On Iraq

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/11/iraq-a-long-run.html#more

Andrew Sullivan has been blogging about mistakingly supporting the Iraq war and his request for forgiveness.

How do I feel on this matter, since I too, supported the war. Well, let's see...had I known the outcome/results, the "where-we-are-now" - yes, I probably would not have supported the war...for one simple reason: it's been too hard. Too hard because Iraqi society chose to make it too hard, because Bush/Cheney did a poor political job of managing the war, because half of America and most of the world never wanted to see the war succeed in the first place, because it cost too damn much, and because it's just been a colossel pain in the ass. If I knew what I knew now, I probably would have argued that it would be the right/moral thing to do, but in a complex and uncertain world simply not worth the cost/risk in money and human life.

Of course, this is a little bit like saying - had I known google would be worth 600 a share right now, shit yeah, I would've bought it at 200 three years ago. In short, it's a totally bullshit statement.

What matters is that I did support the war. And I still support many of the choices made by the army and our politicians. I do not support Congress pulling funding and I don't support the President calling it a lost cause and bringing all the troops home. What good does it do to go back and self flagellate about making mistakes? Sure, I look back at a lot of things I did during my life and think...man, I shouldn't have done that. But what does it prove?

I don't support torture and am embarassed by the Abu Gharib scandel. But I don't constantly write about it, nor do I feel a particular glee in saying..."see the US is just as bad as everyone else." We should punish the people involved. We shouldn't torture. And I am open to listening to a debate about what constitutes torture vs. coersive interrogation, but frankly am not going to be too passionate about it because I simply don't know all that much.