It’s so sad that neither of these assholes and their enablers will ever face justice for the bullshit war they started; the US continues to not join the ICC. America lost over two trillion in blood and treasure along with millions of people’s lives in Iraq worsened. Regardless of my opposition to the invasion, I was never a fan of Saddam Hussein but I’m not stupid. Throughout the Eighties, he was our so-called ally against Iran via their pointless eight-year conflict. It’s not hard to find the photo of the dictator shaking hands with Donald Rumsfeld during the St. Reagan administration; he was sent to let Hussein know the US was A-OK with using poisonous gas on the Kurds and the Iranians.
Then overnight, with the annexation of Kuwait, which Bush the Elder approved via his ambassador (“it’s an internal Arab matter”), the petty dictator of Iraq was transformed into the biggest threat since Hitler. Much like Noriega of Panama, Hussein had outlived his usefulness and Bush needed to eliminate all the loose ends threatening his legacy. As the UN’s blank check only covered liberating Kuwait, Western forces led by the US had to stop and not march on Baghdad (thankfully). Yet we all knew during the 2000 election, the GOP was going gin up another fight as Darth Cheney became veep. Many Americans forgot something rather telling. Cheney was Bush the Elder’s Sec’y of Defense and he was in the camp to keep going. All part of this NeoCon crap about establishing the American Century and foisting Jeffersonian Democracy on a place with no tradition of it. He even heckled Slick Willie for eight years from the sidelines, egging for an attack. Sadly, 3000 people in NYC were killed to create the perfect excuse.
Today, the big winner is Iran because we destabilized their closest rival. I highly doubt Israel’s security is stronger for it. Iraq continues to be a mess with its weak government, infighting between religious and ethnic factions and smuggling couldn’t be any easier. The US is an exhausted super power thanks to them and now China and Russia are stirring up shit knowing full well the US lacks the means to be 100%. Hell, Europe didn’t believe us when we had good intelligence (for a change) on Russia’s plans since Dubious cried wolf over 20 years ago.