"President Bush warned Saddam Hussein today that if he did not admit United
Nations inspectors to determine if Iraq is developing nuclear, chemical or
biological weapons, he would face consequences."....
''It's going to happen,'' the president said. ''I said this early on, as the
campaign began: America must be prepared for loss of life. I believe the
American people understand that we've got a mighty struggle on our hands and
that there will be sacrifice.'' Mr. Bush added that ''as for Mr. Hussein, he needs to let inspectors back in his country, to show us that he is not developing weapons of mass destruction.'' (emphasis mine)
The first quote shows that anyone with half a brain could see what was going to happen. Hussein was going to be taken out. I mean, people had "NO WAR IN IRAQ" bumper stickers way before the war actually started. What followed, Colin Powell's presentation at the UN, intelligence findings of Iraq's WMD, etc was just window dressing to make the Axis of Weasels feel better. We were going to FIND OUT IF Hussein had WMD and we would use force to do it and at the same time depose this murderous thug. Regardless of whether one supported invasion or not, there was little doubt about Bush's intentions here. If he could have done it politically he would have started mobilizing troops for invasion in October of 2001. My reaction was "Great! We should've finished him off in 1991 and if he is ANY kind of a threat to the US or its allies he needs to go." Fortunately, he didn't appear to have any WMD (there have been traces of WMD but apparently no stockpiles or major production). Does the absence of WMD imply that Bush lied us into war? Hardly. As the above quotes make clear our main aim in going to war was to make sure he didn't have them and get rid of him at the same time. Whatever was said by the administration implying that there probably were WMD (and remember the previous administration and many others believed Hussein had WMD) was to mollify the candyass congressmen who's votes were needed to authorize action. Everything that was said was irrelevant---we would find out the truth once we got to Baghdad. Of course, the invasion may never have happened without 9/11. That attack created a need to take action on many fronts in the Muslim world. We needed to show that our previous restraint was gone and we would act on many fronts to prevent attacks.
So...now Iraq has a democratic government (not perfect by any means, but as my liberal friends love to point out--neither are we!), attacks are winding down as more Al Qaeda in Iraq guys get killed, and life is getting back to normal. It occurs to many that any government created with the backing and prodding of the United States will never have much legitimacy. Among Iraqis I think the government has already gained credibility and over time as they realize that democracy is rule by the people of Iraq the government will lose the taint of being the creation of the United States. I am sure there will always be militants who will never accept the Iraqi government but they will dwindle away to negligible numbers as the benefits of democracy accrue to the Iraqi people. Arab countries may not grant much credibility to the government but they will have little choice about dealing with it. Iraq is an enormously important country in the Arab world---with its oil, holy sites and caliphs. Baghdad is the ancient home of the Muslim caliphate, after all. I expect Arab countries to start opening embassies en masse within 12 months.
If Iraq continues to stabilize to a reasonable level of peace we can all look back with amusement at the incredible amount of vitriol and rage emanating from the left. George W Bush and the United States military will have done more for the cause of peace all around the world than all of the Nobel Peace laureates of the last 40 years combined. Iraq will be a stable, democratic Arab country in the heart of the Middle East!
No comments:
Post a Comment