They got us in a mess and walked away

Original Post: 27 Sept 2005

I am one of those former veterans who supported the US objective of getting rid of Saddam Hussein, though I was not too comfortable and was not convinced with the arguments put forward.
Every one in the Middle East knew about Saddam and his crimes against his people and against all of his neighbors. Every one knew about his killing machines and about the state of fear in place in Iraq. For many in the Middle East, including governments, they looked the other way around, making sure they are the beneficiaries of Saddam cash. He was buying governments, journalist, intellectuals, and labor unions left and right, and of course he has lots of cash, cash he stole from his people. Others were silent because they were fearful for their lives.
This was not the case here in the US, where the Reagan administration opened its doors and offices to Saddam and his criminal gangs. In the days of Reagan the Iraqi ambassador was the “man of town” winning and dinning members of congress and military industries. Billions of contracts were concluded and in fact the present secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld visiting Iraq twice and met with Saddam offering whatever the US could offer in aids against Iran. Of course we all know what happened with Iran and the story of the cake and the Bible taken to Tehran by non other than Ollie North.
The US all along known every thing about Saddam and his military plans and his ambitions, and went along. There is even some debate as to whether the US gave the “wink” for the invasion of Kuwait.
Why taking Saddam out of during the presidency of George W. Bush remains a big question and even bigger questions are raised by the sponsorship of the war on Iraq by members of the Israeli shop in Washington, like the likes of Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz and the godfather of the war, Richard Pearl. Too bad wall of those guys left President George Bush holding the bag. The US tax payers got stuck with over $200 billions for the war and with thousands of young courageous men and women giving their lives so that those guys get the US in a mess and walk away, mission accomplished.
The Peace March this past weekend was no doubt a great event and an expression of freedom of speech. It is too bad that such an anti-war rallies tend to be hijacked by anarchists and supporters of leftist dictatorships. If only they keep the issue of the war and make the case for the people, that will be great for America’s democracy, but it takes away from the credibility of all those who are against the war because it was the wrong war for the wrong reason.
No one could ever believe that this administration could make such a mess of the war and turn Iraq, a country longing and hopeful to take Saddam out, to a country that is a big mess with hundreds of thousands of Iraqis paying for their lives because some one in Washington failed to think. Yes, failed to think what after the war. The objective of taking Saddam gets a 100 while managing the war gets a ZERO. One thing for sure, this demonstration and those in it, could not manage a flood, could not manage a war, and God help us if we have a catastrophic terrorist attack. It seems that every one in Washington missed the mark so far.
Sami Jamil Jadallah