"To stampede us into war, the neocons told us that Saddam was tied to al-Qaeda and had a role in 9/11, that he had VX gas, botulism, mustard gas, sarin and anthrax, and was acquiring nuclear weapons. What further proof must you have, demanded Condi Rice, 'a mushroom cloud over an American city'?"The truth. Saddam had no tie to al Qaeda, no role in 9/11, no chemical weapons, no biological weapons, no nuclear program.
"We attacked a nation that did not attack us, did not threaten us and did not want war with us — to strip it of weapons it did not have.
"We were misled. We were deceived. We were lied to.
"The cost: 4,400 dead, 35,000 wounded, $700 billion sunk.
"But was the war worth it? Some 72 percent of Americans said in a recent CBS poll that it was not worth the price in U.S. war dead.
"What does the secretary of defense think?
"'It really requires a historian’s perspective in terms of what happens here in the long run,' says Robert Gates. 'How it all weighs in the balance over time remains to be seen.' A seven-year war, and our minister of defense cannot declare that it was all worth it."
Read the rest at The American Conservative.
Carl Wicklander,
Regular Columnist, THL
Articles | Author's Page | Website
