Word: hindsight
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...does not have to fantasize enemies; he has inherited and made enough to last several lifetimes. His invasion of Iran in 1980 is often cited as a headstrong blunder. True, Saddam could not have foreseen the initial defeats and the debilitating eight- year war that would follow. But hindsight suggests that he would probably have provoked Iran into battle even if he had known all the consequences at the outset. From his point of view, the alternative was worse: the militant Islamic fundamentalism, fanned by the Ayatullah Khomeini, would arouse Iraq's Shi'ite Muslims, some 55% of the population...
...think you will find that my memos to the President about that time -- 1966 -- said, "There is no good choice open to us." With hindsight, I think some of us misjudged Chinese objectives with respect to the extension of Chinese power. We thought there was considerable evidence China intended to extend its hegemony across Southeast Asia and perhaps beyond, but I'm not at all sure now that was their intent...
...Hubble cannot focus on distant stars nearly as sharply as had been expected. Its performance was compromised by mistakes that were easily avoidable. That is clear even without the benefit of optically perfect hindsight...
Baker said he agreed with a Washington Post columnist who had called such questions "retrospective scapegoating" and "shameful." He added, "We've got some 20/20 hindsight going on that's been highly critical, frankly, of some very fine career public servants," meaning Ambassador April Glaspie and John Kelly, the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian affairs. The criticism, replied Apple, was not aimed at the diplomats. "They're trying to criticize...
...hindsight, few were surprised by Thompson's victory. Relying on a distinguished record in the State House, Graham ran a lackadaisical campaign effort, and many of her constituents acknowledged that she deserved to lose...