NOW do you guys get why we're in Iraq?

Question

As a libertarian I completely sympathize with the arguments made against our occupation because they're based on the assumption that America is there for the here and now. Oil, democracy, Bush's legacy, yada yada yada. We've all heard this, but the fact of the matter is that there are much more important things out there than the here and now.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070222/ts_nm/afghan_hekmatyar_dc

When Yahoo! decides to post this story on the front page, you know that there are celebrations going on across the board over our pull out in Iraq. That's right, I said Iraq. Yahoo! wouldn't post this if the issue was Afghanistan since it would make it appear as pro-terror.

Regardless, by pulling out of Iraq, the US will be telling the world that our image isn't backed by character and that we had been clueless in our operations all along. Departure will make a huge chink in our credibility (more than our entry and campaign).

Conservatives, I wish you had been more attentive to your efforts and scrutinized the left’s actions more so this hadn’t devolved into a divisive shouting match. The Republican Party will be on the ropes for the next 15 years because of your poor job in both the Congress and Presidency as well as in state governments nationwide. Hopefully, your investments in intelligence, law, and economics will pay off, but I don’t see anything good in your future unless the Democrats manage to lose control of their extensive and expansive political base.

Liberals, this means you too. Don’t think you’re exempt from America’s failings or the world’s opinion of our country. You can claim you were on the right side all you want, but by not supporting our efforts you prove to the world that you don’t believe in your country and that democracy has gotten the better of us.

Also, I’ve often considered what would happen to America if the conservatives decided to just up and leave our great country. Would the nation really be able to defend itself with such a vacuum of national pride and spirit or would the liberals realize quickly enough that they would need to step it up and defend our great land? Curiously, isn’t globalization a form of diversification and departure of American businesses and resources from American soil? More so, aren’t the Bohemian Bourgeoisie (David Brooks hits it dead on here) dependent upon those in charge in politics, culture, civics, finance, and economics for their position and livelihoods?

America, it’s been fun and all, but the age of the nationstate is about to expire (China? You’re kidding me, right?). God bless America? Hah.

God bless mankind.

Answer 1

We invaded Iraq not because Saddam was strong and an immediate threat but rather he was weak, problematic and control of Iraq and it’s resources would be strategically advantageous.
The tactical reasons are obvious. The Oil and Iraq’s strategic location from the stand point of military bases in order to control oil resources in the entire region.
The political motives are more complex.
Bush Junior and his cabinet for the most part objected to Bush senior leaving Sadam in power after the first Gulf war.
Sanctions started by Bush Sr. and carried on by two terms in office by Clinton had left Iraq in a terrible state in which corrupt government continued to prosper and carry out excesses against any that would oppose them, all the while at the expense of the people who perished to the tune of 1.5 million or more( mostly children) due primarily to lack of proper nutrition , lack of potable water, and lack of proper Medical attention all of which Saddam was able to blame on the West’s policy of Sanctions.
The motivation for them to carry out the invasion when they did and the way that they did was 9/11.
“Make hay while the sun shines”
Prior to 9/11 another major military invasion into Iraq was a hard sell to make to the American people.
In the words of PNAC (the Neo Conservative “ Project for the New American Century” ) an event on the order of Pearl Harbor was needed in order gain the public support required to do so .
So it was not so much because they thought Iraq was responsible for 9/11 but more because 9/11 enabled them to gain the public support they needed to carry out the invasion.
Again it was the OIL and Military bases they were/are ultimately after, WMD and Alkaeda connections were used as tools of propaganda and 9/11 served to justify and bolster the propaganda . IMHO The Administration felt confident it would be easy enough to find a couple of Al Kaeda members in the general population and enough WMD bits and pieces scattered about to back up their rhetoric once they demonstrated to the world that a thriving and secure Iraq was setting an outstanding model of Democracy in the Mid East.

Considering what actually developed out of all this the only honorable course of action left is that of reconciliation, reconstruction, and repairing the public security as best we can without overtly taking sides or trying to micro-manage a Civil War.
Unfortunately Iraqi’s have been left with little alternative but to fight it out till it burns out and some power emerges that restores public security.
This is not a solution but rather a situation that has arisen out of circumstance.
Plans of continuing on with overt demands for Private US oil exploitation, political manipulation and usury as a Military base of operations to expand the war on into Iran and Syria have been dashed by shear ineptitude, dishonesty and deceit carried out by the Administration.
Once some reasonable measure of public security is established the most we can ethically ask of the people of Iraq at this juncture is a reasonable guarantee that they will not engage in all the terrible untrue things we accused them of engaging in as a premise to blow their infrastructure and public security to smithereens in the first place.