Defending the War

Here are reasons that some people still defend this war:

1. Inability to accept defeat, no matter what the economic or human costs.
2. Belief that the war is still winnable or that the goals are sill achievable.
3. Belief that the war in Iraq is part of a war on Terrorists who pose a threat to the US.
4. Predisposition to war as a problem solving technique.
5. Inability to critically evaluate the Bush Administration because of Republican allegiance.

My response:

To your excellent list, let me add this.

7. A belief that the US can act without regard to consequences.

Bush-Cheney are the political equivalent to Paris Hlton. Both appear to act in such a way that they can violate with impunity rules of behavior or laws that govern the behavior of other people or nations. In the case of the Bush administration, violated rules of international nborms include no pre-emptive war; no foreign-based ground troops; no torture; no harm to non-combatants, and others.

It is also becoming clear how small the circle of decisions makers were. By Cheney's own admission, the CIA was excluded from key deliberations.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/10/AR2007051002117.html

Who was "the decider"? Was it Bush, who had almost no international expertise or interest? I think it was almost entirely the alpha dog in the White House, the vice president, and everyone else in the administration at least initially fell into line. In other words, the "debate" was almost entirely in Cheney's head.

Finally, in looking at your list, it occurs to me how each of the reasons has its base in beliefs or perceptions. Tenet's argument was that we were not lied into the war and that the facts were not fixed to promote the war. To the contrary, he claims, the war was launched because enough people "believed" that the war should be launched. To put it another war, the US went to war because there was a massive failure in epistomology.

And yet another reason.

8. No reason. They just do.

I’m not sure how many people actually support the war without a reason, but I’ll bet if we combed the streets, we would eventually find one. You actually began a case for that with "To the contrary, he claims, the war was launched because enough people "believed" that the war should be launched." We know that belief requires no justification. It usually does, of course, but justifications are not necessary as a basis for a belief.