Clinton Calls Iraq a Big Mistake

Clinton announced today that he feels Iraq was a "big mistake." This is what you get when Rummy and Bush keep invoking Clinton's name in defense of the war. Clinton did not challenge Bush on the pre-war intelligence, but did say that the lack of planning before the invasion and the lack of a coherent plan afterwards has made Iraq a big mistake.

"Saddam is gone. It's a good thing, but I don't agree with what was done," Clinton told students at a forum at the American University of Dubai.

"It was a big mistake. The American government made several errors ... one of which is how easy it would be to get rid of Saddam and how hard it would be to unite the country."

Clinton said the United States had done some good things in Iraq: the removal of Saddam, the ratification of a new constitution and the holding of parliamentary elections.

"The mistake that they made is that when they kicked out Saddam, they decided to dismantle the whole authority structure of Iraq. ... We never sent enough troops and didn't have enough troops to control or seal the borders," Clinton said.

As the borders were unsealed, "the terrorists came in," he said.

Clinton said it would have been better if the United States had left Iraq's "fundamental military and social and police structure intact."

Gee, that also sounds exactly like the recommendations in a report written by a member of the Army War College prior to the war that Bush and Rummy completely ignored. I wonder if Bush is going to call Clinton a traitor now also?

Bill Clinton Calls Iraq 'Big Mistake'