Time for the cheerleaders and enablers to shut the bleep up

Krugman speaks the truth again in the NYT ($):

Shortly after U.S. forces marched into Baghdad in 2003, The Weekly Standard published a jeering article titled, “The Cassandra Chronicles: The stupidity of the antiwar doomsayers.” Among those the article mocked was a “war novelist” named James Webb, who is now the senator-elect from Virginia.

The article’s title was more revealing than its authors knew. People forget the nature of Cassandra’s curse: although nobody would believe her, all her prophecies came true. And so it was with those who warned against invading Iraq. At best, they were ignored. . . . At worst, those who were skeptical about the case for war had their patriotism and/or their sanity questioned. The New Republic now says that it “deeply regrets its early support for this war.” Does it also deeply regret accusing those who opposed rushing into war of “abject pacifism?”

. . . . We should honor these people for their wisdom and courage. We should also ask why anyone who didn’t raise questions about the war — or, at any rate, anyone who acted as a cheerleader for this march of folly — should be taken seriously when he or she talks about matters of national security.

Krugman’s partial honor roll includes Howard Dean, Obama, Feingold, Gore, Pelosi, Reps. Spratt and Skelton, and even George H. W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft for their explanation for not going to Baghdad in 1991. By the way, for those of you troubled by the fact that everyone seems to love him and he smiles a lot, here’s what Obama had to say in 2002:

“I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.”

Enough raw meat for you there?

Meanwhile, Glenn Greenwald at his "Unclaimed Territory" blog has another terrific review of the dynamics in play that keep us recycling the same garbage from the same wastemakers