There are so many other dictators in the world, why did Bush pick Saddam to oust?

Question

Some other dictators that maim, oppress,kill and threaten children, women etc are in Bhutan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Zimbabwe, Korea, Turkmenistan etc.
Now we know Saddam had NOTHING to do with 911, but the hijackers were from Saudi... so out of all the dictators why did Bush pick Saddam?

Answer 1

Oil and this as well
Bush 41 had encouraged the overthrow of Saddam after the 1st Gulf War in 1991. The rebellion was crushed but I think this might have pissed Saddam off so, in 1994 he attempted to have Bush 41 assassinated. The plot was foiled.
While Bush 43 was running he had been heard to say that he wanted Saddam because ' he tried to kill my daddy'.
A part of the claim other than the shifting sands arguments (WMD, 9/11 inference etc), they also said that Iraq violated UN sanctions. This was not a good excuse, our ally Israel has violated UN sanctions 66 times.
I see one of the lemmings claimed Bush never said Saddam and 9/11 were connected but this is not the truth. Both himself and his attack dog, Dick Cheney and members of his administration inferred that all through the run up to war and until last year when he finally admitted that Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11

Answer 2

Iran is a Democracy
We have thousands of troops in South Korea and the North has been monitored by the US and Japan military continuously for the past 56 years.
Zimbabwe is supposedly a Democracy
I have no idea what we could gain from ousting the Bhutanese government. They are fairly inocuous.
Saudi Arabia is an ally in the region and the US has military bases there, it probably wouldn't be a good precedent to set by toppling a regime which allows your military to set up there an monitor the region
I don't know about Turkmenistan.

Saddam was clearly the rogue elephant with the most possibility to cause a problem - He has attacked the countries of Iran, Kuwait and Israel when he had the possibility. There was no reason to think he was reformed.

Answer 3

Iran is a Democracy we've thousands of troops in South Korea and the North has been monitored via employing the U. S. and Japan protection stress constantly for the previous fifty six years. Zimbabwe is supposedly a Democracy I truthfully have no concept what we could earnings from ousting the Bhutanese government. they are quite inocuous. Saudi Arabia is an ultimate chum indoors the section and the U. S. has protection stress bases there, it probable does no longer be a sturdy precedent to set via employing toppling a regime which permits your protection stress to ascertain there an video prepare the section i do no longer comprehend approximately Turkmenistan. Saddam grew to become of direction the rogue elephant with the main danger to reason a topic - He has attacked the worldwide places of Iran, Kuwait and Israel mutually as he had the possibility. there grew to become no reason to think of of he grew to become reformed.

Answer 4

Saddam violated UN sanctions numerous times (17, I believe), shot at American pilots in the no-fly zone (each time and act of war), and actually used WMDs on his own people.

The fact that we have so far not found WMDs does not negate the fact that Saddam had them. You must have had whatever it was you used. Did he use them all up? I would like to believe so, but lacking Saddam's cooperation, it's really hard to say.

Shooting at military folks is an act of war. Saddam instructed his troops to shoot at us in the no-fly zone. Just because his troops were piss-poor shots does not negate the seriousness of the charge. That alone is enough to declare war.

Also, when you violate the UN sanctions for 12 years, how many more chances should he have gotten to violate their sanctions? How many more years? I don't like war, but without teeth, sanctions have no merit. Children figure this out at 5. If they don't get punished, what happens to that child? Does his temperament improve or worsen? We absolutely could not afford to chance that Saddam was going to ever play nicely, given his history and his even worse children ready to take over.

I really wish that Saddam had chosen to play nicely from the beginning because then this whole problem would be moot.

Answer 5

Two reasons:
1. For years many people criticzed Bush's father (the first President Bush) for not ousting Saddam in the Gulf War
2. At the time of the Gulf War, reportedly Saddam tried to organize an assassination of Bush's father.

Answer 6

Bush never made the claim that Iraq was tied to 9/11. That is yet another case where if a lie is repeated enough times, then it is believed to be true.

Saddam used wmd's in the past, and had the connections and will to have terrorists use them when he did develop them. That is what pre-emption is. Besdies, we have had a cold war with Iran since the Carter Administration, and with Afghanistan down for the count, going after Iraq lets us squeeeze Iran in the middle.

Answer 7

How about Hitler? He was the Worse! Sir Toppin Hat had some big Issues About that. Gordon the big blue engine knew about hitler... Guess Hitler Killed him self with eva too. Why would bush do that to saddam? Wish Gordon was the first Train President!

Answer 8

One at a time, dearie! By the way, the terrorists were mostly Saudi, but they trained in an airplane fuselage at a terrorist training camp in Fallujah. I guess other than training, financing, allowing safe haven for, and recruiting the 9/11 terrorists, Saddam and his organization had nothing to do with 9/11.
PS, does the tooth fairy come to your house too?

Answer 9

Personal, oil, paper tiger saddam was easy picking, to scare Iran. One or all of the above?

Answer 10

oil, i agree with mike
saudia arabia has oil but Iraq is smaller and less powerful than saudi arabia, plus some of the citizens opposed their rule