If, after you have “bombed the hell out of his country”, his own people never overthrow him, then what? You’ve enraged the population, sown seeds of hatred against the U.S. for another generation, and still haven’t solved the problem of Saddam’s regime.
Let’s say, after we “bomb the hell out of his country”, they DO overthrow him. They will then form a new government that is still an enemy of the U.S., promotes terrorism, etc.
Either way, the problem is not solved.
That is where the ultimatum comes in. You put the new govt on notice that if they do not meet our demands, what the consequences will be.
Plenty of people in Iraq knew where Sadam was when he was in hiding. They knew better than anybody else did where he was. If they want to stop being bombed, they cooperate.
As far as hate, we should be feared and respected around the world, not loved. We will be hated no matter what by certain elements of the world population. Your same argument could have been made to not drop the Atomic bombs on Japan. That future generations would hate us for it. Heck, your line of reasoning could be used to argue against ever using any force against any enemies foreign or domestic.......don’t make them mad at us, they’ll hate us. It’s like the liberal parent that doesn’t punish their children because they don’t want to be hated by them. Or like how the liberals are for being soft on criminals because they don’t want the criminals being even angrier at society. It’s bogus. Pure BS.