Selling the Iraq War under false pretenses
by Dan Croak
Dick Cheney sums up in 80 seconds exactly what resulted from our military actions in 2003-2007. If the administration knew this was going to happen, at the very least how could they betray the trust of the public by not giving us a fair opportunity to weigh the true costs?
This is so disturbing. I haven’t heard an official response from the administration about it, but given their history, they’d argue the following…
After 9/11, the calculation that Saddam wasn’t worth many American lives changed. The level of threat he represented was higher than the Gulf War because he was actively trying to acquire nuclear weapons/materials and could potentially sell them to terrorists. In 2003, therefore, he was worth risking the lives of thousands of American soldiers.
Even if you accept the premise that the Bush administration received faulty intelligence (which requires a huge grain of salt due to the Valerie Plame scandal), you still have to fault the administration for sugar-coating the sale of the war. In 2003, they never said they expected a quagmire, that none of our Arab partners wanted to go into Baghdad, that Iraq would break into pieces with “Kurdistan” threatening the territorial integrity of Turkey and Iran waiting to engulf the resulting Shia section. Instead, the line was, “we’ll be greeted as liberators.”
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> "how could they betray the trust of the public by not giving us a fair opportunity to weigh the true costs?"
Tho I'm not living in is US, I think I do have a comment to say.
9/11 public had a fair opportunity to weigh the true costs of _doing nothing_. Choise was simple: send troops, or wait for another couple of planes crushed into YOUR house, this time with few nuclear/chemical charges on board. What can be worth that ram planes, death cars, trains, bombs, that can kill you or your childrens one day, in your country, your home, at your streets? What can cost more than peoples lives?
Does people really so _naive_ that they think that terrorist would be "sorry" for what they did and just... _stop_ attacking and blowing world around?? Are you really serious???
USA had to move to Iraq, sooner or later, and if that were happened _much_ later — who knows, how many more planes would crash into your houses?...
And about price... Peoples lives costs much, much more, than any money, spend on saving them. Hudreds has died, for thousands can live. Just keep that in mind.