There were, at least, two lines of reasoning that were used in the leadup to the invasion of Iraq.
1. Iraq violated UN resolutions and sanctions, which is true, but did not merit a full-scale invasion of ground troops.
2. Iraq had an active WMD program which was false, but did merit a full-scale invasion because of the risk that WMDs would fall into the hands of terrorists, and in light of 9/11, this was intolerable. <-— So here is the 9/11 connection, used as a basis for an invasion of Iraq.
One might ask why North Korea was not similarly invaded because they also fell under 1 and 2 above.
As a former Bush supporter, I supported all efforts of the Bush Administration in the WOT. To me, they could do no wrong because war is never clean. Now the Middle East is a mess and Obama is to blame for that. Trump is right, Saddam was a bad guy but he kept Iran in check, thereby stabilizing the region.
What is uncomfortable is the “Bush lied, people died” meme blasted over and over again by such traitorous scum to America, to have to appear to agree with them? I don’t agree with them because democrats would have been against anything Bush or any republican president would do. If Bush had said we will not invade Iraq, democrats would have accused him of being in cahoots with Saddam, etc. I give them no credit whatsoever.
Even adjusting for the fact is that “Bush erred, and people were misled”, look at the result. We have a political system that is incapable of long-term occupations unless we have broken the spirit of the regions we occupy (Japan, Germany). Put it this way, if Bush had said we are going to do like the Romans and enslave the entire Arab population, put them on freight cars and move them to gulags and outlaw their awful religion, I would have supported it. But America is incapable of doing that. So then, what was the point of invading Iraq?
We could have leveled Saddam’s palaces and any other targets of opportunity to let him know we mean business, but occupy Iraq when their people are still carrying on business as usual? And then all it takes is for a democrat to occupy the White House before all hell breaks loose again. So we don’t have the political system to do what we did unless we have a dictator, and we don’t.
I have an ongoing argument with my brother who is a Green Beret and a wounded combat veteran, and his best friend, a highly decorated and also wounded combat veteran, about Vietnam. I, as a Rickover selected engineer and combat veteran (but never wounded) tell them that we lost Vietnam. They maintain we won there militarily, to which I say we abandoned the field to the enemy, we lost.
Same in Iraq. We won militarily, but we lost to the enemy. No matter how someone spins it, Bush is a loser. No matter how one spins it, Bush did not keep America safe on his watch. Some say, well, he didn’t have time to get the country together. Trump disagrees. After the 1st WTC bombing (1993), and after knowing Osama Bin Laden was going to find a way to attack America (which Trump predicted in 2000), America could have gone on a war footing and rounded up any and all suspects to terrorism; political correctness be damned. But Bush didn’t want to make waves, which is a family trait, and we paid the price.
I am ready to get behind Trump who I know without doubt, is a patriot and who loves our vets. There’s not even a question of that.
Trump has predicted there will be more 9/11’s, even worse. I believe him.
And I can guarangoddamtee anyone that if there should ever be a mushroom cloud over an American city, all the Trump trolls will scurry like cockroaches into hiding.
Excellent post!