[Azred]

Originally posted by Chewbacca: quote: Originally posted by Azred: quote: from the article: The existence of WMD had been the stated reason in Washington and London for going to war with Iraq.

Be that as it may, the intelligence agencies of at least 6 countries including the US, England, Spain, and Israel, all agreed that Hussein had such weapons. [/QUOTE]But nobody checked the facts behind old information, or discerned speculation from evidence on the ground and were fed misinformation by Iraqi exiles groups. Inspections obviously worked well enough not to heed a rush into war poorly prepared. [/QUOTE]When ones hires a professional consultant to perform a job, one does not normally double-check the professional's findings unless one is a professional in that field (which means you probably wouldn't have hired an outside professional in the first place). In short, there were no sources better informed than the ones saying "Hussein has the weapons"--to whom should people have listened? Hussein himself?

I agree that there was too much emphasis placed on weapons of mass destruction in the weeks before the invasion. More emphasis should have been placed on the fact that Hussein had been [img]graemlins/flickdown.gif[/img] the world and his own people for years while no one lifted a finger to stop him and his abuses. Personally, I would have sent a hit team to remove him and his sons.
Also, I do agree that the war was poorly prepared and under-prepared. Even after Vietnam we still haven't learned how to wage a war against loosely-organized groups of foes who blend into the general population. Do military strategists just sit around drinking coffee and earning a salary or do they think?