Looking Back on How We Got into the Iraq Quagmire

[JPZenger]

The Neocons wanted to teach a lesson to all the bad guys in the world - that we were so tough and technologically sophisticated that we could takover any country in a matter of days. Unfortunately, Iran and North Korea learned the wrong lesson - that they better have nuclear weapons available to deter a U.S. attack.

Meanwhile, Bin Laden still walks free. At least he hasn't been removed from the FBI most wanted list, in case he walks into a U.S. post office.

Before the invasion, Saddam's Iraq was toothless. Saddam was spending most of the money he was making from oil smuggling on new palaces. Even during the Clinton administration, Saddam spent most of his energy hiding himself from US air attacks and assasinations. We already had the ability to have air strikes against anything that was a threat in Iraq. For example, everytime Iraq patched together an air defense radar site or a missile site, we easily destroyed it the next day. The Bush Admininistration kept telling the World they had clear-cut evidence of WMDs in Iraq. They swallowed false intelligence fed to them by Iraqi exiles who wanted to take power in Iraq. There were UN inspection teams before the invasion on the ground making surprise inspections. However, the U.S. couldn't provide them with any information on where these supposed WMDs sites actually were located.

Iran, not Iraq, was the nation that was supporting terrorism against the US. The main terrorism that Iraq was involved upon was against Israel, not the US. There is some evidence that Iranian leaders were involved in the 9-11 attacks. Osama Bin Laden hated Saddam, and had little interest in working together. Bush has openly admitted that there is "no evidence" of a link between 9-11 and Saddam's regime. However, Bush has always been careful to mention 9-11 and the Iraq occupation in the same sentences.

Iran extremists are getting their wish. They have shut down the internal reform movement in Iran. They have a government in Iraq that may end up controlled by Muslim fundamentalists (as opposed to Saddam's toothless secular government). Iran knows we cannot threaten them because so much of our military strength is pinned down in Iraq for years to come. Also, North Korea continues to be a threat - and much of our resources are on the other side of the world.

The evidence is clear that the Bush Administration wanted to invade Iraq before the 9-11 attacks. Despite public denials at the time, the evidence is also clear that the Bush Administration really had no interest in any compromise, weapons inspections or negotiation before the invasion - the goal was to takeover Iraq from the begining. Before the invasion, Bush publicly stated an ultimatum: The ONLY way that Saddam could stop a US invasion was to immediately turn over all of his WMDs. He couldn't turn over something he did not have.

Meanwhile, many of our best young men and women are dying without any justification. To really support our troops means to not send them off to war unless all other alternatives have been exhausted. President Kennedy said "The United States, the world knows, will never start a war."

Homeland security is supposed to be our priority. Meanwhile, the Bush Administration proposes to shut down the air national guard base in Massachusetts that provided the only air defense for New York City and Boston on 9-11. The money to run that base is needed for the Iraq quagmire.