Should We Have Gone Into Iraq?
With the death of Powell, it would be interesting to see what everyone’s take on the Iraq War (2003 version) is today.
Here are some of the takeaways after the fact:
1. What was clear at the time was Hans Blix and Kofi Annan were pushing their own agendas and were not to be trusted. Later of course we learned that Kofi and his son were making millions with the Food for Oil program and they surely didn’t want to disrupt their illicit windfall.
2. It was in the best interest for Saddam to either hide or pretend he possessed WMDs to keep Iran and factions within Iraq at bay. He thought he could depend on his buddy Blix and Annan to keep Bush off his back. Woops.
3. The French were busy selling more than $2 billion in weapons to Saddam violating the trade embargo. They certainly didn’t support the war.
4. Saddam was a brutal son of a bitch but his Ba'ath Party kept a lid on Shia and Sunni factions. Unfortunately, his attacks on the Kurds was a deal breaker for me. Not that the Kurds are angels, but chemical attacks on civilians is bullshite
So, in hindsight seeing what happened and the lives lost, what is your position on the war?
My personal view at the time was Saddam was a problem that needed to go. But I never saw the connection with 9-11 and was not convinced removing him was going to solve the problems in Iraq. The real threat always was and continues to be Iranian backed terrorists. While I was glad to see him go, we botched the war by attempting to establish a new government. We should have killed Saddam and then worked with the existing powers to maintain control.
Saddam was the weight on the pressure cooker. Once removed, the kitchen got real messy.
Last edited by STRSWilson; 10/18/21.
