Radical Avenue

Vice President Cheney had it right in 1994 when he predicted that toppling the Hussein government in Iraq would create a “quagmire”. Now, after five years of nation building, nearly 4,000 American soldiers dead and $500 billion spent, Mr. Cheney has declared the war in Iraq a “successful endeavor”. Of course this is the same guy who, on August 26, 2002, said this:

Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.

On that day Cheney was either incredibly misinformed or completely dishonest. In either case, he was wrong. America can’t afford to get it wrong when it comes to the reasons for invading another country, especially one that has never attacked us. Virtually anyone could have predicted all of the problems we’re now having in Iraq.

Hostile Towards Us
The historical animosity of Arabs toward western civilization goes all the way back to the Crusades. Today many people in that region disagree with our strong support of Israel, or the presence of US troops on what they consider their holy land. Some Iraqis benefited from Hussein’s rule, battled us in 1991 and are still fighting us now. Even with only 1% of the Iraqi population actively targeting Americans, in a country of 27 million, we’re up against a homegrown insurgent force of 270,000.

Hostile Towards Each Other
After decades of iron fisted rule by Saddam Hussein, many aggrieved Iraqis had old scores to settle. Tribal and spiritual leaders exert a strong influence in this part of the world. The religious and ethnic rivalries are well documented. Post Saddam sectarian strife was inevitable.

Hostile Neighborhood
Syria and Saudi Arabia support Sunnis living in western Iraq. Iran supports the majority Shiite. The Kurds of northern Iraq have stepped up their battle with the Turkey. At least we still have Kuwait on our side.

Cheney, Iraq