Dude, yer right that I'm new here but actually I'm registered non-partisan. I can tell you this though, I have a number of friends from Virginia, Texas, Georgia, Tennessee and Fla. Most of whom are Republicans. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM initially supported the war over two things and two things only, the potential for WMDs in Iraq and the possible involvement of Saddam in 911 and cooperation between him and Al Quada. None of them gave a damn about liberating Iraq. If you take away WMDs and the 911 connection, what are you left with? Answer: Not much. If it's about fighting terrorism "over there" rather than here, then what's wrong with sticking to Afghanistan? Wouldn't one theater of operation be better than two? (You could ask Hitler about the wisdom of the two-theater strategy, if he was still around). Forces can be concentrated in one theater. Most Afghans want us there because they hate the Taliban. But I digress. Your question, as I understood it anyway, is essentially why would Saddam interfere with the UN inspection teams so much if he had nothing to hide? Maybe I got that wrong but either way it's a legit question. If you read Duelfer's report you'll find his answer, which is that Saddam was bluffing and that was part of the bluff. He didn't have WMDs and officially he said just that, however, he wanted Israel and Iran to think he did have them to deter an attack by them. Sounds kind of wac but then this is Saddam we're talkin' 'bout. If so, it backfired on him. Unfortunately, it seems the Pres. and VP and neoconservatives all took that bait. The question now, as the bodies are still piling up (um, including GIs, dude), is if it was really worth it. The jury is still out on that, in my view.
I have friends as well, and we all feel pretty good about killing terrorists over there and the fact that there has been no further attacks on our soil. And there have been attempts. Your ability to think on a higher plain is because our people are out there protecting us. I don't have a problem with that.
I feel we had to go into Iraq and get rid of Saddam no matter what. He made the region unstable. He was funding terrorism and making a mockery of the United Nations.
It wasn't just about WMD in my opinion. The war didn't start in March 2003. It started when Saddam invaded Kuwait. He signed a ceasefire agreement and refused to follow the UN Resolutions for nearly 12 years. He attacked the Kurds, moved his troops towards Kuwait and moved across Jordan border. Why were the No Fly Zones created? Saddam thought the NFZ were illegal and shot at US/UK war planes constantly.
Saddam tried to destablize Kurdish autonomy in Northern Iraq. He resented the Kurds having their own autonomy and tried his best to undermined it. Iraqi Intelligence Service gave aid and comfort to Ansar al-Islam terrorist group who were trying to set up strict Islamic society in the region and to wipe out the secular Kurdish government.
If we just stayed in Afghanistan saying the Mission is Accomplished that would give us a false sense of security. You know al Queda would retreat to Iraq. That was their next hide out or around the world. You want to keep terrorist on the run. Take the battle to them and they won't have the time or the resources to terrorize our shores. It cost them money to wage war too. Bankrupt them. Put them out of business.
Remember Al Queda declared war on the United States. They want a fight....lets give them a fight. They saw the atheist Soviet Union fall down they're waiting to see if the evil United States fall apart too. Then we will go back into the dark ages for sure.
How about President Clinton bombing Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in 1998? The Administration thought Iraqi Intelligence was working with al Queda in Sudan. Richard Clarke was dead certain that VX nerve gas was being made there.
http://www.slate.com/id/2098102/
http://www.slate.com/id/2097901/
How about Salman Pak Training Camp in Iraq. Iraq Intelligence were training terrorist there.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iraq/salman_pak.htm
How about the Duelfer's CIA Report. IIS Undeclared Research on Poisons and Toxins for Assassination
http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/chap5_annxA.html
Many assassinations attempts were tried on Bush Sr, Clinton, the Pope, Mubarak President of Egypt...just to name a few.
Why did President Clinton launched Desert Fox in 1998 against Saddam's WMD? Why were the UN inspectors kicked out?
And the corruption of the UN Oil for Food Program. Bribing the international community to get him out of UN sanctions and manipulating the system to his favor. He was profiting from under the table deals and re-establishing his military power. Meanwhile he lived in gaudy palaces while he withheld food and medicine from his people. Many Iraqis lost their lives because Saddam killed them intentionally for propaganda value. He was using them as pawns to tell the world they were suffering from sanctions caused by US.
Do really think containing Saddam in a box would really work and kept the world safe? Or would we postponing the inevitable? He was the WMD! As soon he got out of those sanctions he would restart his WMD program and start causing trouble again. What would happen if his sons took over his Regime? They were nutter than he was.
http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/transcripts/2003/mar/030303.watson.html