This had nothing whatsoever to do with a stupid grudge, even though assassination is an act of war.
It had everything to do with the fact that the regime had never completed its end of the deal made in the 1991 cease fire, and the deal was to provide a full and complete accounting of its weapons and fully cooperate with UN inspectors in destroying what Iraq itself claimed it had in its possession. Another term of the cease fire agreement and the followup UN resolutions was to immediately return all persons Iraq had captured in the Iran-Iraq war as well as the Gulf War. Instead Iraq refused to return POWs it had captured and we effectively abandoned those people until finally we invaded more than a decade later.
Bush Sr. made a horrendous mistake by letting Powell sign the cease fire before Schwarzkopf had finished destroying the Republican Guard; he then made another when the remnants of the Republican Guard were allowed to crush the rebellions that rose in the wake of Iraq’s defeat. Another mistake Bush Sr made was in not forcing the return of the POWs [Kuwaiti and Iranian]before the election, leaving that up to whoever was going to win. Now he probably did it because he thought he would win and be able to take care of it later, but if so he hadn’t been paying attention to the base of his party which consisted of people who knew we’d be back eventually to deal with Iraq since we left it unfinished... and people who felt equally disgusted by his reneging on his no new taxes pledge.
Seriously, what do you think we are supposed to do when a defeated nation reneges on a cease fire agreement? Just shrug it off and keep our end of the bargain to no avail, losing all credibility? What effect is that limpwristedness going to have in future confrontations with any country?
Iraq never cooperated with the inspections, did not provide an accounting of its weapons that could be confirmed, and instead, in 1993, Iraq, a nation which had long harbored Abu Nidal, was involved in bombing the World Trade Center in NY City. After the bombing the FBI let slip one of the perps who hotfooted it back to Iraq where he was given a hero’s welcome, a house, and a retirement package. What punishment was ever dealt to Iraq for that bombing, in which the perpetrators had hoped to topple one tower onto the other and kill 50,000 people?
Nothing was done, of course, because we got lucky when the terrorists placed their explosives in the wrong spot, and Clinton was able to pass off treating an act of war as a mere criminal endeavor. But getting away with it emboldened Iraq.
So Iraq, [and Iran and Sudan] saw another opportunity in Somalia [which has uranium resources] to strike the UN and US through a proxy, a warlord named Aidid. A number of Aidid’s followers were trained by Iraq, Iran and al Qaeda for this purpose. Bin Laden in 1992 had already imported some 3000 experienced Yemeni fighters , veterans of the war in Afghanistan, to Somalia to meddle in that country’s civil war. This alliance bore fruit and they were able to deliver a sufficiently sharp blow that the publicity-conscious Clinton blinked and withdrew our forces in 94, leaving Somalia a failed state suitable for training ever larger groups of terrorists and for preying on commercial shipping. Our retreat from Somalia with our tail twixt our legs is what inspired bin Laden to begin planning 911....though there would be many attacks between this point and 9/11, and with both Iraq and Iran making further inroads into Africa along with al Qaeda and the help of Sudan’s NIF. Iran brought in IRGC to train Sudan’s janjaweed fighters that would cause so much havoc later in the Christian south and in Darfur. Iraq intended to bypass UN inspectors by conducting its weapons research and production in Sudan. Sudan’s NIF was so bold that its leader made trips to visit jihadi cells in Florida associated with Islamic Jihad, and that’s where Al Arian was pursuing a process of successful political infiltration of our government.
To think that any of this crap was going to stop escalating simply by the US ignoring it is ridiculous.
“Bush Sr. made a horrendous mistake by letting Powell sign the cease fire before Schwarzkopf had finished destroying the Republican Guard”
“Our retreat from Somalia with our tail twixt our legs is what inspired bin Laden to begin planning 911.”
Thanks for that, piasa.
If GW truly believed in his decisions and subsequent actions, he should have DEFENDED them! Instead he pretty much gave credence to what is NOW the HISTORICAL narrative! Even Jeb runs from his legacy. So...what is the truth? According to the Bush Family the left has it correct as they concur with them.