James Fallows On The Stupidity Of Asking GOP Candidates If They Would Have Invaded Iraq

• THE WRONG HYPOTHETICAL QUESTION

  Friday, May 22, 2015

  ListenAddDownloadEmbed

  Stream m3u

  • Enlarge

    American troops in Al-Ferdous square in Baghdad. (Markus Matzel/ullstein bild/Getty)

  In interviews over the past two weeks, 2016 hopefuls are facing a hypothetical question on the Iraq War: "knowing what we know now" would they have authorized the 2003 invasion? But James Fallows of The Atlantic says that's the wrong question because it suggests the decision to go into Iraq came down to faulty intelligence. Fallows talks to Brooke about the better questions to ask candidates about the war and how to really learn from historical mistakes. 

  GUESTS:

   James Fallows

  HOSTED BY: Brooke Gladstone

• 

• Why Iraq Has No Army
• http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/12/why-iraq-has-no-army/304428/
• 
  

• Why Iraq's American-Trained Army Failed | The American Conservative

• Defense Secretary: Iraqi Army Has No 'Will To Fight'
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/defense-secretary-carter-iraqis-need-will-to-fight-to-defeat-islamic-state/2015/05/24/1f189454-022e-11e5-bc72-f3e16bf50bb6_story.html
• 
  
• "Bush's Toxic Legacy In Iraq"
  http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/06/bushs-toxic-legacy-in-iraq.html
• 
  
• Cheney's Lucid 1994 Rationale For NOT Invading Iraq. Conservatives "Must" See This

  http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/08/cheneys-lucid-1996-rationale-for-not.html
• 
  
• Hans Blix' Fruitless Search For WMD And Bush/Cheney's Rush To War In Iraq

  http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/08/hans-blix-fruitless-search-for-wmd-and.html

• "The Fall Of Iraq. Jawdropping Video Footage Of Cheney, Albright, Gen Clarke & Others"

  http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-fall-of-iraq-jawdropping-video.html

Dead Wrong: Colin Powell's U.N. Speech On WMD In Iraq

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/02/dead-wrong-colin-powells-un-speech-on.html

• 
  
• "Israeli War Historian, Martin van Creveld's Startling Commentary On The Iraq War"

  http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/06/israeli-war-historian-martin-van.html

  Excerpt: "For misleading the American people, and launching the most foolish war since Emperor Augustus in 9 B.C sent his legions into Germany and lost them, Bush deserves to be impeached and, once he has been removed from office, put on trial along with the rest of the president’s men. If convicted, they’ll have plenty of time to mull over their sins." War historian Martin van Creveld is the only non-U.S. author whose writings are obligatory reading by America's Officer Corps."