Iraq
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The Atlantic covers news, politics, culture, technology, health, and more, through its articles, podcasts, videos, and flagship magazine.
Trump’s prescient opposition to the invasion is an important part of his claim to sound judgment. And he is making it up. I would know.
Have presidential candidates learned the right lessons from the experiences of Obama and Bush? A person in the middle of the Iraq-and-Afghanistan debates tells us how to find out.
These “knowing what we know now …” questions are driving me crazy. They should make you mad too.
The big-tent principle applied to a former U.S. senator and a current U.S. adversary
When people say "we must act now!" they are usually wrong. When people say "we can't look weak!" it's usually time to discount whatever else they say.
Whichever way you see it, the presumptive Democratic nominee has shown us something significant.
"Limiting wars to those that are in the national interest and can be won eliminates many wars." You wouldn't think politicians and thinkers would need to be reminded of this point, but they do.
"Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many."
Let's hear from some people who have earned the right to be listened to.
Some people have earned the right not to be listened to.
The wars are ending; the obligations, just beginning now.
Taking responsibility, and avoiding it
The cost of war is not reckoned solely in dollars and cents, but let's look at those financial costs.
An enormous mistake, which probably will not prove "instructive"
To put it another way: What would Albert Wohlstetter do?
What did we learn, and when did we learn it?
"The status quo ante really sucked."