Peeking Down the Memory Hole

Keeping track of the truth is difficult when facts are have been reduced to chimeric blips of electronic data. Let's look back at what was said a few years back.

Bush on the Middle East
Feb. 26, 2003 speech to the American Enterprise Institute: "Success in Iraq could also begin a new stage for Middle Eastern peace, and set in motion progress towards a truly democratic Palestinian state. The passing of Saddam Hussein's regime will deprive terrorist networks of a wealthy patron that pays for terrorist training, and offers rewards to families of suicide bombers."
Reality: Palestine, in democratic elections, elected Hamas which is currently engaged in a civil war with Fatah. Terror networks and suicide bombers in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, and Iraq are thriving as never before because of the Iraq War.

Taliban
Time Jan. 14, 2002: "With the Taliban vanquished, Bush has to start worrying about political enemies at home."
Reality: The Taliban is resurgent and now threatens not only Afghanistan but Pakistan as well.

Alberto on SCOTUS
Slate July 12, 2005: "When you stop to think about it, the general consensus that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is the Supreme Court candidate whom liberals should root for is pretty head-spinning."
Reality: Stop and think about it. Just two short years ago there was talk that Gonzales was heading for the Supreme Court and that liberals should be grateful for it. Stop and think about a Supreme Court with Gonzo on it.

Bin Laden - Dead or Alive
CNN Sept. 17, 2001: "I want justice," Bush said. "And there's an old poster out West… I recall, that said, 'Wanted, Dead or Alive.'"
Fox News Dec. 26, 2001: "Bin Laden Already Dead"
Reality: Al Jazeera April 25, 2007: "Mullah Dadullah, a senior Taliban commander, has told Al Jazeera in an exclusive interview that Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda's leader, is alive."

Iraq War
Ken Adelman Feb. 13, 2002: "liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk." and "This President Bush does not need to amass rinky-dink nations as "coalition partners" to convince the Washington establishment that we're right." and "Measured by any cost-benefit analysis, such an operation would constitute the greatest victory in America's war on terrorism."
Reality: Iraq has been a cakewalk only if the frosting was made with nitro. This Bush did, in fact, need to amass rinky-dink nations as coalition partners. They were way, way more rinky-dink than Iraq War I in 1991. Anymore great victories like this and we are doomed.

William Kristol & Robert Kagan March 22, 2004: "This is a far cry from the predictions made before the war by many, both here and in Europe, that a liberated Iraq would fracture into feuding clans and unleash a bloodbath."
Reality: Feuding clans, check. Things would have to improve to become a bloodbath. Looks like our pre-war predictions were spot on.

Ruud Lubbers Dec. 27, 2002: "Believe me, it (Iraq War) will be a disaster from a humanitarian perspective," Ruud Lubbers, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said in a BBC interview.
Reality: He was right. There are about 4 million Iraqi refugees from the war.

Hillary Clinton Nov. 29, 2003: the United States "must stay the course" in both Afghanistan and Iraq and called for more military personnel to finish the job.
Dec. 15, 2003 speaking to the Council of Foreign Relations: "I worry a lot about how difficult it will be in the political arena to stay the course."
Reality: It was not until June, 2006 than Clinton called for a withdrawal (phased) from Iraq. Before then, she was pro-"stay the course".