Why do you think our government felt it neccessary to invade Iraq?

Question

We have been there a long time. Do you think they really feared it to have weapons of mass destruction, or something else?

I really don't know I am just curious.

Answer 1

Dear Megan,
Set aside any political ideations and pay attention solely to the facts.
First you must go back to the 1970s when Jimmy Carter was president. The economy was floundering miserably. Inflation was at an all time high and without better insight or advice, he felt it necessary to cut government spending to try and bring things back under control... What he cut was the budget to the CIA. He also passed laws making illegal, spying on countries who were less than friendly toward us. In the stroke of a pen, he left this country blind on intel. and dependent upon the good graces of foreign intel services. The world was changing and Iran, once an ally, was now our enemy.
Move ahead to the Reagan administration. Iran was at war with Iraq and the thought process was that anyone who shares a common enemy must be "friends." Reagan sold WMD technology to Iraq, who then used it on the Kurds of Iraq as well as the Iranians. Ships passing through the region became targets by both sides regardless of port of origin. The world's oil supply was being threatened. Reagan reflagged the foreign oil tankers and provided them with U.S. Navy escort.
Bush (Sr.) took office and Iraq invaded Kuwait. Iraq was looking to expand their oil fields and gain a sea port. The U.N. did nothing. Bush sent George Shultz to a number of countries and worked up a coalition of militaries to push Iraq back across their border. The U.N. at last stepped forward and brokered the cease fire agreement.
Bush left office and Clinton took over. In that cease fire agreement were provisions allowing for inspections of Iraqi weapons and war making capabilities, a "No-Fly Zone" and a Food For Oil program.
The weapons inspectors were constantly denied access and were given no support either by the U.N. or Clinton. The first chief inspector resigned in complete and utter disgust.
The "No-Fly Zone" too was a joke. Iraqi missile sites were constantly lighting up their radar on U.S. aircraft in the region and a number of Iraqi soldiers lost their lives whe those sites were shut down via missiles or bombings.
The Food For Oil program too proved useless when Saddam ("president" (read dictator) of Iraq) began bribing members of the U.N. Security Council -- namely France, Germany and Russia.
Clinton left office eight years later and in came G.W. Bush. Shortly after 9-11, an Iraqi chemical engineer defected to Germany and announced that Saddam was amassing an arsenal of WMD. With no CIA operatives working in the region and no other reliable intel., various satelite photos showed areas that could be construed as being chemical weapons factories. Because this engineer was in Germany, we were not allowed to question him directly, but instead had to go through German Intellegence.
Negotiating with Saddam and diplomacy failed months after these findings were made. A case for war was presented to a number of allied nations who all agreed that this was the only viable option left. It was presented to the U.N. as well as our Congress. The U.N. Security Council said "no." Remember France, Russian and Germany were all accepting money from Saddam. The U.S. Congress approved and we went to war.
Having been there for the first Gulf War (Desert Storm) through the Clinton years of tit for tat and finally retiring as G.W. Bush was being sworn in, I watched with morbid curiousity how the whole thing has unfolded. For once, I'm not on the receiving end of the decisions made by the old men in Washington. I suspect, this being the case, I have paid a great deal more attention than has most. I also still maintain a number of contacts who keep me informed of things not generally released to the general public.
Have we found any WMD? Yes, most of it is old and from the days of Reagan. Just a week ago, viles of Sarin were "discovered" in the Iraqi office at the U.N. building in New York. I am also aware that shortly after the war had ended, we unearthed an entire squadron of MiG fighters, buried in the sand. Will we ever find "New" WMD? I sincerely doubt it. The chemical engineer has since announced that he'd lied about the whole deal. He was paid handsomely and we cannot touch him -- he's being protected by Germany.
Given these facts, I'd say "Yes" we had a great deal to fear. Without eyes to see and someone whispering little lies in your ear, it becomes quite easy to believe what you're being told.
The good news is, G.W. Bush has since corrected that little problem with the CIA. They have hired more personnel in the last four years than in the last twenty years combined. Now it becomes a matter of training and placing. It's a dangerous business in a dangerous world.

Answer 2

Saddam Hussein was reason enough. But when you have him possibly having nuclear or biological material, our govt was unwilling of taking the risk of having that stuff fall into Al Queda hands. Even democrats made the case for going to war based on their own analysis of the inteligence.

Now hopefully as a result Iraq will be the 2nd (to Israel) functioning democracy in the middle east.

Answer 3

It was a fairly rare combination of circumstances. George Jr. felt the need to outdo his dad, Bush 41. Dubya had surrounded himself with neoconservatives who felt that the U.S. had the right to intervene in the affairs of countries whose leadership they didn't like--a fairly standard part of U.S. foreign policy over the last century or so, but much more aggressive in doctrine this time. The country had been led into an enormous case of "groupthink" in which hardly anybody questioned the wisdom of these actions. The neocons who pushed for the invasion had no practical experience in planning for a war and an occupation, and they ignored people who did--the top military leadership. It was a case of mass hysteria resulting in the easy manipulation of public opinion. The only other parallel I can think of is the "threat" posed by Poland to Nazi Germany that resulted in the invasion of Poland and a little affair we now know as World War II. The parallels are a bit frightening and can be extended even to the descent of a country into fascism as civil liberties were suspended to deal with a "threat."

As someone once said, those who do not learn the lessons of history are forced to repeat its mistakes (paraphrase).

Answer 4

Because they had WMDs. They were found, you just don't hear about them on the news because that would cause them to admit Bush was right. Read:

Saddam was also a ruthless dictator who shredded humans in plastic shredding machines feet first. When the US liberated Iraq, they found many many mass graves with hundreds of people buried there, some buried alive.

I don't see how anyone with a conscience could say that it WASN'T necessary. They guy was a threat, he was threatening us, so we clocked him and liberated 8 million Iraqis in the process.

Answer 5

I'd like to believe that the US government wasn't so stupid to actually think there were WMD in Iraq at the time that the US & BG invaded Iraq. We know that nobody responsible for 9/11 was in Iraq at the time of the invasion (or is there now). To me that leaves the following:

A) Oil.
B) Zionist conspiracy to have an active US military presence in the middle east.
C) All of the above.

You pick...

Answer 6

Given the intellegence we had at the time we had reason to believe that there were wepons of mass destruction in Iraq. Even Kerry and Clinton belived that at the time but deny it now...

Answer 7

Here:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/july-dec02/joint_resolution_10-11-02.html

Answer 8

This was just President George W. Bush's way at getting back at Saddam Hussein for trying to kill his Daddy back in '93

Answer 9

Simple answer... The Iraq Liberation Act. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. Hey don't rate my answer, unless you have read the act. That's what makes you ignorant. It is the correct answer to the question.

Answer 10

Saddam continually broke the conditions of the armistice of the First Gulf War.

Just like Hitler broke the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles. Nobody did anything about that, and the results are now a matter of record.