This got me thinking. What did Saddam Hussein do to us?

Question

I just learned about Saddam's hanging. My husband and I were talking about it, and he asked, "What did Saddam do to us to make us hunt for him?' I know what he did to his own people, but why did we spend our money going after him?

Another thing. What has Iraq done for us to justify spending billions to put their country back together? Sure, we went in and destroyed everything, but why do we have to fix it?? Japan didn't fix Pearl Harbor, Iraq didn't fix Kuwait, so WHY ARE WE FIXING IRAQ???

Answer 1

Well, the USA has big investments in the Middle East..... especially in Saudia Arabia. We have miles of pipeline laid there. Iraq invaded Kuwait and Iran in the 90's. Saddam made it very clear he wanted to control the Middle East and its vast oil reserves. If he could, he would have theb US in his court. Also, think tanks on both sides of the Atlantic were absolutely certain he was developing nuclear weapons and would use them. The first Pres. Bush kicked Iraq's butt out of Kuwait . Those very close to him now say he laments not marching on Baghdad then, but he thought the Iraqiis would overthrow the Sunni stronghold. Wrong thinking. So, Dubya decided to go in and finish what his dad started. Look, be glad Saddam is gone. He and his sons' idea of fun was the put people into a wood chipper feet first. When they got bored with that atrosity, they would put them in head first. We desperately need a sound government in Iraq. They need to fend off Iran and Syria. You can bet they are cheering for the US to withdraw so they can go in. That would be very bad news for all Americans.

Answer 2

In the words of Stephen Colbert, "Didn't taking Saddam out feel like the right thing?"

I don't think anyone really knows why. He was, however, a brutal tryant and commited mass genocide. Don't get me wrong, though, I'm no fan of the Bush administation and the War in Iraq goes against everything I stand for. But Saddam did not deserve to be in power. It just wasn't any of the US's business.

As for why the US are helping fix up Iraq, that's what the they do. They destroy countries and try to make it lood like they're doing some good by fixing it up afterwards.

I love America, but their policies are really screwed up and the Government is crazy corrupt.

Answer 3

If you look at Iraq now vs the time we entered it, you can in no way suggest we are "FIXING IRAQ".

If anything, our involvement has Broken the country.
Now the moral question:
Do we fix/help fix, because of a moral obligation following our actions ?

btw:
-Were would the Japanese get the resouces from, after being defeated in war, to fix Pearl Harbor ?
-Iraq was sued by Kuwait for recovery.
-Saddam did nothing to us.-- in fact he was once an ally to us.

However, the board bias is likely to agree with you -- it's skewing nationalistic.

Answer 4

When George Bush Sr. was in office he wanted to start a war with us and he tried to go after him, he failed obviously lol But then George W. Bush got into office and wanted to make daddy happy so he figured that after 911 happened it was a perfect situation to go after him, so he made up some stuff like he had weapons of mass destruction and went after him, so he did nothing to us recently, and i think the only reason they are rebuilding Iraq is so they will give us their Oil.

Answer 5

Very observant of the asker, hats off. Now my answer.
Saddam did nothing to warrant what we did to him or more importantly the people of Iraq.Therefore the right thing to do is repair what we did intentionally without reason.Example : If I were to wake up one morning and found a scratch on my car and thought you my next door neighbor did it and destroyed your car only to find out you didn't put the scratch on my car I should replace you car, shouldn't I? It's that gut feeling we get that we try to suppress so often its called a conscious.

Answer 6

The reason we went after Saddam was the 911 bombing. He paid the terrorist group to come after us.

As for helping rebuild Iraq, we are playing the Good Samaritan; trying to help someone in need because we can.

Answer 7

well we did invade their country. it wasn't an act of warfare (no declaration of war, went in there to "liberate" people, not to battle them, etc). and saddam was trying to take over/subdue kuwait so it worked he would have had to fix if eventually

Saddam was a jerk. it is argued that he was an anti- American jerk who was coming after us, building weapons, getting ready for the attack, and trying to create chaos in the region so that other countries would join him against to the us. do i believe that? no. But he did try to kill Bush's dad. so i guess it was personal to someone.

Answer 8

Well for one thing it is good for us because it has created jobs for us as well. Not only have we sent people over to help rebuild we also supply material as well. As for Saddam not doing anything to us. Maybe not directly he didn't but indirectly he did and we have to think of our future as well. As for us being over there, we were there for humanitarian reasons not to hunt him down. That was the States and England's job. But we are in Afghanistan hunting down Bin Laden because he too is a threat to our society. By the way I am Canadian.

Answer 9

That is what they said back in WW 2. We turn our backs, and what was happening to the jews. Saddam killed a lot of people. Kids, woman , young men, old men, mothers and fathers, babys

Answer 10

Politicians are doing many bad things to humanity on wrong assumptions plus 'might is right'. Talk to the historians directly, you may find some guidance.