Exactly 10 years ago today; the then president of the United States, Bill Clinton, in an almost 3000 word address to the joint chief of staffs, detailed the reasons why there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Towards the end of his speech he said " If we fail to respond today, Saddam and all those who would follow in his footsteps will be emboldened tomorrow... clear evidence of a weapons of mass destruction program. But if we act as one, we can safeguard our interests and send a clear message to every would-be tyrant and TERRORIST that the international community does have the wisdom and the will and the way to protect peace and security in a new era. "
Although he never had the balls to do what he thought was vital to "defend our future from these predators of the 21st
century", he at least took serious enough steps to show the world he meant business. He had convinced nations all over to world and they "spent several weeks building up our forces in the
Gulf, and building a coalition of like-minded nations." It therefore comes as no surprise that Hillary Clinton voted for the Iraq war. It was out of knowledge and experience. Knowledge that Saddam was given 15 days after the gulf war to declare all his WMD's, that he killed his brother in-law who President Clinton called "the chief
organizer of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program", upon his return to Iraq after he "defected to Jordan".
In recent years Clinton has called the Iraq war "a big mistake". I really don't have a problem with what Bill Clinton says with his mouth. I however have a problem with a former President criticizing an incumbent one. It is simply unheard of. Gerald Ford, who went on the record to say he didn't like the administrations policies made the recorders promise not to release the statement until he dies; however long that may take. It is a matter of placing yourself in a position that maintains respect. But considering Carter's constant blabbering, it might just be another political tool in the democratic tool bag.
Bush may have mismanaged the war, but the decision to go into Iraq was the right one, at least at the time. No matter how secure North Korea and Iran might claim to be, at the back of their minds they would hold the lessons learned by Saddam.
I'm leaving you with a quote that shows just how dangerous Clinton believed Saddam to be. He expressed pessimism that even a massive air strike like the one he was about to launch can't destroy all of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Here's the quote "Let me be clear: A military operation cannot destroy all the weapons of mass destruction capacity. But it can and will leave him significantly worse off than he is now in terms of the ability to threaten the world with these weapons or to attack his neighbors."
Something else that happened in history today?- Today in 1963, basketball legend Michael Jordan, was born. :)
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/02/17/transcripts/clinton.iraq/
How do you swear something that significant, and only to be wrong. Shouldn't someone be punished for this? Or is this supposed to be acceptable behavior?
Well, Iraq did have WMD's at one point - he used them against his people, for godssake. He just got rid of them all around the time we bombed Baghdad around 1999 to destroy them all under Clinton's administration.
"the decision to go into Iraq was the right one, at least at the time."
I don't think it was right, but it was shared by both parties based on the same inteligence.
WMD may exist to this day in Iraq, we just have not found them. The UN looked for ten years, so they were hidden to begin with, and then Saddam had another two months to hide (or move) them even better before the invasion.
A Fact is Always Better Than an Ideal.
I agree with you that we made the right decision to invade according to the information we were given. Also, thanks for the info about Clinton. He seems like a complete idiot when it comes to his decisions and his statements. He needs to choose a side, and stick with it.