Iraq – The Right War for the Right Reasons

The Global War on Terror (GWOT) did not begin September 11, 2001, but was the defining act in a continued war on the United States that began decades before. These Islamo-fascists were actively supported and financed by a number of autocratic regimes throughout the Middle East. These terrorists are not limited by any conventions or rules of law, and routinely targeted innocent civilians as an accepted tactic. Terrorist acquisition and potential use of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), including chemical, biological, or nuclear, is a real threat, since high volume destruction is a stated goal of these terrorist groups.

Iraq invaded its neighbor country of Kuwait in 1990. In 1991 a United Nations coalition, lead by the US, liberated Kuwait and drove the military back into Iraq. The international community maintained a policy of containment towards Iraq. This policy included numerous and crushing military and economic sanctions, US and UK patrols of Iraqi no-fly zones declared to protect Kurds in the north and Shi’ites in the south, and ongoing inspections to prevent Iraqi development of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. Meanwhile the UN passed a series of Resolutions demanding enforcement of the arms control disarmament. The US and the UK enforced the truce and monitored the arms control inspections, until the inspectors were thrown out in 1998. In October President Clinton signed the “Iraq Liberation Act” to establish a program to support a democracy in Iraq. Iraq regime change was openly discussed as a national objective.

President Bush was elected November 2000. On September 11, 2001 the United States was attacked by al-Qaeda terrorists. On September 20^th President Bush announced the new Global War on Terror (GWOT), including the doctrine of pre-emptive military action, termed the Bush Doctrine. In October the US and UK launched Operation Enduring Freedom to invade Afghanistan, capture Osama bin Laden, destroy al-Qaeda, and remove the Taliban which had provided support and safe harbour to al-Qaeda. Later NATO troops joined the conflict in Afghanistan.

In September 2002 President Bush began formally making his case to the international community for an invasion of Iraq. After considerable debate the UN Security Council adopted a compromise resolution, 1441, which authorized the resumption of weapons inspections and promised “serious consequences” for noncompliance. In October 2002 the US Congress passed Public Law 107-243 “Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolutions of 2002.” In March 2003 the US and the “Coalition of the Willing” of 50 countries invaded Iraq.

The reasons are clear and have been proven by the results of the invasion. The primary rationale was to enforce the multiple UN Security Council Resolutions that were passed since the earlier Gulf War. The second reason was to ensure the WMDs were destroyed as required by the UN Resolutions. The third rationale was to remove the regime that supports terrorists and terrorism. The final rationale was to topple Saddam Hussein and free the Iraqi people.

The Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, passed by majorities of both parties in both Houses, began with a series of 23 “Whereas” clauses justifying the war. Twelve of these reasons for going to war refer to UN resolutions violated by Saddam Hussein. Ten of these reasons for going to war refer to the elimination of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons or weapons development programs. Ten of the reasons for going to war refer to support for international terrorism or harboring terrorist organizations. Five of the reasons for going to war refer to the need for freeing the Iraqi people from a brutal regime

Many questions remain about the WMDs. Iraq was able to use chemical weapons in its war against Iran and to kill large numbers of its own Kurdish population in the 1980s. By the time UNSCOM left Iraq in December 1998, it had eliminated a large portion of Iraq's chemical weapon potential. UNSCOM had overseen the destruction or incapacitation of more than 88,000 filled or unfilled chemical munitions, over 600 tons of weaponized or bulk chemical agents, some 4,000 tons of precursor chemicals, some 980 pieces of key production equipment, and some 300 pieces of analytical equipment. After UNSCOM inspectors left Iraq in December 1998, U.S.-led forces bombed many sites believed to be chemical weapon plants. After the bombing, reports emerged that Iraq had rebuilt many of those sites, and that the sites appeared to be operating. No large stockpiles of WMD munitions were found. Small number of old chemical shells were recovered. Several suspected chemical weapons factories were uncovered after the invasion. Evidence of chemical weapons development was found and capable of being used to reconstitute the weapons development in a relatively short time.

Iraq managed to produce anthrax, aflatoxin, botulinum toxin, gas gangrene, ricin, and wheat smut, and was also known to be working on cholera, mycotoxins, shigellosis, and viruses (including camelpox, infectious hemorrhaghic conjunctivitis and rotavirus) as well as genetic engineering. There are suspicions that Iraq was also working on smallpox. Many aspects of Iraq's biological weapon program remain unknown. These unknowns include the total amount of germ agent Iraq produced and the status of Iraq's unaccounted for stocks of biological growth media, agents, production equipment and handbooks, as well as munitions and warheads. Iraq admitted that it weaponized biological agents between December 1990 and January 1991. The types of munitions under development for use with biological weapons included Al Hussein missile warheads, R-400 aerial bombs, aircraft drop tanks, pilotless aircraft, helicopter-borne spraying systems, 122 mm rockets, LD-250 aerial bombs, and fragmentation weapons. Furthermore, inspectors say that Iraq became self-sufficient; meaning it no longer needed imports to fuel its BW program. The uncertainties that surround this program made it all the more threatening in the absence of inspections and monitoring.

Iraq has pursued the development of nuclear weapons since the 1980s. UN inspectors learned that Iraq's first bomb design, which weighed a ton and was a full meter in diameter, was replaced by a smaller, more efficient model, that made it small enough to fit on Iraq's Scud-type missiles. Iraq mastered the key technique of creating an implosive shock wave, which squeezes a bomb's nuclear material enough to trigger a chain reaction. The inspectors determined that Iraq had managed to develop a successful bomb design and lacked only the fissile material to fuel it. Tons of enriched uranium were recovered after the invasion.

There is no question that Iraq had programs to develop chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons of mass destruction. There is also no question that much of their stockpiles were destroyed during the ‘90s as part of the UNSCOM inspection program. It is believed that one quarter of Iraq’s WMDs were destroyed under UN pressure during the early 1990’s. It is believed that Iraq sold approximately another quarter of the weapons stockpile to Arab neighbors during the mid to late 1990’s. It is also believed that the Russians insisted on removing another quarter in the last months before the war. With no record of there destruction there will always be a question of their disposition and whether they can be reconstituted as a weapon for use in the future. The last remaining WMD, the contents of Saddam’s nuclear weapons labs, were still inside Iraq when the coalition forces arrived in 2003, but were stolen from under the Americans’ noses and sent to Syria. Syria is one of eight countries in the world that never signed a treaty banning WMDs. Depending on what was shipped out of the country; the ability to reconstitute a WMD program is undetermined. The recent air raid by Israel in Deir al Zour, Syria was designed to destroy the nuclear work underway there, and discourage any further work developing nuclear material there. At this point the only assurance is that Iraq no longer has this capability. There is also a hope that any country that may have received this material will not be foolish enough to try to weaponize this material for their own or any terrorist organization use.

Iraq is one of seven countries that had been designated by the Secretary of State as state sponsors of international terrorism. UN Security Council Resolution 687 prohibited Saddam Hussein from committing or supporting terrorism, or allowing terrorist organizations to operate in Iraq. There is ample evidence now available to substantiate the claim that the Iraq government actively aided and abetted radical terrorist groups. In 1993, the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) directed and pursued an attempt to assassinate, through the use of a powerful car bomb, former U.S. President George Bush and the Emir of Kuwait. Kuwaiti authorities thwarted the terrorist plot and arrested 16 suspects, led by two Iraqi nationals. Iraqi intelligence met with Osama Bin Laden in 1995 when Bin Laden requested that Iraqi radio broadcast his speeches. Bin Laden also “requested joint operations against the forces of infidels in the land of Hijaz,” which is Saudi Arabia.  In November 1995 al-Qaeda bombed the Saudi National Guards headquarters in Riyadh, killing five Americans. In 1999 Fedayeen collaborated with Uday Hussein on plans to sabotage, bomb, and assassinate Kurdish areas in Iraq, Iran, and London. Iraq shelters terrorist groups including the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO), which has used terrorist violence against Iran and in the 1970s was responsible for killing several U.S. military personnel and U.S. civilians. Iraq sheltered several prominent Palestinian terrorist organizations in Baghdad, including the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), which is known for aerial attacks against Israel and is headed by Abu Abbas, who carried out the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro and murdered U.S. citizen Leon Klinghoffer.  Iraq also sheltered the Abu Nidal Organization, an international terrorist organization that has carried out terrorist attacks in twenty countries, killing or injuring almost 900 people. Targets have included the United States and several other Western nations. Each of these groups have offices in Baghdad and receive training, logistical assistance, and financial aid from the government of Iraq. In April 2002, Saddam Hussein increased from $10,000 to $25,000 the money offered to families of Palestinian suicide/homicide bombers. The rules for rewarding suicide/homicide bombers are strict and insist that only someone who blows himself up with a belt of explosives gets the full payment. Payments are made on a strict scale, with different amounts for wounds, disablement, death as a "martyr" and $25,000 for a suicide bomber. Mahmoud Besharat, a representative on the West Bank who is handing out to families the money from Saddam, said, "You would have to ask President Saddam why he is being so generous. But he is a revolutionary and he wants this distinguished struggle, the intifada, to continue."  Iraq maintained a terrorist training facility at Salman Pak, where both Iraqis and non-Iraqi Arabs receive training on hijacking planes and trains, planting explosives in cities, sabotage, and assassinations.

The final rationale was to topple Saddam Hussein and free the Iraqi people. President Clinton signed the “Iraq Liberation Act” to establish a program to support a democracy in Iraq. Iraq regime change was openly discussed as a national objective.  Saddam Hussein rejected every attempt to address the UN Security Council Resolutions peacefully. Meanwhile Saddam Hussein led a repressive regime that murdered thousands of its own citizens. A key principle of the Bush Doctrine was to replace dictatorships with democratic governments as both morally justified, since it leads to greater freedom for the citizens of such countries, and strategically wise, since democratic countries are more peaceful, and breed less terrorism, than dictatorial ones.  Removing Saddam Hussein and the Baathist regime freed 25 million Iraqis to live a life free of fear. Although the al-Qaeda has replaced the Baathists as the source of fear, the recent surge has finally turned the corner on returning the country to its freely formed government.

In summary invading Iraq was the right thing to do in 2003, and is still the right thing to do, now that we know the full extent of Iraq’s progress destroying their weapons of mass destruction programs, their support of international terrorism, and their repression of the Iraq people.

The Global War on Terror in general is covered at http://www.returntocommonsensesite.com/fp/terrorism.html and the Middle East Theater in particular is covered at http://www.returntocommonsensesite.com/fp/middleeast.html .

David Coughlin

I wish I could vote FOR a Presidential candidate, but more likely I will vote AGAINST the other candidate….. holding my nose when I depress the lever to vote for whoever is left.  Let’s look at my voting record over the last 10 elections and who I voted for or against:

1968: voted AGAINST Hubert Humphrey

1972: voted AGAINST George McGovern

1976: voted AGAINST Jimmy Carter

1980: voted FOR Ronald Reagan

1984: voted FOR Ronald Reagan

1988: voted AGAINST Michael Dukakis

1992: voted FOR Ross Perot

1996: voted AGAINST Bill Clinton

2000: voted AGAINST Al Gore

2004: voted AGAINST John Kerry

I consider myself an Independent who is morally conservative. My voting record reflects my lack of enthusiasm for either party. I believe I am not alone in my thinking and that a significant number of people either vote their conscience like me or don’t vote at all.  Perhaps the fact that less than half the people vote in any given election is a reflection of this dissatisfaction.

The days of an inspirational leader receiving my vote is a distant memory… “fuhgettaboutit.”