I think it was a surprise to all our leaders to realize that democracy/freedom cannot coexist with Islam.
At least Saddam kept Islamic radicals under control. At least he kept Christians in Iraq relatively safe.
You’re absolutely right. One good thing about Saddam, the Shah of Iran, and some of the other military dictators in the Mideast is that they recognized women had rights in society, that religious minorities deserved protection, and that Islamist extremism was a threat to them and could not be allowed to obtain power. Thus, it was idiotic that Cheney believed that Saddam was in cahoots with AlQaeda, they were far more of an immediate threat to him than to us. I don’t think GW Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld or the lot of them here had the slightest appreciation for this and as usual, out touted CIA was a total flop; they relied on the opinions of exiled crooks like Ahmed Chalabi who had no public support in Iraq. The result was that a public opinion poll in Iraq a couple of years after the US invasion of Iraq showed that the US had all of 2 percent public approval for what it had done.
Or perhaps “democracy” for these countries was just a ruse for war.That makes more sense to me when you consider the same Establishment, yes, Deep State, used the religion’s (obvious) incompatibility with democracy as their excuse to keep Iraq locked in war with Iran and otherwise supporting strongmen in the region for the decades preceding.
” Bush isn’t particularly bright, but he was also under the influence of his father and Dick Cheney who believe—”
Don’t blame W’s father. Bush Sr. tried to talk his son out of invading Iraq. Remember, Bush Sr. declined to invade Iraq after he kicked the Iraqis out of Kuwait. Bush Sr. was smart enough to see that invading Iraq would create chaos and tie us down in the country for decades. His son didn’t understand that.
I’m not a big fan of any of the Bushes, but Bush Sr. was brighter than W.