For disclosure, let me preface this by stating that I am a Republican, and I spent some time in the first Iraq conflict, (1991), and that the reasons that this nation had for getting involved there were valid ones. This nation can not turn it's eyes away when international conflict that have widespread regional ramifications occur. Plain and simple.
Now... having said this...
Back when George W. Bush Jr sought to seek support from the house and senate, his chief argument for invading and removing Hussein and his Bath party was the argument that they possessed weapons of mass destruction. Period. It wasn't 9/11, and it wasn't Al Qaeda. The intelligence community new full well that no element from Iraq was involved at any stage in the September 11 events. And Al Qaeda was not even a blip in Iraq at the time because Hussein and his Bath party would behead any element, wether religious or political, that would challenge it's power base in the country. In other words, WMD, or weapons of mass destruction were the ONLY justification that Bush and his circle of influence were pushing. They new anything short of that would never get the support from the house or the senate.
Now, Bush new full well that his intelligence in Iraq indicated that the evidence did not support that WMD existed in Iraq. And he was told by both the intelligence community and the military leadership at the time in clear unambiguous ways. So he did what he has done these past seven years when confronted with a truth he did not want to hear. He fired or replaced those individuals who were providing actual intelligence of actual events or circumstances in the theatre of operations, and replaced them with individuals who would tot the party line, and whom he could present to the nation as "credible" sources. So, he dragged this nation into an unattainable conflict. During the first conflict, our forces were within eyesight of Bagdad. But his father was warned about the political vacuum and the costly ramifications that would ensue if we did take Bagdad and removed Hussein. It was argued at the time, that it was far better to contain him and the Bath party using political and economic pressure with the help of the international community. Bush Jr, however, did not take this counsel and decided to flex his "might" as President of the United States with the assistance of a small group of conservative republicans working behind the scenes. Seven years later, we are still in that political quagmire with no end in sight. Most Americans have no real idea of the real cost of this war yet. The full magnitude is staggering. Bush has had to borrow extensively abroad to fund a lot of this war. What congress has approved so far, as staggering as it is, is just a small part of the total cost. He has brought this country to the brink of bankruptcy. This country's manufacturing base has all but been outsourced overseas. Our primary industries today are in the service field. And you don't generate a whole lot of business related tax revenue and income for the country out of call centers and questionable financial investment practices. So our ability to generate revenue from manufactured goods, which is a major part of any viable economy, has been severely compromised. We are a country that is not only deep in debt, but that it is now unable to sustain an economy that can support a major military conflict financially if we are forced to. We are unable to deliver vital services to our local communities because monies for many vital programs have been diverted, and continue to be diverted to support Bush's war in Iraq. When you have states that have been hard core republican states with republican leadership, write to their federal counterparts and inform them that they will no longer be able to administer and provide federally mandated programs and services for the community because they no longer have the financial means to do so, you know you have wide ranging problems. Most state agencies in this nation have had to reduce their trained work force and the services that the deliver to their local communities to a mere presence for this reason, and the trend continues.
The situation that we have in Iraq today are almost entirely supported and manufactured by Bush policies. If Al Qaeda is a significant presence today, it is because Bush policies have made it so. We are never going to bring resolution to the centuries old conflicts that exist between the different factions there. Our credibility in the international community is down to almost zilch. Bush has done what the Soviet Union in all their hey day never could... diminish the international political and economic stature of this country. It is going to take a long, long time for whatever successor takes over next January to clean up the mess that we presently have in this country, and it is going to be a thankless painful process for this country, at a high price that our fathers, mothers, and children will have to continue to pay for.
