Mind F_ck Politics: Wildfeather's Political Commentaries, etc.

Spotlight Reviews January 4, 2000 Reviewer: miketol@mtco.com (Eureka, IL United States) When In Retrospect first came out, some of the people at the college where I teach came up to me and said: "Did you hear? McNamara's published a book and he says the Vietnam War was all a mistake!" Whoa - talk about your late-breaking news! Still, I suppose hearing those sentiments from the highest levels imparts a certain power to them that us lowly grunts could never hope to possess - but I think I recall saying "this is a big mistake" on my first patrol (I served in 'Nam in '68-'69). The rub, of course, comes when we try to figure out WHY it was a mistake, and it is here that McNamara can give us something truly significant. Does he? I think that he does, but what he has to give us has been dished up many times before. Apparently realizing that he hadn't provided those answers the war requires in In Retrospect, McNamara instituted a series of conferences

take a good look at your own foundation your feet one is always on the right and the other is always going to be on the left but your ass which you keep covered up is always in the middle

25 January, 2006 Alternet Scott Ritter served as a Chief UN Weapons Inspector in Iraq from 1991 until his resignation in 1998. He is the author of, most recently, Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence Conspiracy to Undermine the UN and Overthrow Saddam Hussein (Nation Books, 2005). S tung by growing criticism of his Iraq policy which has manifested itself in all-time low public opinion ratings, President Bush last month embarked on a tour in which he delivered five speeches outlining his "Plan for Victory" in Iraq, as well as offering a defense of his decision to invade Iraq. "It is true that much of the intelligence [used to justify the invasion] turned out to be wrong", Mr. Bush said in the fourth of these speeches. "As President, I'm responsible for the decision to go into Iraq." While taking responsibility for his actions, Mr. Bush has not taken well to any criticism of his role in over-selling the cas