US-Iraq/war/invasion

the President he's got his war folks don't know just what it's for no one gives us rhyme or reason you have one doubt they call it treason - Roberta Flack, 1969 "Compared to What"

Overview

This page is about the United States Invasion of Iraq, which took place during George W. Bush's presidential administration.

Reference

• Wikipedia
• Iraq editorials at Salon.com
• AfterDowningStreet.org: "nonpartisan coalition ...[working]... to pressure both Congress and the media to investigate whether President Bush has committed impeachable offenses in connection with the Iraq war"
• Iraq Body Count

Related Pages

• Balkans vs. Iraq: a comparison of the two interventions
• The US invasion of Iraq is part of the Bush administration's War on Terror

Justification

In justifying the invasion of Iraq, Bush claimed:

• (a) that there was strong evidence of WMDs when it seems clear that there was none and that this was well known to Bush and his closest advisors at the time the claims were made
• (b) that Iraq had refused to allow UN inspectors (see [1], final paragraph) to confirm the lack of WMDs, when in fact Iraq did allow the inspectors in ("In 2002, the commission began searching Iraq for weapons of mass destruction, ultimately finding none." [W] and "The Iraqi government did what it was required in the 1441 resolution and presented a report of its weapons. The US government claimed that the report was false for not recognizing having the WMDs. It announced the invasion in the Spring of 2003." [W])
• (c) that Iraq was connected to the 9/11 attacks (for which there is no evidence):
  • 2003-03-21 Letter to Congress: "The use of armed forces against Iraq is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations or person who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001."
  • 2006-03-20 President Discusses War on Terror and Operation Iraqi Freedom: "First, just if I might correct a misperception, I don't think we ever said – at least I know I didn't say that there was a direct connection between September the 11th and Saddam Hussein."
  • 2001-09-12: Richard Clarke says that on September 12, 2001, President Bush "testily" asked him to try to find evidence that Saddam Hussein was connected to the terrorist attacks. After an initial denial, the White House has since conceded that the meeting took place. In response he wrote a report stating there was absolutely no evidence of Iraqi involvement and got it signed by all relevant agencies, including the FBI, and the CIA. The paper was quickly returned by a deputy with a note saying "Please update and resubmit," apparently unshown to the President. (Wikipedia)

Many people believe this is an impeachable offense.

Effects

• 2006-10-12 'Huge rise' in Iraqi death tolls: "An estimated 655,000 Iraqis have died since 2003 who might still be alive but for the US-led invasion, according to a survey by a US university."
• 2006-03-20 Top Ten Catastrophes of the Third Year of American Iraq
• 2005-07-18 Invasion was boost for Al Qaeda

The Republicans largely continue to stand behind the war effort, a position which is now in stark disagreement with their 2000 Party Platform:

"When presidents fail to make hard choices, those who serve must make them instead. Soldiers must choose whether to stay with their families or to stay in the armed forces at all. Sending our military on vague, aimless, and endless missions rapidly saps morale. Even the highest morale is eventually undermined by back-to-back deployments, poor pay, shortages of spare parts and equipment, inadequate training, and rapidly declining readiness."

News Articles

• 2006-10-18 Baker: No 'magic bullet' for Iraq
• 2006-10-17 Iraq reality check: The cost in lives lost
• 2006-09-28 Heralded Iraq police academy a 'disaster' by Amit R. Paley, The Washington Post
• 2006-09-17 Ties to GOP Trumped Know-How Among Staff Sent to Rebuild Iraq by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post Staff Writer
• 2006-06-07 Officer says he won’t fight in ‘unlawful’ Iraq war
• 2005-11-17 Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania calls for a change of direction
• 2005-09-19 $1 billion missing from Iraq's defence ministry
• 2003-10-02 Misperceptions, the Media and the Iraq War: Study Finds Widespread Misperceptions on Iraq Highly Related to Support for War

Reports

• 2004-09-29 Wall Street Journal reporter Farnaz Fassihi reports from Baghdad

Opinionated Very Brief Summary

• Got rid of Saddam, but resulted in a very expensive quagmire and harmed global opinion of America
• The current occupation of Iraq, with no timetable (much less a plan) for exit, is an example of an endless crisis

Other Opinions

• 2006-08-13 Lies and Catastrophes by Orson Scott Card in defense of the Iraq war and Bush; synopsis:
  • A Democratic congressman recently used the word "catastrophic" in reference to Iraq, "but catastrophe is a word that requires there be widespread sudden damage" so the congressman must mean something else (first 12 paragraphs)
  • This is because "he was selling something", i.e. "He was trying to persuade the American people that the Iraq War was a dire mistake, a disaster" which can only (and must) be ended "by withdrawing our troops by the end of the year." (2 short paragraphs)
  • Withdrawing our troops in that manner, however, would be a catastrophe because:
    • "all the people who have taken bold action for democracy in Iraq would be left high and dry in the tribal and religious war that would certainly ensue. The citizens of Iraq would be slaughtered by local enemies who think nothing of blowing up each other's mosques, weddings, and funerals."
    • "all our enemies would be greatly emboldened by such a proof of our irresolution." Our enemies would learn that "If you kill American citizens and soldiers long enough, they give you everything you want. Since they were killing Americans before we liberated Iraq, it is hard to imagine that they would stop."
  • People who favor withdrawal from Iraq only do so because "they think we are somehow the cause of the war. We were bad, and so they hate us; if we become good, then they will be nice to us." (straw man argument –Woozle) This is not at all true; they hate us because we are prosperous.
  • The rest seems to be devoted to exploring the meaning of "lying" with regard to Bill Clinton vs. George W. Bush; further fisking needed.
• 2006-08-10 The Guns Of August by Richard Holbrooke
• 2006-07-23 In Iraq, Military Forgot Lessons of Vietnam: also makes some comparisons with the Balkans
• 2006-07-17 Iraq's Reconstruction a Boondoggle by Design by Joshua Holland, AlterNet
• 2006-07-12 Exchanges with Mr. Bailey, a high school student (who may or may not have been actually a meme spammer)
• 2005-12-01 Lying about the War: "truth became the first casualty in their campaign to whip up support."
• 2003-01-21 One of the More Nauseating Images by Harold Pinter
• 2003-01-19 Saddam will not be deposed by sweet reason or sanctions: pre-invasion opinions from a number of prominent Britons

David Brin

From http://www.davidbrin.com/neocons.html :

• Over a thousand Americans lost, with more dying almost daily and no end in sight.
• Uncounted (and secret) numbers of Iraqi civilian deaths.
• Scandals; poorly supervised thugs ruining our reputation for decent behavior.
• A Western Alliance in shambles.
• Relentless lies; intervention justified by fabricated evidence reminiscent of Tonkin Gulf.
• Plummeting readiness levels — our military is being used-up.
• Utterly divisive of American public (possibly a desired goal), repeating the social effects of Vietnam (Editor's note: further enhancing Bush's existing divisiveness)
• Clever incarceration tricks overused as bludgeons, wrecking credibility and undermining due process.
• Incompetent preparation and handling of the aftermath, featuring rapid deterioration of political, economic and social life in Iraq
• Worldwide acceptance of US moral leadership plummeting.
• And the fundamental strategic outcome — provoking a radicalized Islam, further stirred by Saudi-funded Al Jazeera Network and Saudi-funded religious schools, from Morocco to Mindanao, threatening a pan-Islamic coalescence into Jihad mentality for the first time in a thousand years.

Quotes

• "I thought they were out of their minds, once I realised that they weren't kidding. The most inappropriate, the most counterproductive thing we could've done would've been to invade Iraq and I rather thought that was self-evident." – Richard A. Clarke, former US Counter-Terrorism Advisor [2]