What was the Iraq war about?
1. It was about WMDs.
No. Turns out there weren’t any. And we were sold a bill of goods over it. And David Kay, the head WMD-finder who George and Condie and Dick all said would be their savior, is about to quit without issuing a final report.
2. It was about Iraq and al Qaeda.
Nope. Colin Powell, after bringing a vial of sand to the U.N. to represent Iraq’s anthrax (see #1), now says there’s no credible connection. The Secretary of State said that. Thanks for all your help, Colin.
Also, papers now show that Saddam himself warned his followers to stay away from Islamic jihadists who may come into the country after the American invasion. Further proof that Saddam wanted nothing to do with Osama and his followers.
3. After 9/11, everything changed.
No again. Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill said this week that the plans to go into Iraq began in early 2001. In addition to being present at cabinet meetings, O’Neill was also on the National Security Council.
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If we went to Iraq to establish a large base of military operations and American influence in the region, or simply to deliver a general smackdown to the Arab world – and I believe those were actually the two main reasons for this war – maybe we should have considered those ideas beforehand, and not the previous three smokescreens that even the Bush inner circle can’t sustain any more.
(Thanks to Democratic Underground’s “Top 10 Conservative Idiots,” from which I poached many of the links in this post.)
UPDATE: The Army War College says Bush’s war was a “strategic error” that distracted from actually fighting terrorism. Those damn leftists strike again.