Chicago Tribune – “Judging the case for war”;
Did President Bush intentionally mislead this nation and its allies into war? Or is it his critics who have misled Americans, recasting history to discredit him and his policies? If your responses are reflexive and self-assured, read on.
On Nov. 20, the Tribune began an inquest: We set out to assess the Bush administration’s arguments for war in Iraq. We have weighed each of those nine arguments against the findings of subsequent official investigations by the 9/11 Commission, the Senate Intelligence Committee and others. We predicted that this exercise would distress the smug and self-assured– those who have unquestioningly supported, or opposed, this war.
The matrix below summarizes findings from the resulting nine editorials. We have tried to bring order to a national debate that has flared for almost three years. Our intent was to help Tribune readers judge the case for war– based not on who shouts loudest, but on what actually was said and what happened.
Via Instapundit.
I’m sorry, I never believed that Iraq had a program to develop WMD at any mature level simply because of how the United States typically reacts to countries on the verge of developing Nuclear Weapons. Just look at North Korea (or any country that has recently become a Nuclear power), the United States will use as many diplomatic channels to try to get them to disarm and will do anything in their power to prevent a conflict; the risks are too high to go to war with a Nuclear power for both your soldiers and your citizens.
Ultimately either George W. is willing to risk more than any president that has come before him, or the reasons for going to war were masked in favour of a cause (WMD) that more Americans were willing to back.
Did bush mislead us to enact his military agenda/solutions in foreign policy?…NO!
However, he did react of\n very flimsy intelligence and actively sold this as solid fact when he went to congress for their support.
The wider question is not about the means or morality but the results. Has the Bush administration’s foreign and domestic policy made the globe more stable and secured US domestic peace and prosperity?
From where I sit, the jury is evenly split on this…but the clock is ticking. 2008 will bring a decision. It is becoming apparent that more and more constitutionalist GOP conservatives do not like long protracted expensive conflicts nor do they like harsh domestic security policies that promote quasi-marshal law atmospheres in the cities and unwarranted civilian gun control measures while the open southern border is ignored.
The Bush administration has been one of contrasts and conflicted ideals for any true conservative.
Did either of you actually read the piece?
The WMD was just one argument amongst many, which is something now conveniently forgotten by Bush haters.
They basically came down to two things:
10 years of keeping military watch and no-fly zones, etc was getting nowhere and very expensive. This was with UN authority.
The root causes of 9/11, so beloved by the left, were in fact accurately identified by Bush and co. as the pitiful state of civil society in the middle east. A fundamental change needed to be brought about.
He never lied and he did the right thing.
Lefty types liked it so much better when their buddy Saddam was feeding living human beings into wood chippers because the mainstream media like CNN would simply cut a deal with their good buddy Saddam – they would not report nasty business in order to be given ‘scoops’ by the beloved dictator. Out of sight, out of mind – and the lefty types were happy. No messy elections to complicate things – life was simple, and death was even simpler for many Iraqis. Ahhh… the good old days for leftists… it’s good that they’re ‘open-minded’ enough to even love fascists like Saddam, how inspiring…
A lot of lefty elitists lost a lot of money when Sadam went down. The oil for “food” (weapons)was BIG buisness for people haters. THe elitists with heavy investments in the dictator’s absolute power are upset!! Mr. Bush called them on the carpet and the lefty elitests (esp in the UN) HATE him. We owe our freedom to Mr. Bush and the brave soldiers from the coalition of the willing and the citizens of Iraq. Mr. George W. Bush is a very brave man and I Thank God for The President and for the Unuited States of America.
Recommended Reading
Judging the case for war A bit long, but well worth reading – and thinking about. This one may get both sides in defense mode – if any bother to pay attention to it. I got it via Kat at Small Dead Animals – she got it via the Instaguy, so if the site …
Jema54. “We owe our freedom to Mr. Bush and the brave soldiers from the coalition of the willing and the citizens of Iraq. Mr. George W. Bush is a very brave man and I Thank God for The President and for the Unuited States of America.”
I agree with you and I too support America and President Bush. But they are not the only people we owe our freedom to.
There were many Canadian, English, Australian, American and allied soldiers who fought and died in two world wars that were the first to give us the freedoms we enjoy today. And then there was the war effort at home, where people banded together to do whatever they could to support their boys in the field. If not for them we might all be writing these words in German today.
We need to remember that Western Democracy has many heroes. I remember being told the news when two of my uncles died in WWII. One was only 16 years old. When I was four years old I remember standing in a park in Essex Ontario, singing songs and burning the effigy of Hitler. And I remember many other things too.
Because of these brave men and women many of us have grown up in a generation where we have not had to go to war. Those who have taken up the torch of fighting international state sponsored terrorism today are just the latest in a long string of heroes.
It’s a fact that WMD were not found in the amounts expected by US officials prior to the war. But surely seeing a Dutch court convict a Dutch citizen of providing Saddam with the means to produce WMD must make SOME impression on those who insist “Bush lied, people died” while denying the possibility of WMD. The question is about quantities of WMD found in Iraq, not their mere existence.
In the end, democracy has come to Iraq. What decent person would gainsay that achievement, whether or not they supported the process by which it arrived? And along the way, corruption has been exposed at the highest levels of the UN in its dealings with Iraq and Oil for Food. What thinking person would now say the UN was qualified to deal fairly and effectively with Saddam Hussein?
WLM Redux: “Has the Bush administration’s foreign and domestic policy made the globe more stable..?
No, in the sense that one’s neighbourhood isn’t stable when men with guns are running around, barking communications, throwing percussion devices through windows, and so on. But if the commotion is caused by policemen who are targetting a gang-run crackhouse, “stability” is what’s coming.
As to whether the Bush administration’s policy has secured US domestic peace and prosperity, neither US domestic peace, or Canada’s or England’s or France’s or Japan’s will never be a separate issue from world peace, and world peace is best served by democracies. Democracies don’t to to war against other democracies.
Those purple fingers are a vision of beauty. I find it humbling and glorious to see three-generations of Iraqi family walking together to a polling station, at mortal risk, not for the purpose of dominating or silencing anyone else, but just to have one single vote.
In the very long run (5-20 years) I hope that these elections will contribute greatly to peace and prosperity in the world and especially in that region. This one is a long haul, though, and if at any point along the way western leftists get the final say, there will certainly be no democracy in Iraq.
Two things to add if I might. The article cited gives GWB full marks for the most ambitious of reasons for going to war. As I recall, it was these reasons which were seen as the most naive, the hardest to accomplish; it was these ideas – democracy in the middle east, and hope for something better than despots and thugs – which were looked upon with the most cynicism. Thank God someone had faith in humanity.
Secondly much of the reasoning for going to war was tacit. I maintain that one of the reasons for going to war was a certain lack of understanding. For years we had been saying to these regimes “Look you can’t to this.” And these despots and thugs would respond “Yes, yes; you’re absolutely right.” And go merrily on their way. All of a sudden the Bush administration is holding a gun to their head, and they get it. The likes of Saudi Arabia, Libia and Egypt all of a sudden say “Oh, gosh, why didn’t you say so?”.
You can’t go before the UN or the Legislature of the USA and say “These people just don’t get it. We have to speak in a language they understand.” Sometimes it is the language of the gun.
Good lord! It never fails to amaze me how all the experts come out of the woodwork and with 20-20 hindsight say this, that or the other thing. Leaders, true leaders have to take the information they have and make a decision at the time of the event. Besides, given all the lead time the UN with their nasty warnings gave to old Saddam, I could have moved all the stuff to Syria myself. Did anyone see the squadron of MIGs that the coalition forces found buried in the desert? Do you honestly think that was the only one?
So for no matter what reason, Iraq is liberated, they are out voting in massive numbers that should make Canadians blush with embarassment and Saddam will not be killing anybody else because they are a Kurd or losing soccer player or the wrong flavour of muslim.
The US invasion had little to do with WMD. Of course, at some point, they were there. It had nothing to do with oil. North America has access to enough reasonably cheap oil. The USA invaded Iraq because BIN LADEN poked a stick in the eye of the Western World and dared us to fight in his holy jihad. (Sept 11). Canada should have been there in support of our best ally. Canadians were among the dead in NY. It is far better to fight this fight over there than here. As a result a terrorized people are now free and showing gratitude by the simple courageous act of voting.
Stability! Yes! The stability of dictators has been simply wonderful, a single ‘Big Man’ to deal with rather than deal with those stupid elected governments that fall because of corruption or malfeasance. Dictators speak with one voice for their whole country – makes it so simple that even a liberal can understand!
Certainly the Arab and Muslim people of the middle east appreciate that they have this great stability thing – it’s worked out so well for them!
Funny that this prize of stability even applies to Iraq under Saddam Hussein, considering he attacked three countries – that doesn’t seem too stable. Killing Kurds and Marsh Arabs etc. etc. probably also qualifies as achieving ‘stability’ in Iraq somehow, but although our own liberals may think these are good things and even apologize for them – the dead would probably be of a different opinion.
Definelty one of the better articles about how we got into this war. I must commend the Chicago Tribune for putting this together. I am sure they are getting flak from both sides. My first thought when the war started was on how in my past 54 years I have heard nothing but conflict and death in that region. Each year it seemed to escalate and cause more military deaths in some form of attack against our bases and what was the response of the U.N. more sanctions that did nothing. All the while realizing that another attack was already being formulated by Al Queda. While I have never been comfortable with our Country attacking another Country without a direct connection to some type of attack against us. I did see the need to stop the madness and try to make a change. Did Bush take a HUGE gamble? I think so. Will Iraq turn into a Democrate Country? Only time will tell. Presently the I think the signs are good. My real concern with the war now is how the far left is trying to rewrite history. Thanks to blogs like this I think they will have a harder time then during the Vietnam War. Being a Vietnam Vet I know first hand how they can manipulate the MSM and the American people. Thats my two cents.
Not for oil now…for oil in the future.
What I Heard About Iraq in 2005
“I heard a man who had been in Abu Ghraib prison say: �The Americans brought electricity to my ass before they brought it to my house.�”
I heard General Barry McCaffrey say, after returning from an inspection of Iraq: �This thing, the wheels are coming off of it.�