The Patriot Post® · Still Debating Iraq

Great Britain released its “Report of the Iraq Inquiry,” a self-flagellating review of the UK’s decision to join the United States in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. “At four times the length of Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace,’ the so-called Chilcot Inquiry tells us nothing we didn’t know,” The Wall Street Journal observes. In short, the Brits conclude that “flawed intelligence” about weapons of mass destruction led to the deposing of Saddam Hussein. So pretty much what the Left has been saying since late 2003, especially as Democrats prepared to challenge George W. Bush in 2004.

There were WMD, of course, just not the glorious stockpiles in vast underground bunkers. Saddam himself later admitted he intended to restart his programs once sanctions were lifted.

The Journal also notes, “WMD were far from the only reason the U.S. and Britain had for deposing Saddam, who was the cause of countless Middle East crises during his 25 years in power. These included the Iran-Iraq war, the Anfal campaign, the rape of Kuwait and the Gulf War, the Scud-missile attacks on Israel, the extermination campaign against the marsh Arabs, the Kurdish refugee crisis — a record of human cruelty and chaos exceeded by few dictators in history. The most dangerous WMD in Iraq was Saddam.” And then there’s his long record of support for terrorists groups and tactics.

The bottom line is that while there were mistakes leading up to and during the Iraq war, the most critical mistake we’re dealing with today is Barack Obama’s shameful and politically calculated abandonment of our hard-won victory there.