Speaking of bullshit...
That was the only other option.
But wait, there's more:
Had there been any feasible sanctions regime that could actually have contained Saddam, it was absolutely in George Bush's interest to go that route.
This opinion of yours is refuted by the simple truth that Bush never tried any alternative but invasion.
Yes, in early 2001 Powell, the US and other countries tried to push the smart sanctions effort through, but its no surprise that push back came from other countries given the potential impact to Russian and French commercial interests.
Aha, you say!
Pshaw, I say. How would America react to Security Council resolutions imposing sanctions on Saudi Arabia, denying America oil supply from there? How would America react to sanctions prohibiting the sale of Nigerian oil to the US?
After all Putin was George's best buddy not long ago. Now Putin calls the US a dictatorship. I guess he won't be invited to Crawford Texas any more.
Putin, visiting India, said the United States was pursuing a "dictatorship of international affairs" that will fail to bring peace and democracy to Iraq.
"Even if dictatorship is packaged in beautiful pseudo-democratic phraseology, it will not be able to solve systemic problems," Putin said. "It may even make them worse." seattletimes.nwsource.com
If the US wanted to make sanctions work, it could have found a way, and probably would have, before 9/11.
After 9/11, all pretext was dropped. After 9/11 the neocolonial neoconservatives were out on the hunt and would not be denied.
Yet Resolution 1409 updating the sanctions program did pass in May 2002, and Powell hailed it as a victory. With a six month time span before expiry, Bush's neoconservative wingnuts had just enough time to lay the trap / case for their real goal - military action. By the time the 6 month period was over, and Resolution 1409 up for renewal, the war drums were ferociously beating, replete with phony evidence rigged nicely to sway the public and Congress.
No doubt you are a big fan of Wolfowitz - he was an early agitator - if not the first on record - for invading Iraq without cause - (source: 9/11 Commission report). He had lots of friends in high or influencial places that shared his view (sources: too numerous to list). The fact of the matter is that Iraq was always a second step for the Bush administration, once the biggest excuse in a life time was delivered to them by largely Saudi Arabian terrorists.
Your premise is completely off base. The Bush admin had choices, but chose not to exercise them. It was Bush that forced the termination of inspections and it was Bush that ordered the country to war.
All this talk about sanctions is just so much window dressing to cover up the fact that Saddam was in fact not a threat to the US and precious lives and treasury have been wasted in the pursuit of a policy blunder of enormous proportions. |
