Iraq War Still Awesome, Says John Yoo

John Yoo, the former deputy assistant attorney general who defended the various increases in executive power exercised or called for by the Bush Administration (and whose positions Kevin Gutzman and I refuted in Who Killed the Constitution?), defends the Iraq War on the grounds that even though the information at the government’s disposal may have been bad, war was the best decision in light of that bad information:

I continue to think that invading Iraq was the best option in light of the information we had then — I am finishing a book on war in the 21st century, where I make the case for preemptive and preventive war, and I argue that the proper way to think about these questions is based on the information available before the decision, not after.

Leaving aside the fact that a middle-schooler with Internet access had all the “information” to know an invasion of Iraq was based on preposterous nonsense, this still seems like rather a strange way to think about things.

And of course, our selfless decision-makers had the information they had because that’s the way they wanted it. They listened credulously to every scam artist under the sun who told them what they wanted to hear. If there’s anyone who still denies this even now (and recently even more evidence has come to light regarding Britain’s willful refusal to examine the facts of the matter), he ought to apply for a job with the New York Times.

Yoo then insinuates that opponents of the war must favor the return of Saddam, were that possible. Conor Friedersdorf responds, in the comments:

To say that the Iraq War was a mistake does not imply that Saddam Hussein and his family were the wronged party. Perhaps there is some opponent of the war somewhere who reasons from that premise. I have never encountered one. The vast majority of war opponents think that the wronged parties are American soldiers who died in combat, innocent Iraqis killed as a result of the war, and American taxpayers, who paid much more than they anticipated for a strategically dubious intervention.

Was that unclear to you?

(Thanks to Carl.)

http://www.facebook.com/anthonyleegregory Anthony Gregory

Only Republicans can make Democrats look like anything but sociopathic bloodthirsty war criminals.
http://rosarynovice.stblogs.com/ Augustine

This is rich: ” I make the case for preemptive and preventive war.”

The rationale perhaps goes like this: “in order to avoid being attacked, we will attack; in order to avoid war, we will start war.”

This is American exceptionalism at its best: exceptionally stupid or exceptionally evil. Either way, the devil must be proud!
http://plenarchist.wordpress.com/ plenarchist

Bad information? Or just a big fat lie followed by crimes against humanity?

By his logic, China and Russia should nuke the US today to prevent an attack by the US. What goes around, comes around. That logic has one outcome – Earth turned into a barren toxic desert.

So they’re making us more secure? Sure they are. What they’re really doing is making themselves richer and stroking their ego at the expense of a gullible dumbed-down American public.

Yoo and the other political floaters swirling around the Beltway toilet bowl should be prosecuted and imprisoned or worse by the US military today for crimes against humanity and high treason.

I just hope this doesn’t crash down on the heads of the American people later… or maybe it should. Nature has a not-so-pleasant way of sorting these things out.
Contemplationist

The comments are insane as well.
Anonymous

“I am finishing a book on war in the 21st century, where I make the case for preemptive and preventive war”

This statement is a world class example of Orwellian doublespeak. Imagine if we all employed this logic in everyday life. Yes Officer, I burned my neighbors house down because I was afraid that he would burn mine down first. Even though it turns out he never actually threatened to do that, I heard a rumor that he did, so hey, what’s the problem.

This mentality gets to the core of the problem with government in general. Most people are brainwashed into accepting two completely antithetical moral systems. We live our lives by a conventional and organic morality based on our human nature, but we apply a completely different and debased moral system to anyone acting under color of authority. Until humanity realizes that those in authority must answer to the same moral principles we apply to everyone else we are doomed to exploitation and tyranny.
http://rosarynovice.stblogs.com/ Augustine

If the US military would arrest anyone for crimes against humanity it should start with itself.
Darien

I guess I’ll be the guy who *does* think Saddam and family were wronged. Sure, Saddam at least was a bad guy — he was a head of state, after all — but they were still murdered. And murder isn’t justified just because the murderee is a bad guy.
Jp

tom, you or dilorenzo need to take down zo from pj tv. He is one of those zombies that uses the word neo confederate libertarian.
J Cortez

Anybody that uses the word “preemptive” before the word war would probably also say something like this:

“We had to destroy this village to save it.”
Laura

Subjecting the lives of boys to the whims of politicians and elitists who stand to gain financially & in power, as a result of their T Rex maneuvers worldwide, is the worst perpetration against humanity there has EVER been—the destruction of human life.
For centuries, these Powermongers have had more money than they could ever spend in their corrupt lifetimes, yet they always want more—more control over you & me. They are amoral and laugh behind our backs at us. No wonder they are called “snobs”. They always get away with murder, murder of any sort.
http://TheInterventionistParadox.wordpress.com/ Bharat

“Suppose you thought that the Iraq war was a mistake. If so, isn’t the proper remedy to restore Saddam Hussein’s family and the Baath Party to power in Iraq? If you are unwilling to consider that remedy, aren’t you conceding that on balance, the benefits of the war outweigh the costs?”

What a painful non-sequitur. The only conclusion one can make from admitting the Iraq war was a mistake is that, had we the ability to go back and time and not start the Iraq war, we would do so. (Even this conclusion isn’t completely valid because perhaps we dislike changing the course of time for some reason, but at least it’s more sensible)