[eli]

Rather easy to take potshots, now that Iraq is falling apart. If this outcome was so obvious why wait until now to write an op-ed?

The pre-war coverage had some problems but I thought the reporting about the war, on the whole, was pretty decent. I read a lot about torture and about the lack of press freedom in Iraq.

[Ygg2]

> Rather easy to take potshots, now that Iraq is falling apart. If this outcome was so obvious why wait until now to write an op-ed?

It's outcome was known and obvious from the get go. You kill the dictator that repress another extremist. What did you think it was going to happen? No retaliation.

America's 'Wars' from Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, War on Terror (and War on Drugs) have all been, very, very, very bad. I can't think of a military campaign that accomplished their goals, unless said goals were to cause as much shit as possible and get paid shit ton for doing so.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175854/tomgram%3A_engelhardt...

[eli]

My point is that it's tough to say "I told you so" after the fact.

[Ygg2]

There were many analytic saying it will end like this (I don't have links at the moment).

If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Dethroning Saddam just led to a power vacuum that installed whatever he was suppressing for the duration of his reign.

[mattdeboard]

Like, are you questioning why Manning waited until now to publish an op-ed? I'd wager it's because Manning was going through the whole trial -> prison -> acclimating to prison thing.