Taibbi on iraq legacy:
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Far from being an error, the war was a perfect expression of everything we stood for then, and still stand for now.
Al-Qaeda provided the perfect replacement for the domino theory. Here was an enemy that was at once everywhere and nowhere, that could be in the minds of any person here or abroad, that any country could be accused of sponsoring
Secret prisons? Sure. Torture? Sure. Warrantless surveillance? Sure. Need to read our library records, toss out habeas corpus? Sure and sure
If we could successfully prevent our own voters from seeing or thinking about the moral costs of our policies, then we could continue down the pure-force path indefinitely, without protest, without debate even.
a Justice Department memorandum that apparently existed to provide a legal context for killing even American citizens by fiat.
Later rulings would describe the drone program using the Orwellian term “nonjusticiable,” i.e., simply not subject to review.
an entirely separate, secret set of rules giving them the right to kill, imprison, torture, or spy on anyone.
We flatter ourselves that Trump is an aberration. He isn't. He's a depraved, cowardly, above-the-law bully, just like the country we've allowed ourselves to become in the last fifteen years.
Osama bin Laden has to be laughing. He had to know all along that only Americans were capable of destroying America. But he couldn't have dreamed we'd do it so fast.
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https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/taibbi-the-legacy-of-the-iraq-war-w518193sidd