Politics & Power Quote by Andrew Greeley

“Criminal” and “sinful” is a double indictment, and it’s not accidental that it comes from a clergyman. Greeley is yoking the language of law to the language of conscience to argue that Iraq isn’t merely a strategic blunder but a moral offense that stains institutions, not just individuals. “Enters its third year” adds the slow-drip horror: by then, the shock has worn off, the justifications have curdled, and the ongoing nature of the violence becomes part of the charge. This isn’t about a single bad decision; it’s about the normalization of harm.

The second half pivots to diplomacy, but it’s written like a smirk. The president “goes to Europe to heal the wounds” frames transatlantic rupture as something almost clinical, as if a quick visit could stitch up a break caused by deception and unilateralism. Then Greeley snaps the frame shut: “on his own terms of course.” That clause is the subtext made explicit: reconciliation as public relations, contrition without accountability, unity offered only if others accept the original premises. It suggests a kind of imperial pastoral care - the arsonist arriving with a bandage, insisting he knows best.

Context matters. In the mid-2000s, Europe’s skepticism about the invasion had hardened into cultural and political estrangement, while American discourse was increasingly split between “support the troops” piety and growing unease about the war’s legitimacy. Greeley’s intent is to puncture the performance: to insist that repairing alliances without reckoning with the underlying “sin” is not healing; it’s management.