FLAIT

Originally Posted: Late Mar. 2003

To prove how senseless this war is, all you have to do is contradict President Bush's reasoning for it.

1) Hussein is another Hitler:

Hitler took over Europe before they knew what was happening with a big, strong and willing army.

The Iraqi army didn't fight in 1991 and it's not nearly as big, strong or willing today. Also, if Hussein ever did try and move against his neighbors, our surveillance would pick up all the activity that's needed for invasions weeks before his troops got near the Iraqi border.

2) Hussein was behind 9/11:

Not true.

While not correcting this misconception, even Bush hasn't made this the main reason behind the war. Don't you think he would have if Hussein really was behind 9/11?

If this is about 9/11, then Bush is invading the wrong country since bin Laden and 15 out of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. How come we're not invading them?

3) Iraq has ignored UN resolutions for 12 years.

So has Israel and for much longer. Are we invading them next?

4) Hussein is a tyrant who has tortured and killed his own people.

Yea, so? There are nasty tyrants in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, China and just about every country in the Arab world. Are we going to "liberate" all those country's too?

5) Iraq is a threat to us:

North Korea, al-qaeda, other terrorist groups, and perhaps even Iran, are much bigger and more imminent threats.

Besides, Turkey is threatened by the Kurds in northern Iraq (the Kurds hate Turkey more than Hussein), Taiwan is threatened by China, South Korea and North Korea are threatened by each other, as are Pakistan and India. And Israel is threatened by everyone around them.

But none of those country's are going to war against their threat. And they're all neighbors! Not 8,000 miles away!

6) Terrorist groups can get WMDs from Hussein:

After we take over Iraq, what's to stop the terrorists from getting their weapons from Iran or North Korea? Or from a Russian scientist who needs the money, or a Chinese scientist who hates us?

Are we going to invade all those country's next?

Besides, the terrorists will eventually be able to make their own WMDs (assuming they don't have them already).

7) Hussein might use his weapons against us himself.

Does Hussein want us to invade Iraq? Does he want to be hunted down and killed? Does he want his regime to collapse, with his enemy, the US, taking control of his country? Does he want to hang on to power - and his cushy job and his comfortable palace's - for as long as possible so he can give it all to his sons?

No, no, no and yes.

So why would he risk all that by attacking us, or giving his weapons to terrorist groups so they can? He knows we'd destroy him.

Hussein isn't nearly the threat Bush made him out to be. But Bush knew that the country is so uninformed and misinformed about their government, current events and foreign affairs, that they would buy it.

Hussein could have been contained - at a fraction of the cost and risk than a war - with more intelligence, more surveillance and, if necessary, an increased military buildup in the region.

And consider the wars consequences:

1) All the attention and resources paid to Iraq when our energy's would have been much better off eradicating al-Quaeda.

By focusing so much on Iraq, Bush has neglected Afghanistan. The Karzai "government" is a sham and only Kabul is "secured." Incredibly, Bush didn't even include Afghanistan in his budget.

2) The distraction from our own Homeland Security.

We're not prepared for another attack because Washington hasn't given the States the money.

A year and a half after 9/11, and our local emergency personnel STILL aren't trained for a bio or chemical attack; nor do they have the proper equipment.

And police overtime is putting a strain on local budgets.

Last week, Congress FINALLY came up with some money. But it won't be enough.

3) The harm done to the UN, NATO, and EU, as well as the loss of respect around the world (not that the Republicans care about that anyway).

How did Bush lose a global PR campaign to Hussein? How does ANYONE lose a PR campaign to Hussein?

We had the world's sympathy and support on 9/11, but Bush's arrogance turned that completely around to where he's considered more of a threat to world peace than Hussein.

If that doesn't tell you how poorly Bush has handled Iraq, nothing will.

4) The war and rebuilding Iraq will cost half a trillion dollars over 10 years, probably more.

Isn't it funny how the government can come up with all that money in a pinch for an ELECTIVE war, but can't find a way to get its citizens affordable health insurance or cheaper college tuition?

5) BEFORE a President goes to war - ESPECIALLY an elective war - he has to consider casualties to our brave troops. How many is he willing to suffer and STILL make the war worthwhile (in this case, none as far as I'm concerned)?

Obviously, this is the most important factor when war is being contemplated. And yet, I never heard this debated by anyone in the months leading up to the war.

Incredulously, I get the feeling Bush didn't even take casualties into account. He never uttered the "poll sinking" "c" word. Never! He ignored it totally so everyone would assume this would be another Grenada.

6) When you back Hussein into a corner, with nothing to lose, there's no telling what he could do. It's frightening.

Did Bush take this into account?

The objective is to make sure Hussein never used his WMDs against us. So it's ironic that this war will give him the incentive and opportunity to do just that.

7) Building a stable government will be difficult, almost impossible. With different factions in Iraq - all hating each other - it'll be chaos.

And a potential "side war" between Turkey and the Kurds will just add to it.

Aug. 20, 2005 insert: "Trying to eliminate Saddam, extending the ground war into an occupation of Iraq...would have incurred incalculable human and political costs...We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq...Going in and occupying Iraq...the U.S. could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different--and perhaps barren--outcome."
- George H.W. Bush & Brent Scrocroft
"A World Transformed" 1998

And Dick Cheney agreed with George Bush's decision not to go to Baghdad.

8) A war that drags on will give our real enemy's the idea that they too can take us on. Therefore, any sign of military weakness in Iraq could prove disastrous years down the road.

9) This invasion will just increase American hatred in the Arab world and do wonders for "martyr" and "terrorist recruiting."

Be assured, new terrorist groups will emerge as a result of this war to seek revenge and they will be difficult to track. And since they'll be suicidal, who won't have a regime to protect or a country to defend, they can't be deterred.

Hussein on the other hand, not only could have been monitored very closely, but he was deterred by everything he could lose.

Something else to consider is that Hussein could have given some of his WMDs to terrorists before the war when he knew his days were numbered. Wouldn't you do that if you were Hussein?

So this war, supposedly meant to make us safer, will do the exact opposite. Great going, Mr. President.

Conclusion:

When you considered 1) that resources would have to be pulled out of Afghanistan 2) the "threat" that Hussein posed, 3) that he could have been contained, 4) the extreme risks and costs of an invasion, 5) what the war will do in the short and long term, good and bad, 6) how much this will cost, 7) what Hussein could unleash - or hand over to terrorist groups - when he knows he's doomed, and 8) most important, the casualties we would suffer, it's obvious that this is a feckless war that was unwarranted, impractical and senseless right from the start.

Laser-guided bombs and the 82nd Airborne can only do so much to eradicate our threats, real and exaggerated.

The rest is done with a sagacious President who is geopolitically enlightened, and willing to engage the Arab world in an honest and serious dialog.

Unfortunately, that doesn't describe President Bush at all.