The Volokh Conspiracy - Revisiting 'Three Questions for the Pro-War Blogosphere':

Congress has sent the President its war spending bill, and as expected, President Bush has vetoed it. I think it's an interesting moment to revisit a post I put up almost three years ago, "Debating the Invasion of Iraq — Three Questions for the Pro-War Blogosphere." Here's the post, dated September 27, 2004:

  A year and a half have now passed since the invasion of Iraq. If you read the papers these days, the news coming from Iraq seems awfully depressing. The country is suffering about 70 hostile attacks a day, and 900 U.S. soldiers have died since the declared end of the hostilities — a rate of about 2 U.S. soldiers every day. Over 90% of Iraqis see the U.S. as an occupying force. Meanwhile, classified U.S. intelligence reports are pretty gloomy about what will happen in Iraq in the coming years. While U.S. public opinion on the war in Iraq seems evenly divided, right now the picture looks grim. I'm no expert in foreign policy, and wasn't sure whether the invasion was a good idea in the first place, but my sense is that attitudes towards the war in Iraq are becoming increasingly sour.

  So here's a little experiment in blogospheric dialogue. I would like members of the hawkish side of the blogosphere to post responses on their blogs to three questions I have about the situation in Iraq. In exchange, I'll post links to the answers on the Volokh Conspiracy. Here are my questions:

  First, assuming that you were in favor of the invasion of Iraq at the time of the invasion, do you believe today that the invasion of Iraq was a good idea? Why/why not?

  Second, what reaction do you have to the not-very-upbeat news coming of Iraq these days, such as the stories I link to above?

  Third, what specific criteria do you recommend that we should use over the coming months and years to measure whether the Iraq invasion has been a success?

  You can revisit the responses here and here, although unfortunately a number of the links no longer work.

  I'd be curious to hear from bloggers who responded back in 2004 — or more generally, from those who were hawkish in 2004, when that post appeared — about whether and how your views have changed in the last 3 years. Do you agree today with what you said in 2004? Has the war developed as you expected? How would answer these three questions today?

  UPDATE: It's also interesting to revisit the comments to the October 2006 post, "When Will U.S. Troops Leave Iraq?"

	[Orin Kerr, May 1, 2007 at 6:31pm] Trackbacks Revisiting 'Three Questions for the Pro-War Blogosphere': Congress has sent the President its war spending bill, and as expected, President Bush has vetoed it. I think it's an interesting moment to revisit a post I put up almost three years ago, "Debating the Invasion of Iraq — Three Questions for the Pro-War Blogosphere." Here's the post, dated September 27, 2004: A year and a half have now passed since the invasion of Iraq. If you read the papers these days, the news coming from Iraq seems awfully depressing. The country is suffering about 70 hostile attacks a day, and 900 U.S. soldiers have died since the declared end of the hostilities — a rate of about 2 U.S. soldiers every day. Over 90% of Iraqis see the U.S. as an occupying force. Meanwhile, classified U.S. intelligence reports are pretty gloomy about what will happen in Iraq in the coming years. While U.S. public opinion on the war in Iraq seems evenly divided, right now the picture looks grim. I'm no expert in foreign policy, and wasn't sure whether the invasion was a good idea in the first place, but my sense is that attitudes towards the war in Iraq are becoming increasingly sour. So here's a little experiment in blogospheric dialogue. I would like members of the hawkish side of the blogosphere to post responses on their blogs to three questions I have about the situation in Iraq. In exchange, I'll post links to the answers on the Volokh Conspiracy. Here are my questions: First, assuming that you were in favor of the invasion of Iraq at the time of the invasion, do you believe today that the invasion of Iraq was a good idea? Why/why not? Second, what reaction do you have to the not-very-upbeat news coming of Iraq these days, such as the stories I link to above? Third, what specific criteria do you recommend that we should use over the coming months and years to measure whether the Iraq invasion has been a success? You can revisit the responses here and here, although unfortunately a number of the links no longer work. I'd be curious to hear from bloggers who responded back in 2004 — or more generally, from those who were hawkish in 2004, when that post appeared — about whether and how your views have changed in the last 3 years. Do you agree today with what you said in 2004? Has the war developed as you expected? How would answer these three questions today? UPDATE: It's also interesting to revisit the comments to the October 2006 post, "When Will U.S. Troops Leave Iraq?"