‘SO WHAT?’…. I’d like to think those responsible for the war in Iraq would know not to take a lackadaisical attitude towards the consequences of that war. If only that were true.
In an interview with ABC News’ Martha Raddatz yesterday, the president reflected on the war, saying, “One of the major theaters against al Qaeda turns out to have been Iraq. This is where al Qaeda said they were going to take their stand.”
Raddatz interjected, noting that Iraq was not a major theater for al Qaeda until after the U.S. invasion. “Yeah, that’s right,” the president said. “So what?” He added that he believes the terrorist group is “becoming defeated.”
It’s hard not to watch clips like these and just shake your head.
Ali Frick sets the record straight: “Continuing his refusal to take any responsibility for the consequences of his decisions, Bush suggests that al Qaeda came to Iraq by chance, that it simply ‘turn[ed] out to have been’ the place where they ‘were going to take their stand.’ But al Qaeda’s existence in Iraq is 100 percent attributable to Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq: al Qaeda never existed there before, and in fact, Saddam Hussein viewed Osama bin Laden as a threat and refused to support him.”
That Bush considers this irrelevant is not entirely surprising, but it is a reminder of just how unwilling he is to accept any responsibility for his tragic errors.
