DU Challenge: List 23 changing reasons Bush gave for Iraq war

[SoCalDemocrat]

There are at least 23 different reasons the Bush administration has given for the Iraq war. My challenge to DU members is to find them all and provide a citation and link for each Bush Iraq flip flop!

1. The War on Terrorism linked to 9/11. Initial attempts were made by the Bush administration to link Hussen to 9/11 and that terrorist attack on the U.S.

"Cheney said Mr. Hussein "had long-established ties with Al Qaeda." Mr. Bush later backed up Mr. Cheney, claiming that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a terrorist who may be operating in Baghdad, is "the best evidence" of a Qaeda link. This was particularly astonishing because the director of central intelligence, George Tenet, told the Senate earlier this year that Mr. Zarqawi did not work with the Hussein regime."

---

And during an interview on NBC's Meet the Press (9/14/03), when Vice President Dick Cheney was asked if he was "surprised" that so many Americans connected Iraq to the 9/11 attacks, Cheney responded:

"No. I think it's not surprising that people make that connection.... You and I talked about this two years ago. I can remember you asking me this question just a few days after the original attack. At the time I said no, we didn't have any evidence of that. We've learned a couple of things. We learned more and more that there was a relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda that stretched back through most of the decade of the '90s, that it involved training, for example, on BW and CW , that Al Qaeda sent personnel to Baghdad to get trained on the systems that are involved. The Iraqis providing bomb-making expertise and advice to the Al Qaeda organization."

[TheFarseer]

1. I'll try

1 Linked to 9/11
2 to free the Irqi people
3 to seize their weapons of mass destruction
4 because they were trying to build nukes
5 to gain a foothold for democracy in the Mid-East
6 to make Saddam comply with UN resolutions
7 because he shot at our planes in no-fly zone
8 Al Zarkawi(sp?) used to know a guy that knew a guy that married one of Saddams third cousins or something like that
9 It's all part of the war on terror
10 oil for food was being violated
11 Saddam cheats at Scrabble
sorry, couldn't do it

[SoCalDemocrat]

3. I'll give you another

Because Iraq was a member of the "axis of evil"

[SoCalDemocrat]

4. Ok I'll help you all out since it's late

The answers can be found in this report:

http://www.pol.uiuc.edu/news/largio.htm

[Kurt Remarque]

2. we know the lies. the cites are too much work

[0007]

5. Oil, Oil, Oil, Oil, Oil, Oil, Oil, Oil, Oil, Oil,

Oil, Oil, Oil, Oil, Oil, Oil, Oil, Oil, Oil, Oil, Oil, Oil, and more Oil,

[SoCalDemocrat]

6. Come on DU!

We can do better! We must know our enemy to defeat him.



Another reason given was the Saddam failed to comply with UN inspection demands.

[SoCalDemocrat]

7. List of reasons given

Help me firm up and organize the list.

1. The War on Terrorism linked to 9/11. Initial attempts were made by the Bush administration to link Hussen to 9/11 and that terrorist attack on the U.S.

2. To stop the spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

3. Violence against women and the citizens of Iraq

4. The "evil" of Saddam Hussein (axis-of-evil, evil dictator)

5. Saddam Hussein was "the world’s most brutal dictator”

6. Iraqi violations of UN resolutions.

7. Iraq's capabilities to threaten it's neighbors.

8. The Middle East situation could not be any worse and the world should not live in fear (Bush 2002q).

9. Lack of inspections

10. Liberate the Iraqi people and deliver freedom

11. Regime change

12. Revenge

12. The safety and security of the world

13. The commitment to the children

14. Preservation of peace

15. Hussein was a "threat to freedom"

16. Disarmament of a dangerous regime

17. Destruction of Hussein's aresenal

18. Iraq's potential to sell weapons to terrorists

19. Consequences of failure to comply with resolutions

20. Saddam might launch a nuclear attack

21. Iraq poses a threat on the ground

22. Containment was not working

23. To stop Saddam Hussein before he could attack

24. Iraq had relations with terrorists

25. Rumsfeld said that a conflict with Iraq would not disrupt
the war on terror, there should not be a smoking gun, deterrence would not work, and inspections were not the goal (Rumsfeld 2002aa).

26. To bring Democracy to Iraq

27. To bring Democracy to the region and serve as an example

28. To secure the oil resources.

29. Saddam had invaded before and would invade again.

30. Saddam had threatened and might attack Israel.

On September 23 and 24, the President reiterated his comments to the U.N. as a part of campaign support speeches he gave; one new addition to those comments was his statement that the U.S. owed it to the children (of Iraq) to take action against Iraq

President Bush declared that he would not accept a weak U.N.
resolution like the ones of the past, an opinion that is substantiated by the efforts of the U.S. in the U.N. to garner support from the Security Council for a new resolution rather than reliance on the old resolutions and allowing Iraq to simply let inspectors into the country (Bush 2002a).

On October 3, the President met with Hispanic leaders and again stressed that the goal was disarmament and peace and that military action was not the first choice of America (Bush 2002o).

Other options had been tried, such as sanctions, inspections, containment, and air strikes, but something better, even tougher inspections, were necessary (Bush 2002q).

When asked about being ready for a conflict with Iraq, in typical
fashion Rumsfeld replied that the decision belonged to the President, the U.N. and Congress
(Rumsfeld 2002bb).

[SoCalDemocrat]

8. more

31. So we don't have to fight terrorists on the streets of America

32. We are safer with Saddam in prison.

33. If I have to choose between taking the word of a "Madman" and protecting the 'Merican people, I choose the 'Merican people everytime.

[Viking12]

9. How about 27 reasons, all studiously documented....

http://www.pol.uiuc.edu/news/largio.htm