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Edited on Sat Sep-25-04 08:07 PM by SoCalDemocrat
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).
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