Scott McPherson of the Future of Freedom Foundation on A Stupid War:
President Bush and his allies claimed emphatically during the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq that Saddam Hussein was an evil madman in possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), requiring an immediate preemptive invasion to topple his dictatorial regime and avert a nuclear, biological, or chemical (NBC) attack on the American people. An invasion of Iraq, we were told, would make us safer.
Far from providing meaningful conclusions on Iraq’s actual intentions towards the United States, however, this war’s swift conclusion simply raises more questions.
For instance, if Iraq did in fact have WMDs, why were they never used on the battlefield? Certainly, if we’re to believe that Saddam Hussein was so unstable that given half a chance he would fire a chemical warhead at the United States — knowing he would be devastated by the inevitable counterstrike — then surely we could at least have expected a comparable attack on U.S. and allied forces who were trying to destroy him. This point by itself raises serious doubts about U.S. claims of the Iraqi “threat.”
Indeed it do.
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This entry also posted at Stand Down.
I’m starting to believe that Saddam made a deal with the U.S. before the ‘war’ even started. Thus he is actually an accomplice in the U.S. takeover of Iraq.
Today Bush is putting out the line that Saddam was probably killed on the first day of the war. Getting people to believe that will be useful if Saddam is never found.
Posted by eric on April 25, 2003 04:26 PM
In 1990, the Gulf War (Middle) was so incredibly convenient for Bush Sr I could hardly shake the belief that Saddam must have been acting under orders or had a deal. A very good friend from Iran (who had over decade’s worth of reasons for despising Saddam at that point, and at least as long a list of reasons for despising the US government) pointed out to me, what could he gain from such a deal? He was clearly doomed, we had to agree. Bush was promising the Iraqi people liberation if only they rose against him…
So surprise surprise, there he still was afterward. And now he has, um, disappeared, you say?
I think that a disappeared Saddam Hussein is much more useful to Bushes of any generation than a dead one. For all eternity now, the possibility that the dread Hussein is lurking, listening in on disloyal talk, setting up his sinister cabals with that, whatshisname, you know, his good buddy the terrorist guy…this kind of controllable threat is what an administration like Bush’s likes to have handy.
I imagine he’s enjoying a well-paid retirement somewhere safe and pleasant, paid for by our tax dollars. The same dollars the US veterans of the attack on his despicable regime aren’t going to see spent on their health, comfort, or security. They also serve who only stand and wait…
Posted by Marcus Friday on April 29, 2003 01:46 AM