The Iraq War • 435and military cooperation, and a world at peace, they should review the
Middle East policies that this country has pursued for the past half century.
We believe that they will find that some of these policies, by angering peo¬
ples and governments, have stirred up anti-Americanism and violence
against the US and its allies. If Washington truly wants to combat terrorism,
it must change its own attitude and policies, but the 2000 and 2004 elec¬
tions make us doubt that any reappraisal of American Middle East policy
will soon occur.
The Invasion of Iraq
Even as Washington was gearing up for the war in Afghanistan, its most
prominent neoconservative, Paul Wolfowitz, called for invading Iraq, pos¬
sibly as a first step toward changing all Arab governments opposing the US
and Israel. Controlling Iraq's oil was another US goal. He soon won over
Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney to his position.
President Bush soon agreed, redirecting resources that could have been
used against al-Qa'ida into an invasion of Iraq. Iraq's connection with the
terrorist network was often asserted but never proved. In October 2002
both houses of Congress passed by overwhelming margins a resolution au¬
thorizing Bush to send troops into Iraq. They accepted the Bush adminis¬
tration's insistence that Iraq possessed, and was about to use, weapons of
mass destruction. Under US pressure, the UN Security Council also passed
a resolution demanding that Iraq account for and surrender its nuclear, bi¬
ological, and chemical weapons or "face serious consequences." The UN
inspection teams, which had been hastily withdrawn in 1998 under orders
from the Clinton administration, were sent back into Iraq to find its weap¬
ons of mass destruction. None were found. The Bush administration ar¬
gued that the UN teams were being tricked by the Iraqi regime and would
never succeed. Washington stepped up its propaganda, diplomatic efforts,
and military preparations.
Future historians will debate the rationale for the Iraq War, which began
with aerial attacks and an Anglo-American invasion on 20 March 2003.
One motive was to secure Iraq's oil fields and installations. Another stated
reason was to oust Saddam's dictatorship and replace it with a democratic
government, along with promoting freedom and human rights. Moreover,
George W. Bush bore a grudge against Saddam for trying to assassinate his
father. Finding and removing Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was the
primary rationale given to the public. (They would never be found, and a
subsequent US report admits that they did not exist.) The neoconserva-
tives wanted to overthrow or at least neutralize Iraq, Iran, and Syria and to