War in Iraq:
Wrong, All Wrong

This article about the U. S. war in Iraq, started by the Bush administration, will be short.   There are many other commentaries on this disaster that are longer, more detailed, and written by smarter people. 

Three points about the war in Iraq

One. Twenty years from now every American -- except for a few fringe dingbats -- will ask: "What the hell were they thinking when they went to war in Iraq?"
 

Two. They lied to get us into the war in Iraq. 

• The lies that the Bush administration told to get us into the war in Iraq have been documented time and again. 
• Here is a link to the lies they told us about "weapons of mass destruction."
• Not only did Bush and Cheney lie, they coerced the only honorable man in the Bush administration -- Colin Powell -- to lie.
• The Bush administration cooked the intelligence books -- they disregarded the National Intelligence Estimate, which is the best judgment of the entire U. S. intelligence community.
   

Three.  They had no plan to get out. 

• Japan attacked the U. S. in December 1941, thereby bringing us actively into World War II.  Within 18 months -- mid-1942 -- the U. S. had a 400-page plan for what to do after the end of the war.  Prior to starting the war in Iraq, the Bush administration had no plan at all -- not one page -- on post-war Iraq.
• The Bush administration was convinced that Saddam would fall almost without a fight, the Iraqi people would welcome us with "flowers and sweets," and people who had fought each other for generations would embrace as long-lost cousins.
• Did the Bush administration think for one minute:
  • that poor, oppressed people would loot everything in sight?  No, they didn't plan on that.
  • that ethnic, tribal, or sectarian fighting would break out and could not be contained?  Nothing of the sort ever entered their minds.
  • that if we claimed we were in charge, the people would expect us to be in charge -- and provide things like electricity, water, sewer, food, and law and order?  Looks like they struck out on that, too.
• The only thing the Bush administration had was a theory -- that if Iraq fell, the rest of the Middle East would fall in line with the U. S.

Bush's accomplishments in Iraq

So, you ask, did George W. Bush accomplish anything with the war in Iraq?  Yes, of course he did.   Here is a list of Bush's accomplishments in Iraq.

• On 11 September 2001, Osama bin Laden's guys attacked the United States.  He killed over 3,000 non-combatants, destroyed a huge piece of one of our major cities, and caused us uncountable economic loss.  All this led the President to declare a war on terror and to declare that he will track down Osama wherever he may be. 
  • By starting a war in Iraq, George Bush diverted resources and attention away from the search for Osama bin Laden. 
  • The terrorist experts at the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated that by October 2001, over 20,000 "jihadis" had been trained by Osama.  IISS estimates 2,000 have been killed or captured during the "war on terror."  This means that over 90 percent of bin Laden's guys are still out there somewhere -- and now they are even more pissed off at us because of our attack on an Islamic state. 
  • Mission accomplished my ass.
     
• By going to war in Iraq and distracting our attention and resources from the war on terror,  Bush turned his back on an enemy that had actually attacked the U. S. and went after a third-rate piss-ant nation that had done nothing to us.
   
• By going to war in Iraq, George Bush attacked an Islamic state that had not attacked us and that had no such capability.  People who had no interest in killing Americans and who had no Americans nearby that they could kill are now determined to kill as many Americans as they can.

Nice job, George, you idiot.  Can you imagine what he will do with four more years?