Case for war in Iraq a sham from every angle

[complain jane]

Case for war in Iraq a sham from every angle

With re-election safely in hand, President Bush publicly mused that the American people's "accountability moment" had passed and they had vindicated his foreign policy decisions with their votes. I could not help shaking my head and wondering "How the (expletive) we got this deep into a hole?" If my memory serves me properly, the four major reasons the Administration used to justify the war were: possession of WMDs with intent to use them, strong regime ties to Islamic terrorist organizations, a commitment to spreading democracy in the Middle East and a moral necessity of overthrowing a brutal tyrant. I assert that each of these justifications coming from the administration is worthless in light of history and known intelligence even before March 2003.

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In an effort to provide a regional counterbalance to Soviet-supported Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran, the United States and its western allies in the 1980s provided Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein with money, military hardware, dual-use nuclear technology, intelligence on Iran and bio/chemical agents. Donald Rumsfeld, former special envoy of President Ronald Reagan met routinely with Hussein and other high-level Iraqi officials to re-establish relations and discuss regional politics according to the National Security Archives at George Washington University.

The Reagan Administration though publicly denouncing Bio/Chem warfare regularly attempted to cover up instances of Saddam using chemical weapons on the Iranians and the Kurds. The shift in opinion on Saddam's "usefulness" as a regional strategic partner occurred during the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, because the dictator's former supporters now viewed him as a clear threat to U.S. interests in the Gulf (read: Oil). In light of Reagan's Iraq policy and the administration's coddling of Middle East dictators, the president's comments regarding freedom and democracy are merely hollow platitudes used to disguise an aggressive realpolitik foreign policy explicated by the think tank Project for the New American Century.

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Lewis asserts that Islam is in essence anti-democratic and the only way for there to be democratic reform in the Islamic world is if it imposed on them from the outside by "well-meaning" nations like the United States.

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More: http://www.dailyfreepress.com/news/2005/01/26/Opinion/Case-For.War.In.Iraq.A.Sham.From.Every.Angle-841705.shtml

[el_gato]

1. glad you posted this