March 20, 2003. The United States launched an invasion of Iraq. Months or years later, many liberal Democrats, including influential political figures and prominent pundits, have -- after retrospective consideration -- found themselves explaining their mistake in supporting this disastrous war. I won't name names, though I'll note that the folks in this group have ample reason to be contrite.
It is sometimes said that many U.S. Senators look in the mirror every morning and see a future president. That conceit probably led a number of them to go along with the crowd regarding the invasion. They were playing it safe. They didn't want to be on the wrong side of history, especially since a decade earlier so many Democrats had opposed Operation Desert Storm, which was widely regarded as a triumph. Intellectuals and pundits, with no political ambitions, looked toward others whom they respected (in academia and think tanks, in the prestige media, in Congress, in the Bush administration, and even among foreign allies of the U.S.) and fell into line. And not incidentally, eighteen months after 9/11, there was still a rally-round-the-flag feeling.
September 11, 2001. Somehow 9/11, that tragic episode on his watch, lifted up George W. Bush in the eyes of many Americans -- imputing virtues and credibility to the man that, prior to 9/11, we had no reason to think he possessed. For many months afterward, it was as though folks had lost perspective and judgment. I remember what an outlier Paul Krugman's column was. His was a voice in the wilderness since he continued to criticize the president. I was hardly the only Democrat who was baffled by this state of affairs.
On February 15, 2003, I marched with my wife and our four-year-old son on Hollywood Boulevard -- along with some tens of thousands of others -- to protest the coming war. Millions of people, in 600 cities around the world, also marched in protest that day. It was abundantly clear by this time that there would be an invasion. We knew we were unlikely to change what Bush was determined to do, but we wanted to speak out. We wanted to demonstrate that we opposed this misguided affair.
We were skeptical of the arguments for the war. Some were clearly specious. Others were in doubt. Even amid many reports of evidence for WMDs, there were ample reports challenging this view. And, as the date of the invasion approached, there were many voices domestically and internationally opposing the invasion. I don't have the appetite to do a review now, but many thoughtful people -- including folks with military and foreign policy expertise -- opposed the launch of the war. These opponents included people who had planned and overseen Desert Storm.
The state of public opinion and the dominant views of the political elite in this country -- and especially folks who appear to share my values -- in the year and a half between 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq were disconcerting at the time and continue to perplex me to this day.
I have little doubt that Bush's war and the calamitous aftermath of that war are among the reasons that explain why so many Americans are disaffected; mistrustful of government, of other institutions, and of each other; and susceptible to conspiracy theories.