WHY WERE WE EVER IN IRAQ?

[kenny blankenship]

42. Too many libruls told 'em not to, so they decided they had to!

No, but really there were a confluence of multiple actors and multiple reasons - all of them evil and most of them incredibly stupid and reckless. Every single reason given on this page probably played its part, from the macro-causes like the desire to control access to the ME oil patch, all the way to the micro-motives of petty vengeance and vainglory. It wasn't just Bush and Cheney. It wasn't just Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld. If Hitler had been the only one who wanted to conquer the world and to punish perceived, historical enemies of Germany, the Second World War would never have happened. There was an underlying sickness waiting to erupt into an epidemic.

Some elements of the DC establishment smelled MONEY in war spending. Some wanted to eliminate a country on Israel's Enemies List. Some players saw a chance to capture a major petroleum supplying nation, and turn it into a US protectorate, and thus into a "mole" for us inside of OPEC. Some wanted to demonstrate to the world that the US was still the global actor that could kick in your front door, take your stuff, and rape your wife and daughter right in front of you before blowing your brains out - and therefore a New Rome to be obeyed and paid off with tribute. Some wanted to make sure OPEC nations would see what can happen to you if you start taking Euros in payment for your oil instead of US dollars. Some wanted to permanently overturn the entire framework of international law regulating the use of military force, that was established at the end of WWII, which had elevated the UN and international consensus above the fiat of empires and hegemons, paving the way for the end of colonialism and serving as a buffer and referee between vying preeminent powers. Some saw a perfect opportunity to create a war atmosphere in the United States to beat down all dissension in domestic politics and to cast support for the young soldiers at war in Iraq as support for the President's election, and refusal to support the President and his reelection as betrayal of our young warriors laying down their lives for our freedom.
It wasn't just the Shrub that had a hard on for slaughtering Iraqis. War fever gripped almost all of the visible government - and presumably it gripped all of the shadow government which pulls the strings on the puppets you see in the White House and Congress. One whole political party was brought together in joyous unanimity by the prospect of using war fever as a weapon against the other one. The other party, as is its wont, cravenly split between those defensively "taking it off the table" and going along with war on one hand, and those attempt to cash on the other. A courageous minority said NO. Their warnings were ignored and they were smeared as giving aid and comfort to the enemy. But whichever party or branch of government they stood in, most of the factions and actors involved in the rush to war were probably motivated by more than one of the above ideas and goals. Given the power of the American system of government to concentrate pompous idiots and remorseless assholes into one place, to elevate the bad over the good, it is fair to say that never was there a more foolish and more unjustified war that was also so inevitable.