I just had a long discussion with my liberal friend at work (his son is back at Bragg, and doing well) about the reasons we went into Iraq. I know, it’s a tired subject. But it is something he feels strongly enough about to make his support of Kerry very strong. We both know that discussion, not conversion, is the issue. Neither of us will change our mind about this election.
His bounce on this is the WMD reason for going to war, and the feeling that the war was economic. Had sanctions been lifted, Saddam was going to trade oil in Euros rather than dollars. Perhaps there is something to that.
But I raised the issue of Kosovo with him. In a way he hadn’t considered. Like most Democrats, the knee-jerk is “Clinton-basher!” But he knows me better, so he stifled it–but it took some inner strength to do so!
When Clinton decided we needed to intervene in Kosovo, the basis for that intervention was humanitarian. People were being murdered in genocidal fashion, and there were mass graves everywhere. We had no national interest in the doings there except in a humanitarian way. It was a European problem which the Europeans needed to handle. They couldn’t, and wouldn’t. Neither would the UN. So America did. I remember feeling there was a need to do something, but didn’t feel it was our place. When it became clear Europe was going to sit on their collective hands (or thumbs), I thought our involvement was justified. So did most Americans.
There were no mass graves. That doesn’t mean Clinton was wrong to use force.
When Bush decided to intervene in Iraq, the basis was to fight terrorism and prevent the development of WMD there. But something which is not talked about often enough is that the same reasons for invading Kosovo existed in Iraq. On top of that, we did have a national interest in doing so.
There were no WMDs in Iraq. That doesn’t mean Bush was wrong to use force.
There are mass graves in Iraq. That doesn’t mean Bush was wrong to use force.
Kosovo was not in our national interest, yet is was right for us to take action. Iraq was in our national interest, and had the identical situation as Kosovo–and more.
If we were right to go into Kosovo on humanitarian issues alone, were we not also right to go into Iraq for the same reason?