Now that the Anit-war people have been proven wrong, what do you think their excuse will be??
I was opposed to the war before, and I remain opposed now. Why did we attack Iraq? A civilized country does not unilaterally invade other nations without extraordinary justification. We did not have it.
Iraq did not present a significant threat to the United States. Iraq was NOT trying to buy nuclear materials in Africa; this report was proven to be a lie, apparently fabricated by the U.S. or Britain. Iraq has no significant ties to Osama bin Laden or Al Qaeda, and no ties whatsoever to September 11 - another deception. If terrorism were truly Bush's concern, we would have gone after Saudi Arabia or Egypt, or any of a dozen other countries with significant ties to 9/11.
Re. weapons of mass distraction, Iraq may or may not still have chemical or biological weapons, but the allegation raises several questions:
1. Where was the proof? Since when do we
invade countries based on hearsay? Why didn't we wait for proof from U.N. inspectors or other forms of intelligence? Why the rush?
2. The Iraqi defector who provided most of our intelligence on their chemical and biological weapons also told us that he personally knew that all such weapons were since destroyed (he was the head of their "NBC" program). Why did the Bush administration ignore (and conceal) the part about the destruction while presenting the rest of this defector's information as uncontested "facts"?
3. Where are these alleged weapons? The war is almost over, we have nominal control of most of the country and their largest cities, yet no WMD's have been used or discovered. We have to begin to question whether this whole WMD story was just another lie by the Bush administration.
4. Many countries (including the U.S.) are
known to have these weapons; many of these nations are known to supply weapons to terrorist organizations or to countries that are known to provide weapons to terrorists - what made Iraq so special that it justified a unilateral invasion on mere suspicion that it might have weapons and that it might provide them to terrorists? How do we justify this precedent? Can China or Russia legally invade us now because we have WMD's? We are known to provide weapons to groups hostile to those countries.
It's interesting to note that the missing WMD issue was posed to Rumsfeld yesterday. He dodged the question, instead talking about how we are liberating the Iraqi people. For those with reasonable attention spans, remember that the "liberation" excuse is relatively new. It is only the latest of the many stories Bush has tried to use to justify their attack. If this cause is so just, why all the lies? Why does Bush keep shopping for an angle he can sell?
More selfishly, how do we justify the cost of this war? The initital fighting will cost us about 100 Billion dollars. The longer-term occupation and rebuilding will likely cost several hundred billion more. How can the United States afford this cost? More importantly, why was this war so imperative that it justifies burdening our children and grandchildren with our biggest deficit ever?
For all of these reasons, I still believe this war is wrong. The fundamental issue remains that invading another country is an outrageous act that can only be justified in extraordinary circumstances. We are supposed to be a world leader. We are supposed to be a nation of laws and human rights. We are supposed to be a nation that epitomizes the notions of democracy and decency and respect for others. How do we justify ignoring world opinion - breaking world law as it were - and attacking another country without provocation? The fact that we have the military power to do it doesn't make it right. The fact that we're winning doesn't make it right.
Having said that, I am delighted that this was has gone as well as it has, and that casualties have been relatively light. I am delighted that Saddam is removed from power and that he may be dead. There is a special circle in hell for brutal thugs like him. I am sure the Iraqi people will eventually benefit from his removal - assuming of course that the U.S. doesn't end up replacing him with a new, friendlier thug (much as we thought of Saddam himself back in the Reagan days).
Nonetheless, the end does NOT justify the means. We attacked Iraq because we could, not because we should. The favorable result is little consolation to the thousands of people we've killed and maimed.
War must be a last resort. Bush used war as a first resort, a happy ruse to distract Americans from his failing war on terrorism (Osama who?), our shattered economy, his administration's ties to financial scandals like Enron and Halliburton, his plans to rape the environment and pay off wealthy supporters with tax cuts and insider deals, Ashcroft's lust to turn this country into a police state, and Bush's general lack of competence. Bush continues to use the war to suppress all criticism of his administration under the smoke screen of patriotism.
In the process, Bush made us an outcast in the world community and has given thousands of new Osamas a single target for their hatred. The war against Iraq was a breeze - the equivalent of a Mike Tyson beating on the crippled kid in the orphanage. I hope it was worth the cost of coming battles with the rest of the world and greater terrorism against Americans. I hope someone will remember to add these costs to the total cost of this war. Most of all, I hope I am wrong.
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So, to answer your question, that's how this opponent "spins" it. And, contrary to your assertion, I haven't been proven wrong about anything. All of my concerns and objections remain valid. Finally, with all due respect, I find your casual disregard for the human beings killed chilling, in a sense as brutal and soulless as Saddam himself. Each and every human life is precious. To dismiss thousands of individual tragedies as good odds is callous at best. Also for the record, be sure to include a large portion of the Iraqi Army casualties in your count of civilian deaths. Many of them, perhaps most of them were conscripts who were forced to fight for Saddam. They are just as much innocent victims as the women and children killed and maimed hiding in their homes.
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