Thoughts on US War with Iraq

Posted January 29, 2004.

The United States led war with Iraq was wrong.  Saddam Hussein was definitely a ruthless, evil dictator who is guilty of committing countless atrocities against the Iraqi people, but I still think the war was wrong.  Here is why.

Saddam Hussein wasn't any more guilty of injustices to humanity last year then he was 5 years ago, 10 years ago or 35 years ago.  He has always been a ruthless dictator, but that was never enough for the United States to justify war with Iraq.  Even during the Gulf War in the early 1990s, George Bush Sr. didn't have enough international or domestic support for a full-fledged invasion of Iraq with the purpose of regime change, despite the fact Iraq had invaded Kuwait. 

President Bush and his cabinet tried in vain to convince the world that Saddam Hussein was a sponsor of terrorism and possessed weapons of mass destruction and was a threat to world peace.  In the end, the United States had very little support from the UN Security Council and most major nations of the world were against using military force against Iraq.  Most of the nations that did support use of force are nations that rely heavily on US aid in one form or another.  I'm sure there was some major arm twisting that went on.  It's not as if countries like Norway and Ethiopia sent much in the way of troops or cash to help with the effort.  American soldiers have done the brunt of the work and taken the vast majority of the casualties.  Great Britain is the only major country to provide a significant amount of troops and money to the effort and even then, their contributions paled compared to the U.S. commitment.  By the end of 2003, the war had cost the United States $100 billion.  The rest of the world had committed less than $20 billion.  United States credibility and standing has taken a beating in the world community because of this war.  Most nations opposed the U.S. desire to invade Iraq without letting the UN weapons inspection process run it's course.  

Months after the invasion, weapons of mass destruction have yet to be found.  David Kay, the head United States weapons inspector recently resigned from his post and testified before Congress that it is now his belief that Iraq never did possess weapons of mass destruction.  This totally discredits the main reason for going to war.  

All of this attention has been focused on Iraq, which was not an imminent threat to our national security, while the master-mind of 9/11, Osama bin Laden remains free.  al Qaeda is the threat we should be hunting down.  al Qaeda was responsible for the September 11 attacks and has continued with other terrorist attacks around the world.  Why do we have Saddam Hussein and not Osama bin Laden?  Invading Afghanistan was the correct thing to do.  Going after the Taliban and al Qaeda network was an appropriate response to 9/11 and justifiable way to work towards eliminating terrorist threats in the world.  Attacking a country with a ruthless dictator just because we do not like him is not a way to end terrorism.  If anything, it has spread.  al Qaeda now has a significant stronghold in Iraq.  A broken down Iraq has given al Qaeda an easy place to attack the United States and persons from other nations.  

The President continually tries to link Iraq with September 11th, even though there is no proof Iraq had anything to do with the tragic events of that day.  None of the hijackers were Iraqi, nor did Iraq provide funding or weapons to these terrorists.  The Bush Administration has admitted Iraq didn't have anything to do with 9/11, but the President constantly brings up 9/11 in the same breath as Iraq to try and keep that link in peoples minds.  

Iraq has cost us billions of dollars and caused pain and grief to thousands of American families whose family members have been killed or wounded in the war.  Thousands of Iraqi citizens have died.  The country is in disarray.  Don't get me wrong, Hussein was a ruthless dictator who treated his people terribly.   But time will tell just how much better off the Iraqi people will be with him gone.  If U.S. troops were to pull out, the country would be imbedded in a deep and vicious civil war as different sects fight for control and seek revenge for the misdeeds of the Bathist Party.  Latest official U.S. Army estimates are the United States will have to commit 100,000 troops for at least 3 more years to Iraq.  So much for a quick and easy war as the President promised. 

The Bush administration planned this war well before 9/11.  Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neil told CBS' 60 Minutes of plans for a regime change in Iraq as early as 10 days after the President took office.   

Iraq was wrong.  It has cost the United States in a great number of ways including hundreds of American lives, billions of dollars, time and resources that could have been spent fighting terrorism without the loss of world respect.