Do you think President Bush thought up the Iraq invasion or someone pushed him into it?

Answer 1

The strategy leading into the war with Iraq was anticipated prior to the 2000 presidential campaign and President Bush was part and partial to that strategy.
He may not have been the Author but he was certainly supportive of carrying out the plan and implementing the attack once given the opportunity.
In retrospect it might be surmised that we invaded Iraq not because Saddam was strong and an immediate threat but rather he was militarily weak and had not even begun to recover a viable fighting force after the first Gulf War, He was an unpopular , ruthless, problematic, dictator, 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 resources and dominate the political structure of the entire region. Presumably for the furtherment of peace, Democracy and prosperity in the Mid East.
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 to 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 and implement the mission statement of the Project for a New American Century (PNAC).
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 enough 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 a model of Democracy in the Mid East.
This has proven to be a far more difficult task than the Administration ever imagined and the primary reason for this is none other than how they chose their intelligence , how that intelligence was propagandized as well as cherry picking military leadership and the de-bathification program with Bremmer at the helm in Iraq..

Answer 2

I don't think he thought up the war against Iraq but I do think once there was the slightest reason to go into war against them he was going to push it as hard as possible. If you remember during Dessert Storm they found a Bomb underneath his Dad's car so the Bush's had it in for Saddam. Plus I do think Bush used 9/11 to pry on the American People's hurt as a reason to back him for the war. Why would you attack a country that wasn't the country the attack came from? Also, why would you defy the UN and Congress?

Answer 3

That's a dumb question, no one thought up the Iraq war, it was a product of enforcing the 17 UN resolutions that Saddam Hussien disregarded.

Answer 4

He probably thinks he thought of it, but the Project for a New American Century had it on its agenda over a year before anyone even knew who GWB was outside of Texas. So I believe it would have happened even if RIchard Simmons were president, with his longtime companion Chuck Norris as VP. It just might have lacked the special personal note of dementia that Dubya gives it...

Answer 5

You might remeber that back in the early nineties, Bush's father invaded Iraq. My father thinks that Bush wanted to finish what his father started...

Answer 6

Oh stop, do you really think he's smart enough to think of anything other than how to put on his own pants ??

Answer 7

this foreign issue is not new. he didn't "Think it up" but most of us are still amazed he marched through Bagdad..

Answer 8

Yes, his daddy and best friend Rice............

Answer 9

god pushed him into it.