Although his thoughts about the Iraq war did not become known to the public until after his death, it is gratifying to note the common-sense view of the late President Gerald Ford:
Opening up a Pandora’s box through occupying Iraq was a serious mistake.
Ford felt that we should not routinely go around the world freeing people unless our national security is at stake.
What do you know?
That sounds a lot like what George W. Bush told us during his 2000 campaign for election, that he would not engage in nation-building.
It is telling that the former president expressed his opinion not long after we entered Iraq and well before our mission had fully soured and developed into the stalemate that exists today.
It would be encouraging to think that the Bush administration would be impacted by the views of a widely respected former president and might now carefully consider an exit strategy.
But it would be naive to think that this will occur or even to conclude that Ford’s posthumous remarks will cause the administration embarrassment.
The Bush bunch is not easily embarrassed.
It does not respect the views of those who are living let alone those who have departed our world.
