A national security reporter Calderone spoke to said the coverage of the lead-up to Iraq and now Iran was "terrifyingly similar" and that some in the media were "making the same mistakes we made a decade ago."
One big difference, of course, is that in this instance we don't have an administration beating the drums, or passing out drums for its surrogates in the media and political establishment to beat. As Calderone noted, the Obama administration continues to be "relatively cautious" in how it's handling tensions with Iran. In May, the president renewed the executive order of national emergency with Iraq for one more year, writing in his letter to Congress:
"Obstacles to the orderly reconstruction of Iraq, the restoration and maintenance of peace and security in the country, and the development of political, administrative, and economic institutions in Iraq continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States."
Many of those obstacles, of course, are of our own making. And every time we discuss Iran we should remember that. On the one hand, we demonize Iran; on the other, our invasion of Iraq has given Iran a big and increasingly important ally in the Middle East. And contrary to what many of the Iraq hawks -- newly rechristened as Iran hawks -- will tell you, much of this was foreseeable.
In legal proceedings, when a witness with a long history of being wrong takes the stand, a skilled cross-examiner will introduce those errors to cast doubt on whether that witness' judgment should be trusted now. We should do the same in the court of public opinion. Those who fomented war with Iraq must not be allowed to do it again with Iran without being held accountable.
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