| We had plenty. Take the active measures to increase missile range? To what purpose, except to threaten Europe and our Mediterranean fleet? What about the active search for fissile material? Israel had shown no propensity to attack Iraq, although it had long had an opportunity, and Iran could have its nuclear facilities taken out with a few airstrikes. Gaining nukes was a prerequisite to shifting the balance of power in the region, and permitting aggressive war against neighbors. Even now, with no evidence of active programs, members of the regime have testified that Saddam was anxious to restart stockpiling of biological and chemical weapons. Why stockpile, unless you intend to use them somewhere, or need them as a counterweight? Indeed, he persisted in using violent rhetoric against the United States and its allies, and continued to adhere to Ba'athist ideology in respect of the Arab world, which, in his world view, was to be returned to glory through a quasi- fascist ideology mobilizing the Arab under Iraqi hegemony. We had plenty to base a claim of self- defense on, though not a claim of imminent threat. However, Bush disavowed such a claim in his state of the Union Address prior to the invasion, and affirmed that the threat was more attenuated. The argument was really over whether sanctions were a realistic way of dealing with the problem in the long run. |
