Speaking on his radio show on Tuesday, conservative commentator Glenn Beck delivered a rare admission, saying that the latest disorder in Iraq is yet more proof that liberals who opposed the invasion in 2003 were right all along.
"[Liberals] said we couldn’t force freedom on people," Beck, who initially supported the Iraq War, reminded his listeners. "Let me lead with my mistakes. You were right. Liberals, you were right; we shouldn’t have."
Beck went on to note that "most people on the left" thought waging war on Iraq was a bad idea “[f]rom the beginning."
Along with praising liberals for their foresight, Beck also tried to explain his prior support for the war, describing it as stemming from his belief at the time that everyone wants to be free.
“In spite of the things I felt at the time when we went into war, liberals said, ‘We shouldn’t get involved, we shouldn’t nation-build and there was no indication the people of Iraq had the will to be free,’” Beck explained.
“I thought that was insulting at the time," he added. "Everybody wants to be free.”
But Beck says he's since reconsidered and has determined that the chaos that's riven Iraq for the past 10-plus years is proof that the left was correct. "You cannot force democracy on the Iraqis or anybody else," Beck claimed. "It doesn’t work. They don’t understand it or even really want it.”
Although many on the left might quibble with Beck's takeaway — that Iraq didn't become a liberal democracy because the Iraqi people "don't understand" or "even really want" freedom — they're likely pleasantly surprised to see Beck giving them credit.
Perhaps progressivism isn't quite as fatal as the former Fox News host used to think?
Shares