War in Iraq (Gulf War II): January 2004 Archives

I haven't had many Iraq entries since the the Bush administration declared an end to major combat operations. Here are a few thoughts.

Still there have been no weapons of mass destruction found. This wouldn't be an issue at this point if the Bush administration had not made WMD the centerpiece of it's justification for going to war. Since weapons have not yet been found, I am left with three possible conclusions.

Weapons will be found. This would be the best case for the Bush administration and probably for the U.S. standing in the world community. I personally, don't think this will happen at this point, but I didn't think that they would get Saddam either.

Weapons will not be found. In this scenario, weapons are not found and the Bush administration knowingly lied about WMD. This is the worst case in my mind. Not only would this negatively affect our standing in the world, but it would be another example of the folks in government not trusting the governed enough to tell the truth, giving more reason for distrust and apathy towards government. (As one commenter noted, this could mean they were shipped to a third nation or hidden for a much later day.)

Weapons will not be found. In this scenario the Bush administration was misled by intelligence and genuinely thought they were there. In this scenario the intel was faulty or the intel was manipulated by Iraq expats. At this moment this seems the most likely scenario. The question that would remain is whether their was incompetence by any of the players.

As my High School history teacher used to say. "Time heals all wounds and time wounds all heels." Eventually, we'll know the truth. Unfortunately, I doubt we'll know much before the 2004 election.

One other lingering question. Is the mess in Iraq a remnant of colonization or the cold war? Are we cleaning up from the British Empire or repairing the issues left in the cold wars proxy nations?