Thanks for your excellent response, @OctoPinky.
Our first incursion into Iraq, by Bush the Elder, was much easier to justify than our second. In the first, Kuwait was being invaded by Iraq, and we came to its aid.
But I suspect you're talking about the second incursion. And justifying it would require somebody far more persuasive than I could hope to be.
I can observe that when the statute of Saddam fell in Baghdad, that falling was cheered at the time by many local citizens, at least in so far as I can remember the video footage of the occurrence.
I can also observe that 911 had made America fearful and wary in a way that it had not been since 1941. And that, coupled with Iraq's earlier actions toward Kuwait, and some disputes (not to be forgotten) over U.N. inspection of certain strategic sites, had made us ever-more-fearful, and genuinely so, of the possibility that Iraq would develop and promulgate weapons of mass destruction.
However, so far as I know no such weapons were ever found, despite it being reported to us, prior to entry, that they were present. And I am not arguing that Iraq played any role in bringing about 911. So far as I know, it did not. But the mood of the country after 911increased its willingness to act under circumstances that might not inspire similar action today. This is about all I can say with any confidence about that second incursion.
There are some who can argue with far more expertise than I can, both in favor of, and against, that particular conflict. And those who had their boots on that ground are infinitely better suited than I am to talk about what was helped or gained, and what was harmed or lost.
Our first incursion into Iraq, by Bush the Elder, was much easier to justify than our second. In the first, Kuwait was being invaded by Iraq, and we came to its aid.
But I suspect you're talking about the second incursion. And justifying it would require somebody far more persuasive than I could hope to be.
I can observe that when the statute of Saddam fell in Baghdad, that falling was cheered at the time by many local citizens, at least in so far as I can remember the video footage of the occurrence.
I can also observe that 911 had made America fearful and wary in a way that it had not been since 1941. And that, coupled with Iraq's earlier actions toward Kuwait, and some disputes (not to be forgotten) over U.N. inspection of certain strategic sites, had made us ever-more-fearful, and genuinely so, of the possibility that Iraq would develop and promulgate weapons of mass destruction.
However, so far as I know no such weapons were ever found, despite it being reported to us, prior to entry, that they were present. And I am not arguing that Iraq played any role in bringing about 911. So far as I know, it did not. But the mood of the country after 911increased its willingness to act under circumstances that might not inspire similar action today. This is about all I can say with any confidence about that second incursion.
There are some who can argue with far more expertise than I can, both in favor of, and against, that particular conflict. And those who had their boots on that ground are infinitely better suited than I am to talk about what was helped or gained, and what was harmed or lost.
