Democrats’ Illiberal Attitude on Iraq

"But Democrats aren’t engaged in debate. They’re engaged in a deceitful effort to distort history."

Democrats’ Illiberal Attitude on Iraq | National Review Online

By Mona Charen 6-24-14

On Iraq, Dems don’t debate; they distort.

Recent attempts by liberals to shut down debate are part of a greater pattern. 

Among Republicans, the debate over America’s proper world role is vigorous. Senator Rand Paul blames the current disarray in Iraq on George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. “Were they right in their predictions? Were there weapons of mass destruction there? Was the war won in 2005, when many of those people said it was won?”

Cheney, civil but direct, defends his decisions and warns that Paul’s “isolationism” is unwise. “He doesn’t believe we ought to be involved in that part of the world. That didn’t work in the 1930s, it sure as heck won’t work in the aftermath of 9/11.”

That, ladies and gentlemen, is how a substantive debate about serious matters is conducted. One side makes its case; the other side responds. May the better argument win.

That’s not the way Democrats roll. James Fallows, of The Atlantic, tweeted: “Working hypothesis: no one who stumped for original Iraq invasion gets to give ‘advice’ about disaster now. Or should get listened to.” Senator Barbara Boxer called Cheney’s criticism of President Obama “sick,” adding, “That’s just like, you know, a nightmare come back to haunt me, just frankly.” Katrina vanden Heuvel asked, “If so many were wrong about Iraq in 2003, why are they still being invited . . . on Sunday morning talk shows and op-ed pages as authorities on U.S.–Iraq policy?” Jamelle Bouie of Slate suggested that those who backed the original invasion of Iraq “should be barred from public comment.”

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