COLUMN: Rebuilding Iraq, one year later – Part 1
It has been almost a year since the Bush administration, together with its faithful ally Great Britain, determined that the wait was over. There was no way that they could allow Saddam Hussein to remain in power any longer. The danger of the now infamous case of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) was too great to overlook, especially considering the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001.
The Administration and its allies knew for a fact that Iraq had WMD, not just programs, but real weapons, both chemical and biological. They were so sure of it, that even the peacenik in the Administration, Secretary Colin Powell, went to the UN and without batting an eye testified that the United States was 100 percent sure of their existence.
Moreover, Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, went on record during a press conference saying, and these are his words, “We know where they are. They are in Baghdad, around Tikrit, north, south, east, west, all over” his hand swerving all over the place, betraying his lack of specific knowledge. Now we know that all of the “intelligence” we had been receiving was outdated, fallacious, and at times, fabricated.
Recently, CIA Director George Tenet testified before the Congress and admitted in front of the lawmakers that the agency had had serious reservations regarding pre-war intelligence, that they did not believe Iraq constituted an imminent threat at the time, and that he had personally conveyed these misgivings to officials within the administration.
There are some within the administration that still believe that they were right about the WMD, most notably Vice President Dick Cheney. Even though his comments were publicly and thoroughly repudiated by Tenet and David Kay (former head of the U.S. inspectors in Iraq), Cheney and the neo-conservatives within the administration continue their ridiculous campaign of misinformation of the American public.
There are others in the administration, more PR prone, that now emphasize the fact that Saddam had programs for WMD and that sooner or later he would develop them. Moreover, the administration is keen on pointing to the mass graves, claiming that they have discovered the “true” WMD. Now we find out that the administration wasn’t so much concerned about the dangers that Saddam Hussein posed to the United States, rather it was concerned about the Iraqi people. This is a noble goal if it indeed was the reason we went to war unprovoked, killed thousands of Iraqi civilians, endangered and continue to risk unnecessarily the lives of American troops (over 500 U.S. soldiers have been killed since the conflict began), and neglected domestic issues by spending over 100 billion dollars (one fifth of our federal deficit) that we don’t have.
If the administration wishes to be consistent with this utopian goal of eradicating the world of evil dictators, which sounds more Wilsonian than Jacksonian, then here is a list of 10 countries I propose the United States takes over and imposes regime change: North Korea, Burma, China, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Cuba, and Swaziland. (This is a list of the 10 worst living dictators published by Parade, based on consultations with independent human-rights organizations willing to expose both left- and right-wing regimes, including Freedom House, Amnesty International, Human Right Watch and Reporters Without Borders.)
Let me just say in conclusion of this first part of this retrospective overview, that it is about time President Bush comes out and apologizes to the American people for having led them into a war under the guise of dismantling WMD, and then changing his rhetoric to reflect the lack of such weapons. Such actions on his part, might, just might, be able to earn him again the trust of the American people, and might be able to earn America, once again, the trust of the world.
Medlir Mema is a senior majoring in political science. Comments can be sent to medlirm@cc.usu.edu.