For the past 9 years, every Passover has made me think about Iraq. While it is true that we have been at war there for most of those years, that is not why I thought about it. Indeed, far too few of us had thought much about Iraq while we were there. I don't think about freedom and Moses telling Pharaoh, "Let my People go." I don't think about how the ceremonial dinner is called a Seder which is Hebrew for order and Iraq is certainly not in order. I think about the search for weapons of mass destruction.
During the Passover week, Jews do not eat leavened bread (Chametz), which non-Jews know simply as bread. We do this to commemorate the fact that we left Egypt in a hurry, lest Pharaoh change his mind about us leaving. The Haggadah, from which we read during the Seder, tells of baking into cakes of unleavened bread (Matzah) "for we dare not tarry," and the dough had not time to rise. So, we clean our houses of all the Chametz.
We even pay our Rabbi to sell any remaining Chametz. You may know that Jews have two sets of dishes, silverware, pots and pans. You may know that this is because these items used to eat meat may not be used to eat dairy. Well, we also need two sets of everything that have never been used to eat Chametz. What does any of this have to do with Iraq? Nothing.
Personally, I have an issue with the whole Matzah thing. The dough did not have time to rise. Matzah wouldn't rise if you left it in the oven for a year! There is no yeast! I find Matzah to be nothing more than a sodium-free saltine. But I get the symbolism. This is where Iraq comes into the mix.
In order to ensure that we have done all we can to rid our house of Chametz, we search for it. I doubt that this is the inspiration for the Easter egg hunt, but you never know. In my family, we went from room to room with a candle a feather and a plastic bag looking for Chametz. Why a candle and feather? Beats me.
Here's the rub. Before we searched the house, we placed Chametz in some rooms. This guaranteed that our search would be successful. It was a ritual, after all. This is what we should have done with Iraq. Hell, Paul Wolfowitz, one of the chief architects of this insanity should have known. We should have brought some WMD with us. Then, when we went looking, we would have found them.
I know that there are people out there who think we did find WMD in Iraq, but we really didn't. There are some on the right who cite reports saying we did find them, but those reports don't actually say that. The Duelfer Report commissioned by the Bush administration said that all WMD programs were halted by 1994.