After the war, when it became clear that, as many of us said all along, Saddam was in no position to take control of anything, all of a sudden the overwhelming motive became the liberation of the poor oppressed Iraqis.
No, after the war we could see the number of mass graves. Some of us felt that should mean something to somebody, particularly those somebodies who set themselves up as champions of the oppressed. But never mind. Containment of Saddam was failing. Everybody was convinced that that Saddam had WMDs, and his WMD programs were still in operation or easily restartable if not.
If America had been forced to let sanctions lift, as France and Russia wanted, and America had withdrawn in shame, while Saddam pounded his chest (and the Kurds and Shia) and was hailed by the whole Arab world as the Great Defier and Conqueror of America!, what effect do you honestly think this would have had on the politics of the Gulf? It would have proved to the Gulf that America was weak, and however rich and seemingly powerful it was, could not be relied upon - they would have to make their peace with Saddam.
Am I missing something here? What part of this scenario has been disproved? |
