Suspicions have been proven correct. Iraq did not have any weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) when the U.S. and allies invaded in March 2003, nor did it have the capability to produce WMDs, according to the Iraq Survey Report released yesterday. The report was sanctioned by the CIA and was presented to the Senate by the author, Charles A. Duelfer.
According to the report, Iraq had "essentially destroyed" its nuclear and WMD program in 1991, after the Gulf War. However, President Bush assured the United Nations, allies and the American public that Iraq definitely had WMDs and had to be stopped. When U.N. investigators could not find evidence of WMDs, the Bush administration decided to go ahead and invade Iraq. The threat of Saddam Hussein's WMD stockpile was the Bush administration's justification to go to war.
Now, that justification has been proven false. Over 1,000 American lives and countless Iraqi lives have been lost for a war that was waged on false grounds. President Bush has been covering his tracks by repeatedly saying "the world is a better place without Saddam Hussein." True, Hussein was a tyrant who tortured his own people. But if that was the reason to go to war in Iraq, Bush should have said that in the first place.
Instead, the Bush administration misled the American public with promises of Iraqi WMDs. Perhaps the administration itself was misled; that is irrelevant. Facts should have been checked and made absolutely certain. Wars must be launched on complete confidence, not entered lightly on a hunch.
Senior administration officials have conceded that Hussein had no link with al-Qaeda, and that the U.S. did not send enough soldiers to successfully occupy Iraq. Today's revelation will further fuel the conspiracy theories and strengthen the resolve of those already against Bush.
Americans should be asking important questions - did the government know Hussein did not have WMD capabilities? The Iraq Survey Report said that any weapons program Iraq ever had was directed towards attacking Iran. If the U.S. is to be protecting itself from prospective enemies, was Iraq even a suitable choice? Should attentions instead have been focused on North Korea?
Saddam Hussein was an oppressive dictator, but that did not mean the United States needed to oust him. If it is America's job to rid the world of tyranny, then why is Saparmurat Niyazov still in control of Turkmenistan? Why is the Sudanese government been able to conduct a campaign of genocide against black Africans?
This report is an embarrassing slap on the face for the Bush administration and should rightfully upset Americans. The entire reason our country entered an extremely controversial war has been proven invalid by the CIA. The actions of the Bush administration in the months immediately preceding the Iraq war should be investigated and scrutinized. Americans deserve to know if our own government lied to enter an unnecessary war.
