The Iraq War retrospective Thread

[kandrathe]

In invading Iraq, the US invaded a country which had not attacked or threatened the US, and which did not pose an immediate threat. The US did so with no kind of international legitimacy (the "coalition of the willing" was a farce, with a few exceptions, such as the UK and Tonga). And the US attempted to justify its actions with false and exaggerated claims.

Any nation can start a legitimate war until it is declared illegitimate by the UN Security Council. So, while the UN tepidly danced around authorizing the war under UN auspices, they didn't resoundingly denounce it either.

The prosecution of unnecessary and illegitimate wars goes far beyond the bounds of what is wise or acceptable. Even if someone were to support such a war in the case of Iraq (because, say, they were concerned about Iraq's threat to long-term security if it were able to restart its weapons programs, or because, say, they wished to ensure the continued flow of oil from the middle east), how can anyone justify the Bush administration's deception in selling the war or laying out their reasons for invading Iraq?

Again, I will take this as your opinion and commentary. The short answer to your question is we may not have a full view of the implications of war, and not going to war. Until you can compare them objectively, all you are viewing is the hindsight 20/20 position I indicated earlier.

The result has been a financial, humanitarian, and strategic disaster.

I'm not sure what you mean. Then, all wars are disasters and far more costly than this one. The toppling of the WTC towers was a disaster too. You can have disasters from action, and from inaction.

And one last comment. Al Qaeda was not in Iraq before the US invaded. It was the US invasion that enabled them to enter the country, allowing them to ignite a bloody sectarian civil war in 2006/07. The day the US went into Iraq, you can be sure that the happiest man on earth was not George Bush but Osama bin Laden.

Where was Aḥmad Zarqawi in the summer of 2002? What was his relationship to Jund al-Sham and OBL in 1999?