The lies about Iraq...

...had a very important German angle (not to excuse US intelligence for not checking better). From Spiegel Online:

1)THE REAL STORY OF 'CURVEBALL'

How German Intelligence Helped Justify the US Invasion of Iraq

2) SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH IRAQ WMD SLEUTH DAVID KAY

German Intelligence Was 'Dishonest, Unprofessional and Irresponsible'

Mark C.

Damian adds: Jeffrey Goldberg's entry in Slate's "How Did I Get Iraq Wrong?" series also has a German angle.

All these articles are linked here, and they're essential reading. Hitch remains unrepentant. But William Saletan brings up an important point: the Iraq war not only cost the United States thousands of lives and trillions of dollars, but the opportunity costs - that is, what could have been done with the effort expended upon Iraq - have been tremendous:

...The problem with dumb war isn't that it's war. The problem is that it costs you the military, economic, and political resources to fight a smart war. Everything Bush wrongly attributed to Iraq turns out to be true of Iran. But we can't confront Iran with the force it probably requires, because we wasted our resources in Iraq. Americans, having been suckered in Iraq, won't accept evidence of Iran's nuclear program. Countries that might have supported us in a strike on Iran won't do so now, since we led them astray. Our coffers have been emptied to pay for the Iraq occupation. Our troops are physically and spiritually exhausted. In the name of strength, Bush has made us weak.

Posted by markc at March 24, 2008 05:39 PM