I have to agree, this war was VERY predictable. I would have supported this war from the beginning if President Bush had said that it was to get rid of Saddam and his butchers, the Sunni Party. But as soon as Bush started saying it was because Saddam had WMD's, I was like "WHOA! Hold on here! If he had them, he would have used them before now against us!"

Chris: Sure this war was predictable. And except for the few short weeks it took our military to drive to Bagdad this has not been a war but a policing action. Why have we continued to call it a war? It was predictable because of the nature of the culture and and varying fanatical religious convictions of the people in this area. It was predictable because to win any kind of peace after a war it lacked the number of troops to sustain any kind of occupation. And does not a victorious army have to occupy the territory of a defeated enemy for a period of time until the dust settles? It was predictable because our first priority and enemy number 1 as a result of 911 (Bin Laden) was not hiding in Iraq. And it was predictable because common sense told us we had no business going over there in the first place. If the United States wants to be a big brother to the world why not start with those areas in Africa where hundreds of thousands of poor innocent people are slaughtered by thugs every day. And if we don't want to play big brother to the world then we need to stay home unless a real and "proven" "immediate" impending threat exist from another part of the world.

Humble of you to say so. And so timely, too!

Thanks Chris, Who would have guessed that torture and the use of chemical weapons against women and children would be so unpopular?

Germany and France predicted it pretty well. Who ordered the Freedom Fries?

Now you bring this up? You quickly dropped or hid that point of view from your TV audience because only up to recently you have been a great cheerleader for this administration. Yes, all these things were predictable, so why haven't you had on any guests, like Professor Cole, who shared this viewpoint, in FOUR years of your show? Not one, just constant cheerleaders and harpies spouting ridiculous support for the President and the War. Now, like a German Post WWII, you say you predicted the problems, then turned your back on them for four years and now that they are in the light you want to be on the good side again. Nope, don't think so. You and Russert have ZERO credibility with the public. Ultimate insider you are, don't forget to wipe a GOP *** when you kiss it at your next dinner party THAT YOU SHOULD NOT BE AT.

Yes, it was predictable. But at the time, both people and politicians remained emotionally overwhelmed 9/11, and sought action as surcease from horrible sorrow. There was more to the 'war vote' story than the spineless political machinations of Democrats scared to be seen as wimpy peaceniks. More than anything at that time, we needed psychological leadership to help us through our rage and sorrow.  None of the politicians who voted knew how to talk direct to the American people about war as a response to grief;  many likely did not even understand it, themselves.  They were pressured by their own psychic states, as well as by those of their constituents, to take action. The nation was awash in a Perfect Storm For War before 9/11 even happened: we had a Republican administration and Congress which generally favor military-war spending to justify cutting entitlements and to strengthen defense and oil industries;  we had the neocon kabal salivating through the Clinton years for a new crack at US hegemony in the middle east on Israel's behalf;  we had a President easily persuaded by this kabal to finish what his father started;  and we had a Rovian ginned upsurge of conservative values which framed aggression as strength and thoughtfulness as weakness. Throw into this stew the catastrophe of 9/11, and well, the dye was cast. Catastrophes are psychic levelers which catapult humanity into regressed states of quivering, helpless shock.  It's like everyone gets emotionally thrust together by force back into shades of infant terror and bewilderment.  Not to be corny about it, but in this collective state of mind, from a psychological standpoint, 'WE' truly are 'ONE', on an almost cellular level, as seen in the universal global support for the U.S. in the immediate aftermath of 9/11:  people across the planet identified in a primitive way with our state of mind, regardless of the particulars of the incident.  The world regressed along with us. The way recovery from trauma works is that we inch our way back to normal, adult modes of being across time, back through the same stages we evolved through from infancy into childhood and on into adulthood.  But it's condensed in time, and varies by person, depending on pre-trauma personality.  On the continuum of human development, reaction precedes thought.  As infants, we thrash before we learn to ponder options.  Later we grow able to delay gratification or immediate response to discomfort and intense emotion.  Further on, we learn to consider alternatives and plan our actions. But during initial throes of catastrophic agony, the most common response is an impulse to act so we can feel back in control.  Much of the country and Congress got stuck here emotionally for a long time, and was thus vulnerable, in context of the other Perfect War Storm ingredients, to being seduced into war. Across the months after 9/11, I remember watching the faces of politicians as they navigated back to their 'normal' adult states, juggling their own emotions with their political stands.  Many seemed lost and unsure of themselves in subtle ways, almost like they were batting cobwebs away while trying to figure out just what they thought about this or that--not much different from the rest of the country, where smart folk who'd ordinarily not even consider being pro-war found themselves supporting the Iraq invasion for reasons they later could never quite understand.  I believe to this day that that Congress' war vote was almost as affected by psychological residue from the 9/11 catastrophe as it was by political machinations.

Amazing Four years of shows and not once did you mention this position. In fact, from watching your shows over the last four years one would think you were a war cheerleader instead of a critic. Wring your hands now all you want, your credibility rested on the GOP and now its gone.

To bad you weren't on the staff

You must be kidding. You and all the rest of the media was hell bent for war. There were people who predicted this outcome from the beginning. Although he went along eventually, Colin Powell was aggressively suggesting that we should be planning for the aftermath. Hans Blix said his team needed a few more weeks to determine if WMDs existed, but that he hadn't found any so far. Juan Cole of University of Michigan was all over the TV and radio warning about the ill-advised policy. Our leaders and you in the media need to start evaluating the facts and strop trying to spin everything. Throw away the talking points memos and do some real analysis. I'm no pro, but I smelled a rat the day Powell testified before the UN. We should never have gone to war on such flimsy testimony, and many people knew it in advance. And while you are at it, how about putting more people on your show who were right at the beginning, like Juan Cole. Quit giving us William Kristol et. al. who have been wrong, wrong, wrong, since the beginning. Maybe the American public might learn something about the rest of the world and our place in it.

Many of us predicted this bloody mess and warned everyone who would listen over and over about how bad it WOULD get. Most of the time we were told to "shut up," and call traitors, if not out and out Saddam lovers and card carrying members of the Baath Party. Conservative jokes abounded about about France and Canada. So, who's laughing now? Al Queda and the swelling masses of the madrassas that pump out anti-American hate.

You makes some very valid points, Mr. Matthews. What's even more amazing than the almost obvious predictability of the current state of affairs in Iraq, is how the same pundits and politicos that told us Iraq would be a cake walk are the same people telling us that success is just around the corner. How many bloody corners do we have to turn before we stop listening to them? The same people who are predicting chaos if we leave Iraq are the same people who said we would be greeted flowers and kisses. They were wrong then, and they are wrong now.

My greatest fear, as it applies to this issue, isn't terrorism. My greatest fear isn't whether the many crack-pot conspirist theories about George Bush or even Dick Chaney are true or that there are so many crack-pot conspirists running around. My greatest fear is that we allowed fear to creep into our moral, social and political consciousness; that it so dominated our frontal lobes to leave us entirely void of all standards related to who and what we were supposed to be. The American ideal (not Idol, ty very much ;) was pushed so far to the background that we never asked whether we should, only that we could (note butchered and not-so-subtle reference to Mr. Goldbloom's famous quote in Jurassic Park). And, as long as there were sufficient scared and wimp-label-phobia driven politicians to never bother to question the absurdity of this notion, well...why not? Is it going too far to suppose they seemed to have so short-sightedly weighed the political pros and cons as to have entirely missed the point; that life-or-death moral dilemma they were about to plunge the entire country into? But what's a moral dilemma or two when there's a re-election to win? Your friend in feedback, Freddie P.S. There's a hole in the sand somewhere with my name on it. And, I'm sorry to say, there are times it wishes for my return.

Right on Chris! I would add more but what is there to add? The predictable stuff that a person would have thought happened....happened. But then your predictions are factoring in the Bush Arrogance, Greed, and Insulated life that Georgie Boy exists in. Whats even scarier then how easy it was to forsee this mess, is the fact that Georgie Boy and many of his sheep followers still buy into this nonsense that the war is worth it and...."winnable"...yet from day 1 noone has ever define what winning is????? and the beat goes on...and the beat goes on....

We "nobodies" didn't have the resources to accurately estimate the results of the invasion. We were sold a story of WMDs in the hands of a madman, which we understood could be made available to terrorists. Some of the people selling this version of the truth had credibility (i.e. Colin Powell). I think we can be forgiven for buying in. Now we are asked to support this war that is being run by the same people who duped us over and over again about the justification of the war and have told us over and over how well it was going? They tell us that the negative consequences of pulling out will outweigh the benefits. They may or may not be right, but how can they suggest with straight faces that we trust them?

Chris, You may be understating the case for the predictability of fiasco in Iraq. Didn’t Bush-41 National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft predict civil war (and other horrible consequences) in an Op-Ed piece in the Wall Street Journal before the invasion? Mike Binkley Chair, Libertarian Party of LA County

Yes, Chris it was. But I remember you saying you were 60/40 on invading Iraq before the action started. The scenario we are in will always occur when your rationale for going to war is not self preservation. Didn't we learn anything from failed imperialist ventures in history? The Spainish, English and Dutch all waned in world dominance when nation building/colonization out distanced wealth and resources.

You are so correct, it was predictable. I predicted it and I am just an ordinary person without any particular expertise in Middle Eastern affairs. We were intruding into a totally different culture based on tribalism. The idea that the Iraq people would welcome democracy when they had never experienced anything remotely like democracy in their society was a unrealistic expectation. The Bush administration is populated with delusional thinkers, in my opinion.

And so perhaps it´s time for America today to prevent the similarly "predictable" event and outcome of an unneccessary war of choice against Iran. Otherwise that will be the source of news that everyone will be tired of hearing *besides* Iraq in come 2011.

It was all very predictable and quite a few of us, especially within the active and former military community called it so, well before the invasion was initiated. For our troubles we were quickly labeled as defeatists and traitors by our fellow Republicans and "conservatives". Four years later, we are still stuck neck-deep in the original quagmire that we created. To add insult to injury we are not only losing Iraq, but also on the verge of losing Afghanistan as well. Remember that war? The one place that was legitimately full of the terrorists that were actually responsible for 9/11? We left our SpecOps guys over there high and dry when we re-allocated most of their valuable and much needed assets to Iraq. In only four years we have managed to squander away every last shred of dignity, honour and respect that our forefathers earned through blood, sweat and tears from the last hundred years of our nation's history. Through fear and moral cowardice we have allowed ourselves to become that which we despise most in our enemies. We have lowered ourselves to the same level as the terrorists whom we have fought so hard against. We have traded nearly ever little piece of liberty so coveted by the fore-fathers of this Constitutional democracy for the tiniest morsel of security, no-matter how false or illusory. We have become a nation of cowards and moral hypocrites. By our own power we have done to ourselves what no terrorist could have ever even imagined to accomplish against us. As a former serviceman who has served his country, his countrymen and Constitution honourably, it greatly saddens and shames me to look at how low our great nation has fallen. Let us all give hope that this is merely the temporary stumblings of a young nation still maturing into adulthood. "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin

So why weas the media not denouncing this war of choice instead of cheerleading for the war. I was in the Army during the first gulf war and was told the reason we didn't move on Bagdad was exactly the reasons we are bogged down there now. How could we have grown so ignorant of this so soon.

Nice try Chris. But when you pander to the politicians all year you can not expect any of us 'politically educated' people to get excited about a few words about this and that. Start taking these guys and gals (I suppose) to task when they just ramble endlessly about none specifics (in their replies to your questions) and then MAYBE someone may take you seriously when you bring up commentary from the past.

I agree this was predictable... I predicted it. It was easy, and required nothing more than basic information and an open mind. Think about the known facts about Iraq; 26 million people. Tribal culture. Warring sectarian factions. Porous borders. Densly populated urban cities. Information any American could have (and should have) learned. I'm still baffled at how the Bush administration and 75 percent of America could know these facts and yet somehow believe that we could achieve a functioning Democracy and U.S ally in the Mideast in just a couple of years, and at little cost in lives or treasure (remember the "Iraq will pay for the reconstruction" rhetoric? We'll be greeted as liberators?) What is happening now is no anomaly. It was always the most probable course. Our only hope of stopping it was to acknowledge the probable and plan for it. But selling the war became the primary goal. Now the only options we have are bad ones.

Chris Mathews and other "talking heads" should answer the following question in advance of any terrorist blowing up themselves in front of your wife, kids and neighbors: "Should we stop terrorism off-shore on wait until they come to my neighborhood?"

I just finished listening to your interview with Andy Card. Why did you let him go on the 'Mission Accomplished' nonsense he was talking about. You did no real follow-up. We need you as a journalist to unmask the lies of this administration. Please Chris, be a hardballer.

But of course, all the people who tried to point these things out were marginalized and made fun of, including yourself. It's nice that some folks have come to regret there rush to war, but few of them have made any apologies for how they questioned the patriotism and intelligence of those who had enough basic sense to see this coming before we even hit the ground in Iraq.

Any one with any knowledge of history and sociology could’ve predicted this outcome. Our policy makers obviously are ignorant of the weak equilibrium in the region. By Taking out Saddam loyalist, a vacuum would be created in Iraq. Who was going to fill that vacuum? The answer was predictable, Iran loyalist of course; at least in southern and western Iraq. What about the rest? well, without enough policing the looting should’ve been expected, anyone could’ve come across the borders to create more problems like Syria or Al-Qaeda … Unfortunately it was Al-Qaeda. The ethnic killings and militia was just a Method introduced by al Zarqawi in order to create more chaos. That part could‘ve been predicted by going back and see how Saddam forced several groups into living together under his iron fist. In General every time a superpower alters the balance of power there is chaos as a consequence. -All predictable-

Any one with any knowledge of history and sociology could’ve predicted this outcome. Our policy makers obviously are ignorant of the weak equilibrium in the region. By Taking out Saddam loyalist, a vacuum would be created in Iraq. Who was going to fill that vacuum? The answer was predictable, Iran loyalists of course; at least in southern and western Iraq. What about the rest? well, without enough policing the looting should’ve been expected, anyone could’ve come across the borders to create more problems like Syria or Al-Qaeda … Unfortunately it was Al-Qaeda. The ethnic killings and militia was just a Method introduced by al Zarqawi in order to create more chaos. That part could‘ve been predicted by going back and see how Saddam forced several groups into living together under his iron fist. In General every time a superpower alters the balance of power there is chaos as a consequence. -All predictable-

There is one main reason we cannot progress in IRAQ and I am amazed no one else has thought of it. We cannot win as long as the idiot President goes on world wide TV and tells the enemy exactaly what we are going to do. We have forgotten the necessity of secrecy

Unfortunately, leaving a rouge like Sadam in power, despite the more noble reasonings for going-in, represented an unacceptable danger to the stability of world oil supplies, a situation that would have had to be dealt with eventually (regardless of the White House occupant). The military action primarily addressed the question of saftey and stability of oil markets (and world economics). Removing a tyrant from power also generated additional benefits besides oil reserve protection, and these were mostly positive (take Saddm's practice of wholesale mass murder, for example, a danger now removed. The hypocritical Europeans (in particular) would be the very first to suffer economic colllapse in the event of an attack (by Iraq) on say, Saudi Arabia, and loss of even good fraction of energy supplies. And the bastards know this, all while our kids fight and die, for not only our own, but THEIR economic stability and saftey. Sometimes I think were fighting the wrong country (s). Tony Petres Rapid City SD USA

OF COURSE IT WAS ALL PREDICTABLE. I saw it. My friends saw it. My husband saw it. Why couldn't our government see it all coming? Jeri

Shame on you Chris. I watched you and read what you wrote during the run-up to war. Like most of your colleagues in the media you never gave voice to those who forcefully argued against the rationale for war (check the transcripts of your show - think you could ever invite those not buried deep inside Washington?) and you treated war as if it was a game. I think not only about the brave men and woman we have lost but the countless Iraqi children who have lost their family and the Iraqi parents who have lost children. Our actions have created a nation of ravaged people. The joke of fighting 'them' there is that we are creating a country populated by those living the horrors of war. We are creating 'them' there. I beg of you Chris please, please, please don't lose your backbone again. Don't shirk your responsibility of standing up to power. It's not a horse race. And it's not just politics. It's life. And your job is to give voice to those who can't.

The actual number of Iraqis killed has been estimated at over 600,000. And even that's conservative. It's probably closer to a million. Anyone want to volunteer to go over and explain to those weeping people on TV every night how much better off they are without Saddam? It's a country with a history steeped in blood. What did you think was going to happen? And what if it turns out that it takes a brutal, paranoid leadership to keep that wild-eyed bunch in line? Then we'll have wasted years, lives and billions to get back to where we started. Brilliant.

Yes Chris Matthews you hit the right notes there, I also thought that it would be a mess, really a quagmire in Iraq, but our supposed leaders only thought about oil and getting rid of Saddam and not the consequences of their actions. Thus I think bush, cheney et al should be held responsible for this war and the follow up mess we are in.

My thoughts, exactly. That echoed a conversation I had with a colleague, after the first utterance of 'Iraq'. We knew what was coming and just watched. I haven't been surprised, yet. Biggest surprise is that W actually won again in '04.

There are MANY of us whom could not predict what would happen upon the invasion of Iraq, we just knew it was WRONG!!! That's what all those protests around the world (BEFORE the invasion) were about! It was obviouse to many that Iraq was not connected to 9/11, and that WMD's were just an excuse. Now we stand in awe of the continued deceit, carnage, expense, and unbelievable suffering of the Iraqi citizens, as well as are brave American soldiers. Let's hope our next president has a PHD in HISTORY, or at least his cronies do.

This Chris Matthews piece is dead on. Going into Iraq, though it was ruled by a brutal dictator, when Iraq had nothing to do with the horror of September 11th, 2001, was like putting sign up sheets for US hating terrorists all over the world. In that respect it has succeeded beyond all expectations. As the button on the lapel of the Alfred E. Newman looking Bush caricatured on the handbill handed out at the Embarcadaro to Civic Plaza parade in SF on 1-20-01 says, "WORRY". How precient that was. Tony Gilliam

Chris, Your interview with Duncan Hunter. Here is a guy who was in Iraq 1 1/2 years ago. He comes on your program as some kind of expert. What is the source of his info? All he gives us is a lot of hearsay and bull shit.

But Chris, come on now. Don't try and play the martyr here. I watched the shows you had on hardball, leading up to the 2004 election. You were very slanted toward Bush and against Kerry. Most of your moderators were Republican in their leanings, Andrea Mitchell, Pat Buchanan, et al. Poor Ron Reagan must have thought he was walking into the Lions Den, when appearing on Hardball. Those of us not fooled by Bush and his cadre in '00 or '04 knew this guy was a loser. Thinking and well read peeps knew, he was incompetent and Hitleresk in surrounding himself with ideologues and Neo Cons, who were prostitutes for their pimps, (Corp. America.) Are we geniuses? Nope! We're just people that read, listen and follow our instincts. But at least you wised up now. That's better than nothing. Well, perhaps the parents and families of the 3,200 dead and 23,000 wounded Americans, will disagree. My hope is that next time, voters will be more circumspect. Let's prove Churchill wrong when he said: "the best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter."

While I'm glad you're one of the good guys now, Chris, I have to remind you that there were too many days during that invasion when you got irritated at those of us who started protesting the war publicly and criticizing Bush and the whole morality and mindset behind the "war on terror". We were soooo right and all of you who were afraid of the the Bush mafia--the press and the Democrats and Republicans in Congress, were soooo wrong. You won't make that mistake again, will you?

Well...you and the media pundits supported this war. Now, you are saying "I told you so"??? I havent liked you Mr. Matthews since the 200 election fiasco. You thought that it was admirable for Al Gore to step aside and let Bush to take the reins. As a matter of fact, you got choked up and said that Gore was doing it for "the good of our great nation". Do you still feel that way?

Wow, the only people who had good thoughts on this war must've been exercising their denial skills pretty heavily. Everybody where I live knew the war was a scam, was invalid. Everybody who didn't have their head in the sand knew this war was foul, fueled by arrogant pride, rage, greed, and lies. The issue wasn't even doubted, it was well known that the US is completely dihonest but will do what they do no matter what. It's pathetic that now its citizens will still play the fool, acting like it was somebody else's bad decision and not their own, pretending that there was even room for anyone to not have known the full truth of these issues ahead of time. P.S. who cares how many US citizens have been killed, look at the number of innocent Iraqis. The US death toll should be nothing more than a mere footnote in smallprint, humbled by the deaths that matter much more -those of the innocent and undeserving Iraqis.

This Administration did a textbook perfect job of silencing critics. Hit the talk shows, with words like "unpatriotic", and "helping terrorists." The media, ever senstive to criticism, muted its remarks. Job protection. In fairness, most didn't want to know; it was that well sold. Finally Howard Dean, with nothing to lose because no one knew who he was, began speaking and all those suffering in silent rage, jumped on board. We were all scared, stunned and shocked after 9-11, and the Bush team took advantage of it. There is a brilliant political cartoon in the paper today, the justice lady is on the ground, her sword beside her. A gun marked politics blew her away. The caption: "Don't bring a knife to a gunfight." That sums up the Bush Administration. They didn't bother to gather support for the war, they just brought the ammo.

Same things are true about Afghanistan. History shows exactly the course that little war will take, while we all act surprised at each traditional turn; at the standard ebb and flow (and occasional outright disappearance) of the resistance there that each new invader thinks spells victory just around the corner. They've been fighting that way -- "mysterious" disappearances included -- for thousands of years, and it always works out the same way. They live there. We don't, we don't want to, and we never will. You can't tame water by hitting it with a rock, folks ...

Yes, you are so right. I was in Vietnam, where I saw a little action, so I know some about war. And, anyone reading some history of the area would know that it was going to be a mess. But, what I really hate about the whole matter is the lies the administration told. And, the cost in lives and $.

I truly feel that you were (are) part of the problem Mr. Mathews. You lent your credibility to people such as Dick Cheney and Tom Delay and didn't ask them the tough questions up front. It was easy for most citizens to see that this was poor policy upfront and in execution yet your fawning over Dick Cheney throughout the last election helped them maintain credibility.

Chris, I am so with you. I remember the evening four years ago. I had friends over for dinner. Two couples, all well traveled, college educated, smart people, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. Me, my boyfriend - he is naturalized American, originally from Egypt and Muslim - and our friends watched in horror the bombing and then we all stated what a big mistake this is and that this will end up in chaos, big loss for the US and will isolate us in the world. You don't need to have intelligence briefings to know that you cannot invade a Muslim (or other) country and expect to be greeted with candy and flowers. Barack Obama knew that, you knew ... I am from Germany, immigrated here 12 years ago and I LOVE this country. I'll be a citizen very soon and have a hard time making my friends and family in Europe understand why I still want to become an American. Everybody with a bit of an education or interest in history and politics knows that you cannot occupy a country like Iraq without paying dearly ....with the blood of our young men and women, with the blood of more than 100.000 dead Iraqis and with the loss of America's moral standing in this world.

If Chris Matthews said just one thing in support of our troops and their mission in Iraq, hell would freeze over. The man is a neo-lib, seditious skunk. Just another one of the Islamo Fascist's Useful Idiots in the MSM. Pathetic.

Of course it was predictable. Our own Pentagon had came to the same conclusions in their own studies of an invasion of Iraq. This, as well as every other warning by experts around the world was ignored. I for one cannot believe that George Bush is still president and has not been impeached. We are all sheep and I suppose we deserve this administration. Im so tired of people saying the evidence was misleading. No it wasnt. The evidence was faked. This administration did it for whatever sick reason that only they must know. The majority of them are cowards, who when asked to serve would not, and now ask us to give our lives for thier lies. I am a 20 year soldier and I am ashamed of our government, and of our people, for continuing to be sheep while me and my fellow soldiers put our lives on the line. If anyone truly supported the soldiers they would march on the white house and never leave until its current occupants have been evicted! I WILL NOT BE A SHEEP! (But, I cant give my name or be prosecuted)

Yep! It was clear to see where this catastrophy was going when 43 got on the air and spouted out his infamous "Get out of Iraq in 48 hours" threat to Hussein and his sons. [Unprecedented lawlessness and cowardice for an American President.] The needless carnage and murderous attack on innocent human beings (shock and awe ??) actually shocked and awed the rest of the civilized world, most notably. 43 still talks of 'winning' in Iraq. That really means setting up a puppet regime that can enforce edicts from Washington. The obvious problem is that all of the warring factions in that civil war hate us more than they do each other. Sort of like Saigon. When Charlie rolled in, friends were hard to find.

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