With the situation in Iraq deteriorating, some observers are questioning whether or not the same hawks who boosted America's 2003 invasion should be given a platform to address today's crisis. For example, on her MSNBC show, Rachel Maddow said:
"It is very frustrating to see that this is the way we handle debates about foreign policy in this country," she said on her show. "We take people who were so provably, terribly wrong and bring them back and treat them like experts on the very subject they were wrong about. It is maddening." [Politico]
In fairness, a diverse group of of pundits, including Andrew Sullivan and Ezra Klein, supported the war. But they have admitted they were wrong. In that regard, the Washington Examiner's Byron York argues the architects of the invasion like Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz — and advocates like Bill Kristol — ought to at least acknowledge past mistakes:
Rather than disqualify them from speaking out, it could lend depth and perspective to their proposals on what to do now. They don't have to grovel, even if that's what some of their adversaries want. They just have to concede they played a part in creating the problem they now hope to fix. [Washington Examiner]
That makes too much sense. It would never work.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
-
Lucy Letby to face retrial over attempt to murder baby girlSpeed Read UK’s most prolific child killer to face additional charge after lodging appeal against conviction
-
Branch identification
Cartoons
-
Why police are downing firearms after the Chris Kaba murder charge
The Explainer Army drafted in after scores of armed Met officers 'revolt' over charging of colleague
-
Biden creates White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention
Speed Read The office will be led by Vice President Kamala Harris
-
Rishi Sunak lambasts China after allegations of spy in UK Parliament
Speed Read
-
Judge denies Mark Meadows' request to move Georgia case to federal court
Speed Read
-
Former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson dies at 75
Speed Read
-
Clarence Thomas officially discloses trips from billionaire GOP donor
Speed Read
-
Judge schedules Trump federal election plot trial for crowded March 2024
Speed Read
-
Trump surrenders in Georgia election subversion case
Speed Read
-
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin ally-turned-rival, presumed dead in plane crash
Speed Read
