Iraq Retrospective: Read The Quotes That Sent Us To War

[NDNdancer]

Simply amazing how wrong, so totally wrong they were.



The Huffington Post | March 20, 2008 12:03 PM
Mission Accomplished Book, Navasky Book, Victor Navasky Book

As the war in Iraq enters its sixth year, Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky have published a "definitive, footnoted, hilarious but depressing compilation of experts who were in error" about the war from the beginning. You can read more about the book -- "Mission Accomplished! Or How We Won The War In Iraq"

Below, an excerpt from the chapter titled "Their Finest Hour: America Readies Itself To Free The Iraqi People."

CAKEWALK!

"I believe demolishing Hussein's military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk."
- Kenneth Adelman, member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, 2/13/02

"Support for Saddam, including within his military organization, will collapse after the first whiff of gunpowder."
- Richard Perle, Chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, 7/11/02

"Desert Storm II would be in a walk in the park... The case for 'regime change' boils down to the huge benefits and modest costs of liberating Iraq."
- Kenneth Adelman, member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, 8/29/02

"Having defeated and then occupied Iraq, democratizing the country should not be too tall an order for the world's sole superpower."
- William Kristol, Weekly Standard editor, and Lawrence F. Kaplan, New Republic senior editor, 2/24/03

2008-03-20-mission.jpgHOW MANY TROOPS WILL BE NEEDED?

"I would be surprised if we need anything like the 200,000 figure that is sometimes discussed in the press. A much smaller force, principally special operations forces, but backed up by some regular units, should be sufficient."
- Richard Perle, Chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, 7/11/02

"I don't believe that anything like a long-term commitment of 150,000 Americans would be necessary."
- Richard Perle, speaking at a conference on "Post-Saddam Iraq" sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute, 10/3/02

"I would say that what's been mobilized to this point -- something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers are probably, you know, a figure that would be required."
- Gen. Eric Shinseki, testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, 2/25/03

"The idea that it would take several hundred thousand U.S. forces, I think, is far from the mark."
- Donald H. Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary of Defense, 2/27/03

"I am reasonably certain that they will greet us as liberators, and that will help us keep [troop] requirements down. ... We can say with reasonable confidence that the notion of hundreds of thousands of American troops is way off the mark...wildly off the mark."
- Paul Wolfowitz, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, testifying before the House Budget Committee, 2/27/03

"It's hard to conceive that it would take more forces to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq than it would take to conduct the war itself and to secure the surrender of Saddam's security forces and his army. Hard to image."
- Paul Wolfowitz, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, testifying before the House Budget Committee, 2/27/03

"If our commanders on the ground say we need more troops, I will send them. But our commanders tell me they have the number of troops they need to do their job. Sending more Americans would undermine our strategy of encouraging Iraqis to take the lead in this fight. And sending more Americans would suggest that we intend to stay forever, when we are, in fact, working for the day when Iraq can defend itself and we can leave."
- President George W. Bush, 6/28/05

"The debate over troop levels will rage for years; it is...beside the point."
- Rich Lowry, conservative syndicated columnist, 4/19/06

WHAT ABOUT CASUALTIES?

"Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties."
- President George W. Bush, response attributed to him by the Reverend Pat Robertson, when Robertson warned the president to prepare the nation for "heavy casualties" in the event of an Iraq war, 3/2003

"Why should we hear about body bags and deaths? Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"
- Barbara Bush, former First Lady (and the current president's mother), on Good Morning America, 3/18/03

"I think the level of casualties is secondary... [A]ll the great scholars who have studied American character have come to the conclusion that we are a warlike people and that we love war... What we hate is not casualties but losing."
- Michael Ledeen, American Enterprise Institute, 3/25/03

HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?

"Iraq is a very wealthy country. Enormous oil reserves. They can finance, largely finance the reconstruction of their own country. And I have no doubt that they will."
- Richard Perle, Chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, 7/11/02

"The likely economic effects [of the war in Iraq] would be relatively small... Under every plausible scenario, the negative effect will be quite small relative to the economic benefits."
- Lawrence Lindsey, White House Economic Advisor, 9/16/02

"It is unimaginable that the United States would have to contribute hundreds of billions of dollars and highly unlikely that we would have to contribute even tens of billions of dollars."
- Kenneth M. Pollack, former Director for Persian Gulf Affairs, U.S. National Security Council, 9/02

"The costs of any intervention would be very small."
- Glenn Hubbard, White House Economic Advisor, 10/4/02

"When it comes to reconstruction, before we turn to the American taxpayer, we will turn first to the resources of the Iraqi government and the international community."
- Donald H. Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary of Defense, 3/27/03

"There is a lot of money to pay for this that doesn't have to be U.S. taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people. We are talking about a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon."
- Paul Wolfowitz, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, testifying before the Defense Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, 3/27/03

"The United States is committed to helping Iraq recover from the conflict, but Iraq will not require sustained aid."
- Mitchell Daniels, Director, White House Office of Management and Budget, 4/21/03

"Iraq has tremendous resources that belong to the Iraqi people. And so there are a variety of means that Iraq has to be able to shoulder much of the burden for ther own reconstruction."
- Ari Fleischer, White House Press Secretary, 2/18/03

HOW LONG WILL IT LAST?

"Now, it isn't gong to be over in 24 hours, but it isn't going to be months either."
- Richard Perle, Chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, 7/11/02

"The idea that it's going to be a long, long, long battle of some kind I think is belied by the fact of what happened in 1990. Five days or five weeks or five months, but it certainly isn't going to last any longer than that."
- Donald H. Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary of Defense, 11/15/02

"I will bet you the best dinner in the gaslight district of San Diego that military action will not last more than a week. Are you willing to take that wager?"
- Bill O'Reilly, 1/29/03

"It is unknowable how long that conflict will last. It could be six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."
- Donald H. Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary of Defense, 2/7/03

"It won't take weeks... Our military machine will crush Iraq in a matter of days and there's no question that it will."
- Bill O'Reilly, 2/10/03

"There is zero question that this military campaign...will be reasonably short. ... Like World War II for about five days."
- General Barry R. McCaffrey, national security and terrorism analyst for NBC News, 2/18/03

"The Iraq fight itself is probably going to go very, very fast. The shooting should be over within just a very few days from when it starts."
- David Frum, former Bush White House speechwriter, 2/24/03

"Our military superiority is so great -- it's far greater than it was in the Gulf War, and the Gulf War was over in 100 hours after we bombed for 43 days... Now they can bomb for a couple of days and then just roll into Baghdad... The odds are there's going to be a war and it's going to be not for very long."
- Former President Bill Clinton, 3/6/03

"I think it will go relatively quickly...weeks rather than months."
- Vice President Dick Cheney, 3/16/03

[lily]

Sad, truly sad, Ky........here is an old article, it goes right along with yours.


Link (http://thinkprogress.org/the-architects-where-are-they-now/)

THE ARCHITECTS OF WAR: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?


President Bush has not fired any of the architects of the Iraq war. In fact,
a review of the key planners of the conflict reveals that they have been
rewarded - not blamed - for their incompetence.

PAUL WOLFOWITZ


Role In Going To War: Wolfowitz said the U.S. would be greeted as
liberators, that Iraqi oil money would pay for the reconstruction, and that
Gen. Eric Shinseki's estimate that several hundred thousand troops would be
needed was "wildly off the mark." [Washington Post, 12/8/05; Wolfowitz,
3/27/03]

Where He Is Now: Bush promoted Wolfowitz to head the World Bank in March
2005. Two years into his five-year term, Wolfowitz was rebuked by the World
Bank investigative committee for engineering an unethical pay and promotion
package for his girlfriend and, after repeated calls for his resignation,
stepped down on May 17, 2007. Wolfowitz is now a visiting scholar at the
American Enterprise Institute, a right-wing think tank that "has the
President's ear" on national security issues. [Washington Post, 3/17/05,
5/18/07; Financial Times, 6/28/07]

Key Quote: "The truth is that for reasons that have a lot to do with the
U.S. government bureaucracy, we settled on the one issue that everyone could
agree on which was weapons of mass destruction as the core reason [for going
to war]." [USA Today, 5/30/03]

DOUGLAS FEITH


Role In Going To War: As Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Feith
spearheaded two secretive groups at the Pentagon - the Counter Terrorism
Evaluation Group and the Office of Special Plans - that were instrumental in
drawing up documents that explained the supposed ties between Saddam and al
Qaeda. The groups were "created in order to find evidence of what Wolfowitz
and his boss, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, believed to be true." Colin
Powell referred to Feith's operation as the Gestapo. In Bob Woodward's Plan
of Attack, former CentCom Commander Gen. Tommy Franks called Feith the
"f***ing stupidest guy on the face of the earth." [LAT, 1/27/05; NYT,
4/28/04; New Yorker, 5/12/03; Plan of Attack, p.281]

Where He Is Now: Feith voluntarily resigned from the Defense Department
shortly after Bush's reelection. He is currently writing a memoir of his
Pentagon work and teaching a course at Georgetown University "on the Bush
Administration's strategy behind the war on terrorism." The Defense
Department's Inspector General found that Feith's secretive groups at the
Pentagon "developed, produced, and then disseminated" deceptive intelligence
that contradicted "the consensus of the Intelligence Community." These
groups are still under investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee.
[Washington Post, 1/27/05;Georgetown press release, 5/1/06; NYT, 2/9/07]

Key Quote: "I am not asserting to you that I know that the answer is - we
did it right. What I am saying is it's an extremely complex judgment to know
whether the course that we chose with its pros and cons was more sensible."
[Washington Post, 7/13/05]

STEPHEN HADLEY

Role In Going To War: As then-Deputy National Security Advisor, Hadley
disregarded memos from the CIA and a personal phone call from Director
George Tenet warning that references to Iraq's pursuit of uranium be dropped
from Bush's speeches. The false information ended up in Bush's 2003 State of
the Union address. [Washington Post, 7/23/03]

Where He Is Now: On January 26, 2005, Stephen Hadley was promoted to
National Security Advisor. [White House bio]

Key Quote: "I should have recalled at the time of the State of the Union
speech that there was controversy associated with the uranium issue. . And
it is now clear to me that I failed in that responsibility in connection
with the inclusion of these 16 words in the speech that he gave on the 28th
of January." [Hadley, 7/22/03]

RICHARD PERLE


Role In Going To War: Richard Perle, the so-called "Prince of Darkness," was
the chairman of Defense Policy Board during the run-up to the Iraq war. He
suggested Iraq had a hand in 9-11. In 1996, he authored "Clean Break," a
paper that was co-signed by Douglas Feith, David Wurmser, and others that
argued for regime change in Iraq. Shortly after the war began, Perle
resigned from the Board because he came under fire for having relationships
with businesses that stood to profit from the war. [Guardian, 9/3/02,
3/28/03; AFP, 8/9/02]

Where He Is Now: Currently, Perle is a resident fellow at the American
Enterprise Institute where he specializes in national security and defense
issues. He has been investigated for ethical violations concerning war
profiteering and other conflicts of interest. [Washington Post, 9/1/04]

Key Quote: "And a year from now, I'll be very surprised if there is not some
grand square in Baghdad that is named after President Bush. There is no
doubt that, with the exception of a very small number of people close to a
vicious regime, the people of Iraq have been liberated and they understand
that they've been liberated. And it is getting easier every day for Iraqis
to express that sense of liberation." [Perle, 9/22/03]

ELLIOT ABRAMS


Role In Going To War: Abrams was one of the defendants in the Iran-Contra
Affair, and he pled guilty to two misdemeanor counts of withholding
information from Congress. He was appointed Special Assistant to the
President and Senior Director on the National Security Council for Near East
and North African Affairs during Bush's first term, where he served as Bush's
chief advisor on the Middle East. His name surfaced as part of the
investigation into who leaked the name of a undercover CIA operative Valerie
Plame. [Washington Post, 5/27/03, 2/3/05]

Where He Is Now: Abrams was promoted to deputy national security adviser in
February of 2005. In that position, he has led a smear campaign to attack
Speaker Nancy Pelosi for visiting Syria. [Slate, 2/17/05; IPS, 4/9/07;
Washington Post, 2/15/07]

Key Quote: "We recognize that military action in Iraq, if necessary, will
have adverse humanitarian consequences. We have been planning over the last
several months, across all relevant agencies, to limit any such consequences
and provide relief quickly." [CNN, 2/25/03]

SCOOTER LIBBY


Role In Going To War: As Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Libby
repeatedly pressured CIA analysts to report that Iraq had weapons of mass
destruction and links to al Qaeda. He also provided classified government
information to New York Times reporter Judith Miller that formed the basis
of a series of articles highlighting Iraq's weapons of mass destruction that
were later entirely discredited. Along with Hannah, Libby was a principal
author of the discredited draft UN presentation. [Washington Post, 6/5/03;
National Journal, 4/6/06; FAIR, 3/19/07; NYT, 10/30/05]

Where He Is Now: On June 5, 2007, Libby was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison
and a fine of $250,000 for perjury and obstruction of justice for his role
in the CIA leak case. On July 2, 2007, Bush commuted Libby's prison
sentence, ensuring he would serve no time in jail. [NYT, 6/5/07; Bush,
7/2/07]

Key Quote: "I'm a great fan of the Vice President," Libby told Larry King in
2002. "I think he's one of the smartest, most honorable people I've ever
met." [Time, 10/28/05]

JOHN HANNAH

Role In Going To War: As deputy national security advisor to Vice President
Cheney, Hannah served as the conduit between Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National
Congress and the Bush administration, passing along false information about
Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction that the administration relied
upon to justify the invasion. Hannah was also a principal author of the
draft speech making the administration's case for war to the UN.
Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and CIA director George Tenet rejected
most of the content of the speech as exaggerated and unwarranted. [Newsweek,
12/15/06; NYT, 10/30/05]

Where He Is Now: On October 31, 2005, Cheney promoted Hannah to national
security advisor, replacing the role served previously by Scooter Libby.
[CNN, 10/31/05]

Key Quote: Reprising his role in misleading the country to war with Iraq,
Hannah has told a U.S. ambassador that 2007 is "the year of Iran" and that a
U.S. attack is "a real possibility." [Washington Post, 2/11/07]

DAVID WURMSER


Role In Going To War: At the time of the war, Wurmser was a special
assistant to John Bolton in the State Department. Wurmser has long advocated
the belief that both Syria and Iraq represented threats to the stability of
the Middle East. In early 2001, Wurmser had issued a call for air strikes
against Iraq and Syria. Along with Perle, he is considered a main author of
"Clean Break." [Asia Times, 4/17/03; Guardian, 9/3/02]

Where He Is Now: Wurmser was promoted to Principal Deputy Assistant to the
Vice President for National Security Affairs; he is in charge of
coordinating Middle East strategy. His name has been associated with the
Plame Affair and with an FBI investigation into the passing of classified
information to Chalabi and AIPAC. [Raw Story, 10/19/05; Washington Post,
9/4/04]

Key Quote: "Syria, Iran, Iraq, the PLO and Sudan are playing a skillful
game, but have consistently worked to undermine US interests and influence
in the region for years, and certainly will continue to do so now, even if
they momentarily, out of fear, seem more forthcoming." [Washington Post,
9/24/01]

ANDREW NATSIOS


Role In Going To War: Shortly after the invasion of Iraq, Andrew Natsios,
then the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development,
went on Nightline and claimed that the U.S. contribution to the rebuilding
of Iraq would be just $1.7 billion. When it became quickly apparent that
Natsios' prediction would fall woefully short of reality, the government
came under fire for scrubbing his comments from the USAID Web site.
[Washington Post, 12/18/03; ABC News, 4/23/03]

Where He Is Now: Natsios stepped down as the head of USAID in January and
was teaching at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh's School of Foreign
Service as a Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy and
Advisor on International Development. In September 2006, Bush appointed him
Special Envoy for Darfur. [AP, 2/20/06; Georgetown, 12/2/05; Washington
Post, 9/19/06]

Key Quote: "[T]he American part of this will be $1.7 billion. We have no
plans for any further-on funding for this." [Nightline, 4/23/03]

DAN BARTLETT


Role In Going To War: Dan Bartlett was the White House Communications
Director at the time of the war and was a mouthpiece in hyping the Iraq
threat. Bartlett was also a regular participant in the weekly meetings of
the White House Iraq Group (WHIG). The main purpose of the group was the
systematic coordination of the "marketing" of going to war with Iraq as well
as selling the war here at home. [Washington Post, 8/10/03]

Where He Is Now: Bartlett announced his resignation on June 1, 2007 to
pursue his "prospects in the private sector." He was promoted to Counselor
to the President on January 5, 2005, and was responsible for the formulation
of policy and implementation of the President's agenda. [Washington Post,
6/2/07]

Key Quote: "Most people would argue we are part of the solution in Iraq, not
part of the problem." [CNN, 10/23/06]

MITCH DANIELS


Role In Going To War: Mitch Daniels was the director of the Office of
Management and Budget from January 2001 through June of 2003. In this
capacity, he was responsible for releasing the initial budget estimates for
the Iraq War which he pegged at $50 to $60 billion. The estimated cost of
the war, including the full economic ramifications, is approaching $1
trillion. [MSNBC, 3/17/06]

Where He Is Now: In 2004, Daniels was elected Governor of Indiana. [USA
Today, 11/3/04]

Key Quote: Mitch Daniels had said the war would be an "affordable endeavor"
and rejected an estimate by the chief White House economic adviser that the
war would cost between $100 billion and $200 billion as "very, very high."
[Christian Science Monitor, 1/10/06]

GEORGE TENET


Role In Going To War: As CIA Director, Tenet was responsible for gathering
information on Iraq and the potential threat posted by Saddam Hussein.
According to author Bob Woodward, Tenet told President Bush before the war
that there was a "slam dunk case" that Saddam possessed weapons of mass
destruction. Tenet remained publicly silent while the Bush administration
made pre-war statements on Iraq's supposed nuclear program and ties to al
Qaeda that were contrary to the CIA's judgments. Tenet issued a statement in
July 2003, drafted by Karl Rove and Scooter Libby, taking responsibility for
Bush's false statements in his State of the Union address. [CNN, 4/19/04;
NYT, 7/22/05]

Where He Is Now: Tenet voluntarily resigned from the administration on June
3, 2004. He was later awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom. He released a
memoir in April 2007 critical of many in the Bush administration for their
roles in the Iraq war and currently teaches at Georgetown University's
Edmund A. Walsh's School of Foreign Service. [Washington Post, 6/3/04; CBS,
4/29/07]

Key Quote: "It's a slam dunk case." [CNN, 4/19/04]

COLIN POWELL


Role In Going To War: Despite stating in Feb. 2001 that Saddam had not
developed "any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass
destruction," Powell made the case in front of the United Nations for a
United States-led invasion of Iraq, stating that, "There can be no doubt
that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly
produce more, many more. And he has the ability to dispense these lethal
poisons and diseases in ways that can cause massive death and destruction."
[Powell, 2/5/03; Powell, 2/24/01]

Where He Is Now: Shortly after Bush won reelection in 2004, Powell resigned
from the administration. Powell now sits on numerous corporate boards. He
succeeded Henry Kissinger in May 2006 as Chairman of the Eisenhower
Fellowship Program at the City College of New York. In September 2005,
Powell said of his U.N. speech that it was a "blot" on his record. He went
on to say, "It will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It's
painful now." [ABC News, 9/9/05]

Key Quote: "'You are going to be the proud owner of 25 million people,' he
told the president. 'You will own all their hopes, aspirations, and
problems. You'll own it all.' Privately, Powell and Deputy Secretary of
State Richard Armitage called this the Pottery Barn rule: You break it, you
own it."
[b]

DONALD RUMSFELD
Role In Going To War: Prior to the war, Rumsfeld repeatedly suggested the
war in Iraq would be short and swift. He said, "The Gulf War in the 1990s
lasted five days on the ground. I can't tell you if the use of force in Iraq
today would last five days, or five weeks, or five months, but it certainly
isn't going to last any longer than that." He also said, "It is unknowable
how long that conflict will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt
six months." [Rumsfeld, 11/14/02; USA Today, 4/1/03]

Where He Is Now: After repeated calls for his resignation, Donald Rumsfeld
finally stepped down on November 8, 2006, one day after the 2006 midterm
elections. Rumsfeld is now "working on setting up a new foundation.to
promote continued U.S. engagement in world affairs in furtherance of U.S.
security interests" so that he can "remain engaged in public policy issues."
He is also shopping a memoir, in the hopes of receiving "a large cash
advance." [AP, 11/8/06; Reuters, 3/19/06; Washington Times, 5/18/07; NY Sun,
6/27/07]

Key Quote: "You go to war with the Army you have. They're not the Army you
might want or wish to have at a later time." [CNN, 12/9/04]

CONDOLEEZZA RICE


Role In Going To War: As National Security Adviser, Rice disregarded at
least two CIA memos and a personal phone call from Director George Tenet
stating that the evidence behind Iraq's supposed uranium acquisition was
weak. She urged the necessity of war because "we don't want the smoking gun
to be a mushroom cloud." [Washington Post, 7/27/03; CNN, 9/8/02]

Where She Is Now: In December of 2004, Condoleezza Rice was promoted to
Secretary of State. [ABC News, 11/16/04]

Key Quote: "We did not know at the time - maybe someone knew down in the
bowels of the agency - but no one in our circles knew that there were doubts
and suspicions that this might be a forgery. Of course it was information
that was mistaken." [Meet the Press, 6/8/03]

DICK CHENEY


Role In Going To War: Among a host of false pre-war statements, Cheney
claimed that Iraq may have had a role in 9/11, stating that it was "pretty
well confirmed" that 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta met with Iraqi intelligence
officials. Cheney also claimed that Saddam was "in fact reconstituting his
nuclear program" and that the U.S. would be "greeted as liberators." [Meet
the Press, 12/9/01, 3/16/03]

Where He Is Now: Cheney earned another four years in power when Bush won
re-election in 2004. Despite some conservatives calling for him to be
replaced, Cheney has said, "I've now been elected to a second term; I'll
serve out my term." Cheney continues to advocate for preemptive military
intervention, recently delivering threats toward Iran in a speech aboard an
aircraft carrier off Iran's coast. [CBS Face the Nation, 3/19/06; NYT,
5/11/07]

Key Quote: "I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the
insurgency." [Larry King Live, 6/20/05]

GEORGE W. BUSH


Role In Going To War: Emphasizing Saddam Hussein's supposed stockpile of
weapons of mass destruction, supposed ties to al Qaeda, and supposed nuclear
weapons program, Bush built public support for - and subsequently ordered -
an invasion of Iraq. [State of the Union, 1/28/03]

Where He Is Now: In November 2004, Bush won re-election. Since that time,
popular support for the war and the President have reached a low point -
nearing the levels of Richard Nixon during Watergate. [Chicago Sun-Times,
6/19/07]

Key Quote: "Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final
proof - the smoking gun - that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud."
[Bush, 10/7/02]

[ECW]

And John McCain is running on this platform. Go, John, go.

[The Prince]

How anyone still supports this war, and even further supports John McCain severely boggles my mind.

[Go Fish]

You guys really didn't think it was worth driving Hussein out of Kuwait:question: It's the same damned war, in case you haven't noticed. The case for resuming hostilities against Iraq was predicated on the terms of the cessation of hostilities which kept us out of Baghdad at the end of Operation Desert Storm. Screw al Qaeda. Hussein had it coming to him with or without 9-11.[/font]

[Scribbler1]

There is no argument from anyone I have seen here regarding what a rotten bastard he was. But he was THEIR problem, and not ours.

And he wasn't such a sweetheart when we supported him in his war against Iran, so that makes us somewhat hypocritical to pretend we were morally outraged by him afterwards, yes?