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Times relies on those who failed to oppose the Iraq War for piece on why the War started. [1]
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Date: 2023-03-19
The NY Times is scratching its grey head today: 20 Years On: Why did we invade Iraq?
Sorry, but it’s blindingly obvious. The War and its run-up were for crude political reasons: Using post-9/11 trauma to support Bush and Republicans. It worked, as the 2002 midterms and 2004 election showed.
The article admits the grounds for the War were false: There were no WMD and no Saddam ties to 9/11. It concludes several factors motivated it: PNAC, 9/11 revenge, “installing democracy.” It does not cite the Tom Friedman “Suck on this” rationale, a corollary to the Bush political rationale. See this. Most “head scratching” is from “liberal hawks” looking for a post-hoc excuse
What interested me were two of their sources: Richard Haass, Director of Policy Planning at the State Department when the War started, and later head of the Council on Foreign Relations, and writer George Packer, who supported the invasion.
Haass said he had doubts about the invasion before it started, but failed to speak out or resign. Packer admitted he was wrong in a 2005 book.
The piece appears to omit cites from anyone who opposed the war at the time. They are still and will always be, dirty hippies left out in favor of those who were wrong.
Any analysis of the Iraq War should include two neglected but despicable truths:
1. The War was unnecessary because UN weapons inspectors were in Iraq in March 2003 and without the War would have discovered no WMD. This truth is so important that Bush had to lie about it in his book, saying Saddam kicked out the inspectors. Since the 9/11 rationale was crap, eliminating the WMD rationale destroys any excuse for supporting the War in March 2003.
2. As for Saddam and 9/11, the Bush administration tortured to elicit false support for the connection. Torturing for false confessions lacks even a “ticking time bomb” rationale and brings us back to the 15th century. This should not be forgotten.
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/19/2159088/-Times-relies-on-those-who-failed-to-oppose-the-Iraq-War-for-piece-on-why-the-War-started
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