Trillion Dollar Debacle in Iraq
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.
March 24th, 2008 at 4:31 am
[...] misleading rhetoric sounds like it could have come from the lips of Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney still believes that Saddam Hussein aided Al Qaeda, even though the 9-11 Commission found no such [...]
March 26th, 2008 at 4:38 am
[...] how things turn out in Mesopotamia, President Bush will undoubtedly continue to consider the war in Iraq a smashing success for the rest of his life. He has chosen to simply ignore the majority of [...]
April 9th, 2008 at 4:32 am
[...] Senator from Arizona indicated that he would be comfortable with a 100 year US military presence in Iraq, he let slip a dirty little secret about the Bush-McCain vision for the Middle East. The neo-cons [...]
May 31st, 2008 at 11:01 pm
[...] his new book, What Happened, Mr. McClellan makes it clear that he now considers the War in Iraq a serious strategic blunder: “As I have heard Bush say, only a wartime president is likely to [...]
February 4th, 2009 at 7:40 am
[...] helps the US cause. It shows that we are on our way out and that representatives of our country in Iraq will be subject to US laws and the US military code of conduct. Did You Enjoy this Post? [...]