Bush's reasons for the war with Iraq
Parts are reposted from a discussion on the forum at diplomats.galciv.org
It has been a year and a half now since the USA went to war in Iraq. After all this time, I still hear people using the same tired argument: “Bush lied! There were no WMDs! It was all for oil!” Most people that use this argument talk about it like they are just going to pull the Bush family yacht up to port and fire up the pumps. Fill 'er up! Cha Ching! Another family fortune assured! Give me a break.
Now, before I go on, let me just say that before this started, I was opposed to war in Iraq. It wasn’t that I thought that it was morally wrong, or that we didn’t have good enough reasons. I felt that the US had plenty other things to do with the war on terror, and that there were more serious threats than Saddam at that time.
With that out of the way, let’s review the President’s stated reasons for the war in Iraq and see if they hold up in hindsight.
1) The Iraqi government had associations with terrorists - I think this was a rather weak reason, as there were far more belligerent choices - Syria being the first that comes to mind for me. However, even if he wasn't plotting the next big thing with OBL, he was doing things like providing funds to the more violent factions in Palestine, and harboring wanted terrorists. We also found that terrorist training camp in northern Iraq.
2) Iraq continually ignored UN Resolutions - Saddam had ignored numerous UN resolutions and only begrudgingly let the inspectors back in under imminent threat of war. There were others of which he was found "in material breach" (if you remember when that term was being thrown around).
3) Iraq failed to live up to the cease fire agreements from the end of the first Gulf War – Iraq provoked US forces by firing on US plains patrolling the No-Fly areas, and had on several occasions set up radar and weapon installations that were banned by the terms of the cease fire.
4) Iraq was building weapons of mass destruction - Well, we didn't find any. Does that mean we are sure they were never there? Could they have been moved to Syria in the days before we went in? We did find that he had the plans in place to rebuild his weapons programs if the sanctions were ever lifted. And he was lobbying the French and Germans to get those sanctions lifted in the UN. Also, let's not forget that he HAD used them in the past - both against Iran and against his own people.
5) Iraq was oppressing it’s own people, and the US planned to liberate them. – OK, maybe this was simply a nice side effect from going to war. There are plenty of places that this argument could be made, and we don’t and can’t free everybody, nor should we. That point aside, you can't argue this one. They found the mass graves of the thousands of people that Saddam had slaughtered. You know, it's funny how nobody asks the Kurds if they are unhappy we went to Iraq. Remember how after Gulf War I the Kurds were trying to run to Turkey to escape Saddam? Remember how they were pleading to the helicopters for the US to come help them? No? I do. And please don’t even try to bring up Abu Ghurayb. Yes, it was an outrage that Americans did that. Yes, I hope we get to the bottom of it and those responsible are punished. Yes, it gave the US a black eye that will take years to live down. But what we did there was kindergarten compared to what Saddam did to his prisoners.
6) Iraq was a destabilizing force in the region - Bush wanted to replace the Iraqi government with a democracy that would serve as a force to stabilize the region. I don't know if we can pull this one off, but you can't argue that Saddam wasn't a bad influence on the region. He attacked Iran. He attacked Kuwait. He would have attacked Saudi Arabia if the US didn't maintain a force there (a force that by being required to be in Saudi Arabia further destabilized the region - OBL's biggest complaint against the US). It’s a big gamble, but if we can get a stable democracy in place there, life gets better for everyone in the middle east.
So next time you want to bash Americans as “greedy warmongers”, please remember to hear the whole argument before chanting “No blood for oil”. That’s not the whole story, and our support for the war and reelection of our president isn’t just because we were brainwashed by the church.