Revisiting how and why on anniversary of the Iraq War

Just about twenty years ago (March 20, 2003) the United States and its coalition partners invaded Iraq and began one of America’s worst wars in terms of furthering the goal of making the world a safer place.  Since then, our natural tendency to forget, aided by the wish of some people who want us not to remember the reality of a war that lasted too long and was quite disastrous, have numbed us to how and why it began.

A refresher is in order.

George W. Bush, in his state-of-the-union speech in 2002, his first after the awful events of September 11, 2001, stated, “Terrorists who once occupied Afghanistan now occupy cells at Guantanamo Bay.  And terrorist leaders who urged followers to sacrifice their lives are running for their own.”  He then set new goals, to counter the activities of the “axis of evil,” North Korea, Iraq, and Iran — none of which countries had furnished any of the terrorists who had bombed America.  Claiming that any of the three could “provide arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred,” specifically “weapons of mass destruction,” he left no doubt as to America’s next target: Iraq.

By then, invasion plans were being pushed by Vice-President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and the neo-conservatives who had taken over the direction and execution of American military and foreign policy.   For at least a decade they had been preparing such an invasion on strategic grounds, as detailed in my 2009 book, “The Forty Years War: The Rise and Fall of the Neocons.”  And George W. Bush wanted to finish the job left undone by his father, George H. W. Bush – to topple Saddam Hussein.

In 2002-2003, when cooler heads such as General Eric Shinseki, the army’s chief of staff, and Thomas White, secretary of the army, objected to the proposed invasion, Shinseki was forced to retire early and White to resign.  Others who should have known better, such as Secretary of State Colin Powell, a former general, mounted few objections.

Many rationales were put forth for the war: that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction; that Al Qaeda was operating there in great force; that we would be spreading democracy by means of our invasion; and that Iraq was no longer necessary to the U.S. as a counterweight to the more dangerous Iran.   In subsequent years all would be shown to have been false.  And the U.S. admitted they were false before the invasion.  In July 2002, the head of British Intelligence Service MI6 was told by his American counterparts during meetings in Washington, as recorded in the latterly-famous Downing Street Memo of July 23, 2002: that “Bush wanted to remove Saddam Hussein through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD (weapons of mass destruction). But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.”

On Aug. 15, 2002, President H. W. Bush’s former chief military advisor, Brent Scowcroft, published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal entitled, “Don’t Attack Saddam.”  Scowcroft cited a “virtual consensus in the world” against such an invasion, on the grounds that it “would seriously jeopardize, if not destroy, the global counter-terrorist campaign we have undertaken” in the wake of 9/11.

Internally, an August CIA memo to the president and other top officials upheld its title, “The Perfect Storm: Planning for the Negative Consequences of Invading Iraq” by naming those bad consequences: anarchy in Iraq, a surge in terrorism around the world, deepening Islamic antipathy to the U.S., Al Qaeda exploiting the circumstances to find new safe havens, declining European confidence in U.S. leadership, a Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan, and chaos in Pakistan.   Almost all of these would eventually come to pass.  The memo was ignored.

In November of 2002, in the first national election since 9/11, Republicans gained control of the House and the Senate for the first time under a Republican president since Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s. That effectively sealed the push for invasion, enabling the pro-war clique in the White House to override any Congressional objections to beginning a pre-emptive war without a declaration of war from Congress.

 

Salisbury resident Tom Shachtman has written more than two dozen books and many television documentaries.  His website is www.tomshachtman.com

The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Lakeville Journal and The Journal does not support or oppose candidates for public office.

Latest News

A scenic 32-mile loop through Litchfield County

Whenever I need to get a quick but scenic bicycle ride but don’t have time to organize a group ride that involves driving to a meeting point, I just turn right out of my driveway. That begins a 32-mile loop through some of the prettiest scenery in northern Litchfield County.

I ride south on Undermountain Road (Route 41 South) into Salisbury and turn right on Main Street (Route 44 West). If I’m meeting friends, we gather at the parking area on the west side of Salisbury Town Hall where parking is never a problem.

Keep ReadingShow less
Biking Ancramdale to Copake

This is a lovely ride that loops from Ancramdale north to Copake and back. At just over 23 miles and about 1,300 feet of elevation gain, it’s a perfect route for intermediate recreational riders and takes about two hours to complete. It’s entirely on quiet roads with little traffic, winding through rolling hills, open countryside, picturesque farms and several lakes.

Along the way, you’ll pass a couple of farmstands that are worth a quick visit. There is only one hill that might be described as steep, but it is quite short — probably less than a quarter-mile.

Keep ReadingShow less
Taking on Tanglewood

Aerial view of The Shed at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass.

Provided

Now is the perfect time to plan ahead for symphonic music this summer at Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts. Here are a few highlights from the classical programming.

Saturday, July 5: Shed Opening Night at 8 p.m. Andris Nelsons conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra as Daniil Trifonov plays piano in an All-Rachmaninoff program. The Piano Concerto No. 3 was completed in 1909 and was written specifically to be debuted in the composer’s American tour, at another time of unrest and upheaval in Russia. Trifonev is well-equipped to take on what is considered among the most technically difficult piano pieces. This program also includes Symphonic Dances, a work encapsulating many ideas and much nostalgia.

Keep ReadingShow less
James H. Fox

SHARON — James H. Fox, resident of Sharon, passed away on May 30, 2025, at Vassar Brothers Hospital.

Born in New York, New York, to Herbert Fox and Margaret Moser, James grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. He spent his summers in Gaylordsville, Connecticut, where he developed a deep connection to the community.

Keep ReadingShow less