The real reason for the Iraq invasion

Submitted by Dave (United States), Dec 30, 2006 at 19:44

Forget all of the crap about bringing freedom to afghanistan and Iraq, and even about enforcing the UN resolutions against Iraq. The reason for changing the regime in Iraq was to get rid of Saddam, and simultaneously muster a strategic threat to Iran and Syria, something the coalition would not be in a position to do without a large military presence in Iraq. Also In so doing, the message was sent to other nations in the region that the US and it's allies had not only the capability, but the will to fight Islamic terrorists, and their state sponsors

. Why George Bush never made the "Grand Strategy" speech, outlining these strategic goals, is a mystery; but I believe that his popularity would be much higher if he had done so, and made a continuing effort to keep the American (and the world's) people informed about the coalition's true objectives, rather than allow speculation about oil-resource grabbing and warmongering to be unanswered.

Intelligent people from both the left and the right can agree that George W. Bush is not very articulate, but they can also understand the stakes of inaction in the face of the 9/11 atrocities. History will judge that showing the will to fight in the face of such threats has a deterrent effect for some, (witness the sudden attitude change of Libya's Colonel Quadaffi after the invasion) as well as the tendency to provoke those who are already inclined to fight you.

It is no revelation that many young Islamic men are eager to go to Iraq to fight the coalition, but that works both ways: The US military saw substantial jumps in enlistment after and since 9/11, and the recruit who joins today can have no doubt that they will see action in Iraq or Afghanistan; indeed, that is why most are signing up, and others are re-enlisting for additional combat tours.

Reminds me of the time Iran's President announced with great fanfare that he had 200 volunteers ready to be martyrs fighting the great satan, to which President Bush might rightly have responded: "We have over a million volunteers ready to kill them". Too bad I'm not Dubya's speechwriter..........

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