Monday, October 30, 2006

Why Are We at War in Iraq?

We didn't go to war in Iraq because of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs). There weren't any.

We didn't go to war in Iraq because Saddam Hussein was culpable for the 9/11 al-Qaeda terror attacks against America. He wasn't. Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were never friends or allies.

We didn't go to war in Iraq to spread democracy. That's a rationalization invented after we failed to find WMDs. Elections are not the same as democracy. Democracy cannot be forced onto a people. America has always spread democracy by example, not by force. Ironically, nothing has harmed America's own democracy more than Bush's war or terrorism.

Why, then, are we fighting a war in Iraq?

Because Bush and Cheney believed that Arabs had to be punished for 9/11. Fighting a war in Afghanistan was not sufficient. Afghans weren't the people aboard the planes on 9/11. Arabs were. America had to prove to Arabs they couldn't get away with terror.

So, if America had to attack Arabs, who could they go after? Saudi Arabia? Never! Eygpt? No way! Syria? Too small! Iraq was the only logical choice, especially with all its oil.

Once the decision was made to attack Iraq, the Bush White House focused on justifying an invasion. Donald Rumsfeld believed that Iraq's army would lay down its arms and immediately surrender in response to "shock and awe." Unfortunately, he was dead wrong. Instead, Iraqi fighters morphed into an insurgency against Americans.

President Bush in a recent stump speech in Indiana said, "We will defeat the enemy in Iraq. We have a plan for victory." The obvious question is, "Mr. President, what is victory in Iraq and how will we know when we've achieved it?"