Below are some of the justifications for the Iraq War. What are your reactions to these quotes with 20/20 hindsight? Were we justified to invade Iraq? Were these statements credible and based on credible intelligence? Did Saddam Hussein use weapons of mass destruction? Respond with your comments.
1. “We must stop Saddam from ever again jeopardizing the
stability and security of his neighbors with weapons of mass
destruction.” “The chemical weapons Saddam has used and the biological weapons we know he has tested pay no attention to borders and nationalities.”
2. “If diplomacy runs out, we have reserved the right to use
force and if we do so it will be substantial.”
3. “No one has done what Saddam Hussein has done, or is thinking of doing. He is producing weapons of mass destruction, and he is qualitatively and quantitatively different from other dictators.”
4. “What we are doing is so that you all can sleep at night. I am very proud of what we are doing. We are the greatest nation in the world and what we are doing is being the indispensable nation, willing to make the world safe for our children and grandchildren, and for nations who follow the rules.”
5. “Saddam (Hussein) must not be allowed to threaten his neighbors or the world with nuclear arms, poison gas or biological weapons.”
6. “If Saddam can cripple the weapons inspections sytem and get away with it, he would conclude the international community, led by the United States, has simply lost its will. He would surmise that he has free rein to rebuild his arsenal of destruction.”
7. “Earlier today I ordered America’s armed forces to strike
military and security targets in Iraq. They are joined by British forces. Their mission is to attack Iraq’s nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors. While other countires also had weapons of mass desctuction, Hussein is in a different category because he has used such weapons
against his own people and against his neighbors.
8. “Along with Prime minister (Tony)Blair of Great Britain, I made it equally clear that if Saddam failed to cooperate fully we would be prepared to act without delay, diplomacy or warning.”
9. “The best way to end that threat once and for all is with a new Iraqi goverment — a government ready to live in peace with its neighbors, a government that respects the rights of its people.”
10. “But once more, the United States has proven that although we are never eager to use force, when we must act in America’s vital interests, we will do so.”
Citizen WElls 
Comment on #4: this argument is thought provoking, however, I disagree with the assumption that the U.S is the world police. The U.S is not the world police. The UN was created specifically to take the position of being the world police, and to form stability among nations. The U.S needs to let the UN do its job.
Comment on #3 : I think this argument is right about Saddam Hussein being a bad man , but I respectfully disagree with the assumption that Saddam Hussein’s evilness was the only reason the U.S took it upon itself to invade Iraq. There is also an assumption that the Iraq war had nothing to do with oil, when it is painfully obvious that it did have a lot to do with oil and the power to dominate. The Bush Administration drove us to believe that the war effort was promoting humanitarianism and was to remove threats, “WMD”, but the truth is Iraq pose no threat to the U.S because there was no WMD, and the attack was obviously for personal reasons hold by the Bush Administration. The U.S is not a world police. It is not our job to attack every country that has bad leadership, if that’s the case we need to be attacking our self for our bad leadership.
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I found this article to be very engaging. This argument brought up some very good and interesting points justifying the war in Iraq; however, I respectively did not agree with many of the quotes.
– I disagree with the assumption that the United States is the world police. It is not the United States of America’s job to go in and fix the problems of other nations. We should me more concerned with our own problems then the problems of others. We should not be sacrificing innocent American and Iraqi lives for this unjust war.
-I also disagree with the assumption that Iraq poses a terrorist threat to the United States. Iraq is a poor third world nation with no navy or air force. Iraq had no chance in defending themselves against a nation with a great and powerful military. The United States government has wrongly led us to believe that Iraq was a threat to the United States. Weapon inspectors, after a very thorough search, found no evidence of weapons of mass destruction. There is also no evidence linking Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda together. Even though Saddam Hussein did commit horrible crimes, it is not our right and role to tell others what is wrong and right. WE ARE NOT THE WORLD POLICE and need to stop acting like it.
Please read my followup post. We did not go in to attack innocent Iraqis. We went in to get Saddam and his cruel regime. I don’t know where you are getting your information, but someone is ill informed. The US does not want to be the world police. However, the UN did not do it’s job. Thank God we had other allies such as Great Britain, Australia and other responsible countries. I suppose you noticed that we have not been attacked on US soil since 9/11. There is a reason for that. We have taken the fight to the terrorists. If you read my later post, you will discover that all the quotes came from the Clinton administration. They, along with the rest of the world, knew that Saddam had WMD and had used them on his people as well as the Iranians. There is absolutely no proof that he did not have WMD when we invaded or that he was developing more.
Mary,
I mean this most sincerely, have your fellow students read this blog. Do followup research from reliable independent sources. It appears you have been given some false information. If you have any questions, I will give you a straightforward honest answer.
Citizen Wells
Citizenwells,
Thanks for the feed-back! I’m sorry if i offended you in anyway–I didn’t mean to!
I think you misinterpreted my statement, “We should not be sacrificing innocent American and Iraqi lives for this unjust war”. I was refering to all the civilian people in Iraq who now how arms and legs missing thanks to the bombs we bestowed upon them… I agree with you on the fact that Saddam did commit crimes against humanity; and I did not mean that Saddam and his cruel regime were innocent. Although, I still see no clear reason as to why this war was needed in the first place!
I will definitely read and look forward to your upcoming post!
I also took your advice and shared this blog with my teacher!
No, you were very respectful. It is certainly ok to disagree. It is not about me anyway, but the pursuit of the truth. What bothers me is revisionist history and all the lies told about George W Bush. There was a concensus of opinion, from the Clinton administration, to Tony Blair and our other allies, that Saddam Hussein had to be stopped. The quotes I provided from the Clinton admin prove that. People have tried to offer the Iraq war as an analogy to the Vietnam conflict, but there is a much closer analogy to Word War II. If we had entered World War II (another war that was unpopular and “someone else’s problem”), I am convinced that millions of lives would have been saved. Wars should always be unpopular, but like many decisions in life, sometime they are the lesser of evils.
Always seek the truth. Don’t accept what I say as gospel. Do your own research.
Thanks and keep checking by.
Citizen Wells
Mary, I try to practice what I preach.
One example is that for many years, I have listened to NPR & to Rush Limbaugh (Rush does his homework).
Best wishes.
Citizen Wells
{This is NO rumor; it’s just not in mainstream media. You can google everything to see it’s true. This is not even half of it}
BOOM!!
Obama–>Rezko–>Auchi–>Saddam Hussein & Muammar al-Gaddafi
-Obama got his money from Tony Rezko who got his 3.5 million from Nadhmi Auchi:
-Rezko described his friendship with Auchi as “close”
-Nadhmi Auchi is an Iraqi-born billionaire who was charged along with Saddam Hussein for conspiring to assassinate Prime minister (president) Abdul Karim Qasim and stood trial in 1959. (Auchi gave fellow Baath Party members machine guns from his home for Saddam Hussein.)
-Auchi protected secret money for Saddam Hussein AND Muammar al-Gaddafi.
(Remember, Obama’s Trinity church Pastor Wright went with Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakhan in 1993 to visit Libyan socialist leader Gaddafi.)
-Auchi also financially backed Saddam Hussein’s plan for a pipeline from Iraq to Saudi Arabia.
-Rezko was also a business partner with Nation of Islam Founder’s son: Jabir Herbert Muhammad.
Why isn’t the media talking about all of Barack Obama’s scary friends who have ties to the worst people in history?
*Don’t forget William (Bill) Ayers and Bernadine Dorhn of the Weather Underground.
*Obama’s cousin Raila Odinga who just became co-President of Kenya this week (after nearly 1,000 Christians were set on fire in churches and machete in the streets) whom Obama is said to be close to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7176683.stm –calling Odinga a few times a day and even during the New Hampshire primary is a major problem.
-Odinga signed a secret pact with Muslim jihadists who were to ethnically cleanse Christians in order to enforce Sharia law (Muslim law: ban booze, ban pork, Muslim dress for women, Islamic courts, etc). Portions of NAMLEF agreement is right on the internet. There is also an under the table pact that is worse.
*Obama’s cousin Raila Odinga was educated in communist E. Germany, and his father, Oginga Odinga led the communist opposition during the Cold War.
And why does Raila Odinga use Obama’s exact same campaign slogan: CHANGE….Vote for CHANGE: Look at his website:
http://www.raila07.com/
Hillary4prez
the assumptions that Obama is involve with any of the things his so-called friends are involved with is way off. First of all, judging someone by the people they choose as friends is not always accurate; besides the slippery slope argument that you are articulating in invalid and unsound. Recheck yourself. Maybe the next time you one of your so-called friends get in trouble and someone accuse you of being apart of it ,even though you have no idea of what was going on, you’ll realized that what you are claiming now is so rediculous.
2 things immediately come to mind:
1. “birds of a feather flock together.”
2. Legal aspect- accessory before, during and after the fact. Not only can one be judged by who they associate with. One can be arrested and jailed for associating with the wrong person.
If you are referring to me, I am only presenting facts.
Thats is certainly correct; however, how can one be responsible for anothers action if they knew nothing of it or if they were not involved. Second if I befriend a ex-con, without knowing he is an ex-con, how can you judge me for being friends with that person? As for my reason for not supporting the Iraq war… check out my blog, you may find it interesting. Feel free to rebut!
If you are referring to Obama and Jeremiah Wright, Wright has been consistently referred to as Obama’s mentor. There was a 20 year association. If Obama was not aware of Wright’s position (and he clearly was with lots of facts documenting this) then he was either on drugs, out of touch with reality or both.
I will post something on the Iraq war soon.
CITIZENWELLS,
I’m looking forward to your post on the Iraq war, but in the mean time, i was wondering if you would please take the time to check out my blog on the Iraq war and mabey comment on it and give me some feed back on my blog!!!
thanks!!!!!
http://mary-guy.blogspot.com/
Mary, what are your sources you used to form an opinion?
i cited them throughout and i also put some links up at the end…..
what did you think???
I will check out your site and respond about the Iraq War/Police action when I can. This is too important to give a quick response. The election is taking up a lot of my time.
Thanks.
OK!! thanks so much!!
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