Comments on: Mistakes Were Made http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/02/mistakes-were-made/ Making the World Safe for Liberalism Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:56:11 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: WPB http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/02/mistakes-were-made/comment-page-1/#comment-5978 WPB Sun, 02 Apr 2006 16:38:32 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/?p=570#comment-5978 My sentiments exactly. <a href="http://anewerworld.org/?p=372" rel="nofollow">Clueless in Baghdad</a> My sentiments exactly.

Clueless in Baghdad

]]> By: maha http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/02/mistakes-were-made/comment-page-1/#comment-5977 maha Sun, 02 Apr 2006 16:36:11 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/?p=570#comment-5977 Ian -- pathology runs in the family. Don't be too hard on yourself. :-) Ian — pathology runs in the family. Don’t be too hard on yourself. :-)

]]> By: Jack http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/02/mistakes-were-made/comment-page-1/#comment-5976 Jack Sun, 02 Apr 2006 16:36:07 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/?p=570#comment-5976 Alexander Cockburn has a sobering article that predicts that Iraq is splitting apart at http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n07/cock01_.html . Based on this article and other information, it seems to me that Zalmay Khalilzad may succeed in his heroic effort to get the three main groups to form what the New York Times calls a "broadly inclusive" government. Then, once the American pressure is off, the three groups will go back to doing what they wanted to do all along. The Shiites and the Kurds will try to get autonomy and the Sunnis will try to reassert control over the whole country. And of course the Shiite portion of the country will be closely allied with Iran. The best the Bush administration can hope for is that the tragic ending will not occur on their watch but during the adminstration of the next president. Alexander Cockburn has a sobering article that predicts that Iraq is splitting apart at http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n07/cock01_.html . Based on this article and other information, it seems to me that Zalmay Khalilzad may succeed in his heroic effort to get the three main groups to form what the New York Times calls a “broadly inclusive” government. Then, once the American pressure is off, the three groups will go back to doing what they wanted to do all along. The Shiites and the Kurds will try to get autonomy and the Sunnis will try to reassert control over the whole country. And of course the Shiite portion of the country will be closely allied with Iran. The best the Bush administration can hope for is that the tragic ending will not occur on their watch but during the adminstration of the next president.

]]> By: Ian http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/02/mistakes-were-made/comment-page-1/#comment-5975 Ian Sun, 02 Apr 2006 15:53:58 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/?p=570#comment-5975 That's interesting ... you sparked some long-negleted synapses into firing... When I first went to college I spent a couple of semesters failing every class by not going to them. At all. Ever. In most cases, I never actually bothered to find out when or where the class actually met. And yet, seeing that F on the final grades report was always a surprise. I remember spending a lot of time making calculations like you mention above, whenever my anxiety allowed reality to intrude to any significant degree... "OK, so I've missed the first two tests now, but if I get busy and pass every test from now on, I should still pass this thing. I'll start tomorrow." "So, OK, now I've missed the first four tests, but if I make at least an A on every test from now on, plus do every bit of my homework, I'll still pass this thing. I'll get on that first thing tomorrow." "So, OK, now I've missed every test but the final, but the final counts for a huge part of the grade, so all I have to do is make 100% on the final, plus maybe get a little extra credit, and I'll be fine. I'll start studying bright and early tomorrow." "So ... damn ... guess I failed again... didn't see THAT coming..." It never even occurred to me while making these calculations, that if I'd made it to this point in the semester by screwing up, the odds were low that I'd miraculously become a model student overnight ... cause it was still me what would be doing it. There were reasons for how I got to that point in the first place, and those reasons didn't evaporate just because I made the 57th decision to Do Better. But, see, when I did it, it was pathological. There was something WRONG with me. Bats missing in the belfry, elevator that didn't quite go all the WHOLE way to the top, a load of bricks with a few missing, you get the idea. Thinking back on it, that is obvious to me. And, when my parents found out what I was up to, it was obvious to them at the time. I couldn't see it, because after all being nuts makes it difficult to recognize when you're being nuts, but it was and is PAINFULLY obvious to anyone who knew the facts of my actions. So why is it not painfully obvious to the "we could still do good in Iraq, if we just get an A on every test from now on" crowd? Why is this something that has to be POINTED OUT to poeople??? There are REASONS we are in the mess we are in, and those reasons don't just disappear because we will it ... any solution, at present, would have to come from exactly the same people who got us here in the first place. Why isn't obvious to everybody how impossible that is? Why was it pathological when I did it, but Just a Few Foreign Policy Mistakes when an entire government does it? -me That’s interesting … you sparked some long-negleted synapses into firing…

When I first went to college I spent a couple of semesters failing every class by not going to them. At all. Ever. In most cases, I never actually bothered to find out when or where the class actually met.

And yet, seeing that F on the final grades report was always a surprise.

I remember spending a lot of time making calculations like you mention above, whenever my anxiety allowed reality to intrude to any significant degree… “OK, so I’ve missed the first two tests now, but if I get busy and pass every test from now on, I should still pass this thing. I’ll start tomorrow.” “So, OK, now I’ve missed the first four tests, but if I make at least an A on every test from now on, plus do every bit of my homework, I’ll still pass this thing. I’ll get on that first thing tomorrow.” “So, OK, now I’ve missed every test but the final, but the final counts for a huge part of the grade, so all I have to do is make 100% on the final, plus maybe get a little extra credit, and I’ll be fine. I’ll start studying bright and early tomorrow.” “So … damn … guess I failed again… didn’t see THAT coming…” It never even occurred to me while making these calculations, that if I’d made it to this point in the semester by screwing up, the odds were low that I’d miraculously become a model student overnight … cause it was still me what would be doing it. There were reasons for how I got to that point in the first place, and those reasons didn’t evaporate just because I made the 57th decision to Do Better.

But, see, when I did it, it was pathological. There was something WRONG with me. Bats missing in the belfry, elevator that didn’t quite go all the WHOLE way to the top, a load of bricks with a few missing, you get the idea. Thinking back on it, that is obvious to me. And, when my parents found out what I was up to, it was obvious to them at the time. I couldn’t see it, because after all being nuts makes it difficult to recognize when you’re being nuts, but it was and is PAINFULLY obvious to anyone who knew the facts of my actions.

So why is it not painfully obvious to the “we could still do good in Iraq, if we just get an A on every test from now on” crowd? Why is this something that has to be POINTED OUT to poeople??? There are REASONS we are in the mess we are in, and those reasons don’t just disappear because we will it … any solution, at present, would have to come from exactly the same people who got us here in the first place. Why isn’t obvious to everybody how impossible that is? Why was it pathological when I did it, but Just a Few Foreign Policy Mistakes when an entire government does it?

-me

]]> By: A. Citizen http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/02/mistakes-were-made/comment-page-1/#comment-5974 A. Citizen Sun, 02 Apr 2006 15:25:55 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/?p=570#comment-5974 A hard rain's gonna fall on the Bushistas when it becomes clear that far from "winning" in Iraq they have, in fact, destroyed the Army. That's right we don't have a functioning Army anymore. We have a demoralised group of extremely tired, stressed out killers driving around in rapidly deteriorating equipment that is will cost more billions we don't have to repair. Estimated cost to the U.S. for the Iraq war: 2 Trillion dollars. That is with a "T". Game, set and match to Osama. He has won and more than that will be percieved as winning no matter what happens from here on in Iraq. Bush the loser soon to be consigned to the dustbin of history if not jail for the war crimes his government is responsible for. This or a similar reality is what is coming and no amount of Bushista "spin" will save him and his cronies. A hard rain’s gonna fall on the Bushistas when it becomes clear that far from “winning” in Iraq they have, in fact, destroyed the Army.

That’s right we don’t have a functioning Army anymore. We have a demoralised group of extremely tired, stressed out killers driving around in rapidly deteriorating equipment that is will cost more billions we don’t have to repair.

Estimated cost to the U.S. for the Iraq war: 2 Trillion dollars. That is with a “T”.

Game, set and match to Osama. He has won and more than that will be percieved as winning no matter what happens from here on in Iraq.

Bush the loser soon to be consigned to the dustbin of history if not jail for the war crimes his government is responsible for.

This or a similar reality is what is coming and no amount of Bushista “spin” will save him and his cronies.

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