Dark Bilious Vapors

Here is the fourth part in the Chicago Tribune series on the bAdministration's case for the Iraq war:

The once and future threat
The White House argued that Saddam Hussein's refusal to obey UN demands posed not only present but also future dangers to America.

"In the lingering debate over war in Iraq, much attention has focused on the Bush administration's faulty claim that Saddam Hussein had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction. This nation's shared hindsight, though, tends to overlook a corollary White House argument evidently tailored to skeptics who, in 2002 and early 2003, saw no urgent reason to confront Hussein.

You don't have to accept our concern about today's Iraq, the argument essentially went, to appreciate the threat it may pose tomorrow to our nation, our interests overseas and our allies in the region. The longer Hussein refuses to obey United Nations directives to disclose his weapons programs, the greater the risk that he will acquire--or share with a hungry terror group--the weaponry he has used in the past, or the even deadlier capabilities his scientists have tried to develop.

Boiled to its essence, this argument was: We need to wage a pre-emptive war. That belief hinged not only on weaponry Hussein allegedly possessed at the time, but also on what his rebukes to the United Nations said about what he aspired to achieve. In making their case for war, White House officials threaded their major speeches with warnings about Hussein's options if, year after year, the world allowed him to continue flouting those UN resolutions...."

Karen on 12.04.05 @ 09:44 AM CST