spinnerLoading comments… photolove4lifeNunya599 Fans 2 hours ago (10:42 AM)I'm not lying this time. Honest.

~Richard Clarkelove4life: I'm not lying this time. Honest. ~Richard Clarkehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/love4life/iraq-war-anniversary_b_2904285_238193784.htmlHistory |Permalink | This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program ufopp3493 Fans 31 minutes ago (11:57 AM)We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.

~Richard Cheneyufopp: We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. ~Richard Cheneyhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/ufopp/iraq-war-anniversary_b_2904285_238213220.htmlHistory |Permalink |This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation. spinnerLoading comments…This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation. spinnerLoading comments… AuntFaintly22 Fans 2 hours ago (10:07 AM)"If any question why we died,
Tell them, because our fathers lied."
Rudyard KiplingAuntFaintly: "If any question why we died, Tell them, because ourhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/AuntFaintly/iraq-war-anniversary_b_2904285_238185674.htmlHistory |Permalink | Jay HaneyMy nuclear family imploded when I was 18. I've bee979 Fans 23 minutes ago (12:05 PM)One of my favorite Kipling quotes, written in response to another fiasco called the Great War then, World War I now.Jay_Haney: One of my favorite Kipling quotes, written in response tohttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Jay_Haney/iraq-war-anniversary_b_2904285_238215546.htmlHistory |Permalink |This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation. spinnerLoading comments…This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation. spinnerLoading comments… photoSunnyDaySamTo Err is Human, to Forgive is Canine1721 Fans 3 hours ago ( 9:02 AM)Excellent article. Thank you Mr. Clarke.SunnyDaySam: Excellent article. Thank you Mr. Clarke.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/SunnyDaySam/iraq-war-anniversary_b_2904285_238172800.htmlHistory |Permalink |This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation. spinnerLoading comments… PayingAttentionconsider this77 Fans 4 hours ago ( 8:34 AM)It is hard to fathom how far our nation's esteem in the eyes of the world fell from the Clinton years to the Bush years. Clinton went to our old enemy, Vietnam, and was treated like a rock star. Bush went to our supposed ally, Iraq, and shoes were thrown at him.
For those on the right, the successes of the Clinton governing policies were leading to an intolerable situation, people may come to view government as a helpful presence in their lives and want more of it. This would lead to a national acceptance of higher taxes to pay for it and also a government that might put limits on the Ayn Rand types whose main goal is to swell their wealth and power.
The right came to power not with the idea that they could govern better, but to discredit government in the eyes of the voter so they would want far less of it. The underlying motivation for the tax cuts and the Iraq war was not fiscal stimulus or protecting the country, but was to under mine the peoples confidence in government. They also knew that with the proper song and dance they could convince a significant portion of the population that all this was a good thing.
For that tiny sliver of the population that controls the lion's share of our national wealth, a well run national government that functions for the benefit of all is an enemy that must be destroyed.PayingAttention: It is hard to fathom how far our nation's esteemhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/PayingAttention/iraq-war-anniversary_b_2904285_238168119.htmlHistory |Permalink |This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation. spinnerLoading comments… photoHUFFPOST SUPER USERKatherine GuidryReal Estate Appraiser & Environmental150 Fans 4 hours ago ( 8:22 AM)We can never hope to recover our strong sense of judgement that Americans see as part of our identity until this war is dealt with in a true court of law...hoping the state of Vermont invites Bush and Cheney to their lovely state to begin this processKatherine_Guidry: We can never hope to recover our strong sense ofhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Katherine_Guidry/iraq-war-anniversary_b_2904285_238166221.htmlHistory |Permalink |This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation. spinnerLoading comments… VTpat571 Fans 4 hours ago ( 8:16 AM)A shameful chapter in our history. We must do all we can never to repeat it.VTpat: A shameful chapter in our history. We must do allhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/VTpat/iraq-war-anniversary_b_2904285_238165348.htmlHistory |Permalink |This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation. spinnerLoading comments… Countess1949 Fans 4 hours ago ( 8:07 AM)I agree that the invasion of Iraq was a breach of trust but it will certainly not be the last as we are well on the way to another one as the same neocons in both parties have deliberately made war with Iran almost inevitable and the sheepish public doesn't seem to mind.Countess: I agree that the invasion of Iraq was a breachhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Countess/iraq-war-anniversary_b_2904285_238164131.htmlHistory |Permalink |This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation. spinnerLoading comments… Trydecency250 Fans 5 hours ago ( 7:52 AM)Good summary of the Iraq debacle, but what else is new? Iraq is being swept into the National Memory Hole alongside the massive U.S. war crime of the Vietnam War -- which also was based on lies and distortions -- Panama, Grenada and other unnecessary, politically motivated murder-fests. This keeps happening because the nation's knee-jerk conservative school districts refuse to teach accurate history classes, instead summarizing recent wars with the comfortable myths spread by the media. (The Iraq invasion was a response to the "unprovoked" 9-11 attacks, Saddam was responsible or connected to Al Qaeda, etc.) These myths continue now -- that the Afghanistan war is necessary because otherwise AQ would be able to attack America again, and other such nonsense. Any teacher who taught the simple, documented truth about these issues would be fired in most districts, probably for presenting "material not in the curriculum." And so it goes.

By the way, when are we going to stop hand-wringing about our unnecessary wars and actually change our government to provide accountability and more responsiveness to the people's wishes?
Sadly, the answer to that is -- Never. All the hand-wringing is just part of the National Memory Hole sweep-up process and clears the way for the next unnecessary war. That's the American Way.Trydecency: Good summary of the Iraq debacle, but what else ishttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Trydecency/iraq-war-anniversary_b_2904285_238162256.htmlHistory |Permalink | photobeaver72160 Fans   32 minutes ago (11:57 AM)Don't leave out the Afghanistan war. I have no idea why were are there, why we escalated, what we have gained from the escalation. It is one thing to remove the Taliban but why all these extra human and financial costs? If it was to find bin Laden, he was in Pakistan.

All US wars have been based on lies, either entirely or in part. We still don't know why we had the War of 1812-was it a British invasion or an attempt to take over the "Northwest Territories and the Indian lands there? Lincoln talked about saving the Union to some, and, later, freeing slaves to others. The Mexican War was based on a fight that may or may not have happened in what may or may not have been the US. (See Spot Resolution). We still don't know about the USS Maine. Wilson lied about captured communications between Mexico and Germany in WW1 and wanted to do a pre-emptive strike against Germany. Pearl Harbor made sense but Roosevelt really wanted war with Germany and used that as an excuse. Korean War was a result of Truman's flip-flop, first declaring Korea was out of the zone of security and outside of US protections. And then there is the Gulf of Tonkin.

One of the lies out of Iraq was that "For the first time, the US went to a pre-emptive war, a war based on lies."beaver7216: Don't leave out the Afghanistan war. I have no ideahttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/beaver7216/iraq-war-anniversary_b_2904285_238213126.htmlHistory |Permalink |This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation. spinnerLoading comments…This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation. spinnerLoading comments… photoHUFFPOST SUPER USERgreytunesAll shall be punish'ed622 Fans 5 hours ago ( 7:38 AM)Excellent post and critique of our actions in Iraq.greytunes: Excellent post and critique of our actions in Iraq.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/greytunes/iraq-war-anniversary_b_2904285_238160691.htmlHistory |Permalink |This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation. spinnerLoading comments… ShakeMyHeadInDisbelief0 Fans 5 hours ago ( 7:21 AM)Yes absolutely true. Now the push is for an attack on Iran, again much pushed for by different lobbies, interests, the press, again with fabricated and exaggerated reasons, this time by a democratic administration. I wonder if China is going spare us another trillion or two?ShakeMyHeadInDisbelief: Yes absolutely true. Now the push is for an attackhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/ShakeMyHeadInDisbelief/iraq-war-anniversary_b_2904285_238159009.htmlHistory |Permalink |This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation. spinnerLoading comments…    new comment(s) on this entry — Click to refreshspinnerLoading comments… Most Popular Elizabeth Warren Minimum Wage Elizabeth Warren Talks $22-An-Hour Minimum Wage Tournament One Seeds PRINTABLE NCAA Tournament Bracket The Bible Satan Obama History Channel's Satan Looks A Lot Like Obama... Elisabeth Hasselbeck Elisabeth Hasselbeck's Days At 'The View' Are Reportedly Numbered Steubenville Rape Trial CNN, Fox News Air Name Of Underage Rape Victim India Gang Rape Swiss Tourist Indian Officials Suggest Swiss Tourist, Husband Partially To Blame For Gang Rape Britney Spears Kevin Federline Britney Spears Reunites With Ex-Husband Steubenville Rape Trial Verdict Ohio Rape Trial Verdict Announced Gwyneth Paltrow Miscarriage Gwyneth Paltrow Reveals Devastating Miscarriage Hillary Clinton Gay Marriage Hillary Clinton Comes Out For Gay Marriage Rachel Maddow MSNBC Almost Entirely Dominated By Opinion, New Study Says Slide_284262_2177252_free PICTURES: Nailed It! Kate Middleton Heel Stuck PHOTOS: Kate Middleton Almost Trips On Her Heels At St Patrick's Day Parade Charlie Blackmore Marine Draws Gun, Stops Brutal Crime Beyonce Bow Down BEYONCE'S BACK Giorgos Katidis Banned Banned For Life Karl Rove Sarah Palin Karl Rove Mocks Sarah Palin Tenure As Governor Robert Pattinson Kristen Stewart Relationship Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart's Fame Is 'Tragic,' Says 'Twilight' Author Steven Crowder Ashley Judd Fox News Contributor Makes Shocking Judd Joke Aek Athens Nazi Salute Soccer Player Celebrates Goal With Nazi Salute Follow HuffPost Email Facebook Twitter Google Plus RSS Mobile HuffPost Daily Brief Politics Get top stories and blogs posts emailed to you each day.

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