Between Iraq and a Hard Place

Iraq may well go down in history as George W. Bush’s greatest mistake, same as Viet Nam will forever scar the Presidency of Lyndon Johnson. George Bush, though, bears a stronger burden for his mistake. Lyndon Johnson escalated a war he inherited based on bad intelligence reports. George Bush got us involved in a war of his creation while ignoring good intelligence.

The intelligence reports before Bush’s invasion of Iraq warned there was no need for an invasion. Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator, yet his powers were contained. With swarms of inspectors searching Iraq for arms and the world’s attention focused on him, Saddam Hussein dared not make use of his military. Had he made any military move, there would have been worldwide approval to restrain and remove him. Yet, not only was he contained, it appears very likely he no longer had weapons of mass destruction. Despite intelligence declaring Saddam Hussein posed no threat, George Bush was the one person who believed Saddam Hussein’s false claims of bravado.

We should be lucky that Saddam Hussein did not have such weapons. Indeed, what was George Bush thinking when he sought to corner a foe if Bush believed the foe’s last means of reacting would be to lash back with weapons of mass destruction? The very worst way to handle such a threat would be corner him militarily, which is exactly what George Bush did.

Saddam Hussein’s abuses will not be missed. Yet, George Bush’s actions have alienated much of the international community. The United States has lost much of the worldwide sympathy we gained after the September 11 terrorist attacks. This has proven to be a lost opportunity to improve our position in international relations. Instead, many foreign leaders now view us as a country that acts only in its interests with no regards for other nations. Our international reputation has been shattered. We should be the leader in promoting democracy and serving as the example for others to seek to replicate. Instead, we have lost opportunities to reduce the fears that spark terrorist groups to organize against us.

The United States should be the example of responsible democracy that respects human rights. By serving as this example, we will, in the long run, allow others to see our example and to work to move their countries in this direction. We have seen this happen successfully in Russia and Eastern Europe. Yet, if we begin showing that our first response to international crises is to act militarily, we will be the example of what a country should not be. We will commit ourselves to war that cause us to lose ground. The mistakes of George Bush should never be repeated.