Quote:
Originally Posted by Coltaine
Acutally the real problem was, that Saddam did destroy his WMD but had no proof of doing so.
Normally when you destroy weapons, you have whitnesses there to confirm it so you can compare the lists and say, "no more weapons here".
So when Irak destroyed some of there weapons and then later made all information availible, there where items missing from the list. But due to the process of disclosing the information, it was nearly certain that Sadam was telling the truth when he said there are no wMD left.
All things following that last "final and complete Report" was due to the missing stockpiles. The UN Inspectors investigated numerous reports from intelligence services from all kinds of countrys without ever finding anything.
One of the reasons it was said there are maybe still something left is, because there where so many reports, they where not yet checked all, but most of the unchecked reports where very far fetched.

So i would say, this war started because Saddam DID destroy the WMD but had no proof of doing so. And because the US has not wanted to believe into the ability of the UN Inspectors. What the reason for that is, is open for speculation.

As for Terrorist support, i have yet to see clear evidence of that. I only ever hear it repeated again and again and no, i don't count Bush saying so evidence.


I think, just like any major decision like this, that there were many reasons the Bush Administration used to justify invasion (in no particular order):

1. Fear of existing WMDs

2. Fear of future WMDs being developed there and proliferated

3. Pissed that the first Gulf War didn't turn out the way they'd hoped, with Saddam still in power, us screwing things up and letting the Kurds and Shiites being stomped on by allowing Saddam to still fly helicopters, etc.

4. The massive human rights violations by Saddam going back for decades, including the use of chemical weapons on his own people (genocide, etc.)

5. Wanting a base of operations for the United States to fight terrorism in the Middle East before it, say, in the next decade came here; in other words, slow down the spread of terrorism. I remember one soldier being interviewed during the invasion and saying "Well, it sucks to be here, but I'd rather shoot terrorists here, now, then at home in 10 years." Now, one could argue it made things worse and we'll have more and more terrorism here *because* of the invasion, but regardless, I think that was their thinking.

6. The opportunity to protect the oil supplies there (and to use them for both our profit and to help re-build Iraq -- there's no easy black and white here -- there are certainly people who want the oil for our own use only, but I also know there are people who genuinely want to see Iraq re-built, modernized, people educated, have health care, not suffer atrocities, etc. and that's going to cost a ton of money and being able to tap into Iraq's oil helps pay for that big time).

7. The opportunity (and this is related to #6) to take advantage of Iraq needed to be rebuilt and American and other countries corporations being able to go in there and rebuild Iraq, both helping the people there and also making big profits (again -- no simple black and white -- profit was certainly a motive, but so also was helping the people there -- no government or corporation is made up of only evil or good people; rather there is a mixture). Of course, with the insufficient troops and money post-invasion and the screw up underestimating the degree to which insurgents would wreak havoc, these companies, with good or bad motives, have had a very hard time re-building Iraq because it's damn dangerous to be there working to re-build the country, both for the employees of these countries and the Iraqi citizens who accept employment (and who are then slaughtered by insurgents as traitors).

And there are probably more reasons. People like to simplify why nations do things like invade Iraq -- one side says it was all for oil and profits and the other purely to help the people and free them from an evil dictator. Life, reality, and geo-politics, however, seem to muddy these simplistic arm chair judgments and assessments.


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