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It's an open question because we don't know how things would have panned out if Iraq had continued under Saddam. He might have gone for Iraq-Iran War II with t
by mc32 4y ago
It's an open question because we don't know how things would have panned out if Iraq had continued under Saddam. He might have gone for Iraq-Iran War II with the commensurate casualties, or he may have mellowed out and been much better off than the Bush alternative. We don't know, therefore it's an open question.
But, yes, we should have a congressional inquiry with teeth to find out why and punish wrongdoers and establish a precedence by congress that a president cannot go sending American soldiers to war capriciously without having to answer why and have convincing reasons.
- pjc50 4y agoIran-Iraq War 1 was supported by the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Iraq_during_the_Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Iraq... (apart from the bit where the illegally conducted private foreign policy was selling arms to the other side in order to fund some other terrorists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair ; really it was the pardoning of everyone involved in Iran-Contra that set the stage for the Iraq war misconduct. Oliver North ending up as a TV host rather than, say, jail)
- krapp 4y ago>It's an open question because we don't know how things would have panned out if Iraq had continued under Saddam. American policy in that regard was already to put up with him because he was the "devil we knew", and we didn't want to risk someone worse filling the power vacuum if he was overthrown. If there were a credible threat of him starting another war with Iran that justified the US changing policy, The US could have presented a case with credible evidence. None of this "you're either with us or you're with the evildoers" nonsense. Infinite hypotheticals always exist, but they don't carry moral weight in this universe because they could be used to justify anything in hindsight.