I disagree with your perceptions of Bush's motivations. Here's how I see it.
September 11. --> Al Quaeda --> Afghanistan --> We find out Al Quaeda is in Iraq and Saddam who used to have WMDs is now refusing to let UN inspectors into his countries labs. --> Department of Defense concludes Al Quaeda is working to obtain WMDs from Saddam (whose WMDs we now know were destroyed in the late 1990s for unknown reasons) --> Saddam still refuses weapons inspectors access after we call him out on it--> Invasion!
Kach, I cannot believe you have such a simplified perspective. I do not know if it is willful ignorance or if you have just somehow slept through the past years.
Kach, I understand your reasoning much better than you might think. I'm only recently discharged from the US Army, and I was in both Iraq and Afghanistan. I know what went on there--and I also know that Bush had next to no reason to invade that country. On our advance, the Imperial guard fled or surrendered in mass numbers. They knew the USA was out for blood, and we got it, alright--at the cost of thousands of US Lives.
Inspectors were in Iraq before the invasion. In fact, they had to be evacuated. It's why the UN didn't endorse the invasion.
Edit: Richard Butler and his inspectors had to leave Iraq after it being 'highly suggested' by the US on December 14th, the day before bombing began. In their report they said:
"the majority of the inspections of facilities and sites under the ongoing monitoring system were carried out with Iraq's cooperation"
Got any proof to back up the highlighted sections? It was my understanding that Al-Qaede didn't show up on the scene until the waning days of the invasion, and that the initial resistance was initiated by the former Baath Party officials.
However, the one good thing that did come out of the Iraq invasion, other than getting rid of Saddam, would be drawing Al-Qaede's attention largely away from the American homeland, and turning popular Iraqian opinion in favour to against for the terroist group, as well as confirming for the general populace that Iran is indeed an anti-Western nation for those who had any lingering doubts.
And people who live in the good old US are called USites.
Also, previous to the US invasion of Iraq (the second time around) Saddam had the highest approval rating of his so called career as a tyrant and the quality of life in Iraq was at an all time high. I'm not supporting the guy, he's a douche... but so was the guy who decided to invade his country... an action that every media outlet calls "war" but that the administration stubbornly called a "police action"... I remeber the last time that happened, I can still hear the whop-whop of the choppers, the wailing monkeys and the gleeful cries of the men on the log ride.
