Five years, and four thousand body bags, into the conquest and apparently interminable occupation of Iraq is as good a time as any for some self-reflection on the part of those of us who supported its commencement, however skeptically. We were wrong.
Still, I strongly protest the notion that the people who lucked into being right (largely out of their pacifism, latent anti-Americanism, and secret admiration for radical Islam) ought to enjoy some sort of privileged status in the ongoing discourse. Accountability is a fine thing, in principle, but a little goes a long way.
After all, we all agree that experience is the most important thing, right? And it’s well known that “experience is the name that people give to their mistakes.” Those of us who were mistaken are, therefore, more experienced than those who happened to be right, and deserve both to be listened to and to be elected President.
Yes, dammit, this is meant ironically.