The Chickenhawks argued that Saddam had WMD. He had mobile weapons labs. He had unmanned drones and crop dusters that could spray our cities (all the way from Iraq) with chemical agents. Condi warned of the smoking gun in a form of a mushroom cloud. Cheney warned of the vast stockpiles of the most lethal agents. And Rummy knew right where they were. Bush cheer leaded about the threat, the imminent threat, the grave and gathering threat, and threw in 9-11 references like a politician in a Memorial Day parade throwing out candy. There was the nuclear program, the aluminum tubes, the secret weapons program, and the hiding of all manner of bad things we were told no mad man like Saddam should possess.
So we went to war.
So we went to war, and gee whiz, there is no WMD. No mobile weapons labs. No drones or crop dusters. No chemical agents. No mushroom cloud was possible as yellowcake from Niger was a phony and everyone knew it. There was no threat, imminent, grave or otherwise to the USA. Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11. There were no terrorist ties or terrorists there. There was no nuclear program, no secret weapons program, and no hiding of any WMD as there were none to hide. Not only were there none to hide, we didn't know where they were either. So we took a year looking for something that everyone who looked now says didn't exist anyway.
So we went to war because Saddam was a bad guy. He had ties to terrorists. Remember 9-11? That changed everything. Never mind our allies like the Saudis or Pakistan who were actually funding and supplying terrorists. Never mind that North Korea was moving full speed ahead with a nuclear program. Never mind all the other bad guys in the world. But then it turned out, yes Saddam was a bad buy, but he was a paper tiger. Crippled by sanctions, the first gulf war, and increasing attacks by air by the US and Great Brittan, Saddam was barely a threat to his neighbors, let alone the USA on the other side of the world.
So we went to war to foster democracy. Look what a great thing the Iraqis have now with all those purple fingers voting. Look at them choosing leaders who were kept secret up until the day of the vote. Look at them choosing leaders hand picked for them by the US and our Iraqi allies. Look at them writing a constitution, with the US input and oversight, that is essentially placing the law of the land in a Islamic theocracy. Look at them now about to ram through their new constitution that essentially removes woman's rights. Woo-whoo! Yay democracy. Even the Iraqi woman flown in to sit next to the firs lady as Bush gave his State of the Union now thinks the whole thing is a sham. The Chickenhawks disagree, but I'm giving a tad bid more credence to the woman from Iraq on this one.
So why are we going to go to war this week now that this constitutional photo-op looks to literally blow up in our (troops) faces? What is the noble cause touted by the Bush White House and Right wingers going to be this this time? Now we hear that Iraq is the front line in the "war on terror," a perpetual war that has no defined enemy, no defined boundary, and no way to measure victory or see an end in sight. How convenient. Proponents say we can't "cut and run" and leave Iraq as that would embolden terrorists, at the same time the terrorist, flocking to Iraq to take pot shots at American troops, achieve greater success at blowing IED's. I'm sure their increased success at killing more American troops does nothing for their self esteem.
No, the Chickenhawks argue, we can't leave Iraq now. The terrorists are killing Americans there, so we have to stay. But the longer we stay, the more American troops they'll pick off, so we'll have to stay longer. If we can't leave because we are there fighting and dying, then we can never leave.
So let's remember, this is not a chicken/egg deal. It is a chicken hawk/war deal. Bush and his administration wanted this war. The Republicans cheer leaded right along with it. Our troops are in Iraq fighting and dying because the civilian leadership - Bush and his administration - got us there and have continually changed the reason for why we should be there in the first place.
What is the noble cause our troops are dying for? Which war is it this time, Mr. President?