Some More On This Unfortunate Anniversary of the Iraq War

Lately, I have tried to make a point of keeping things light on the weekends, and particularly on Sundays. But today is different. Today marks the 20th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

I remember debating some supporters of the war during that time. To people who were younger than me, I urged them (particularly the men) to put their money where their mouth is, and sign up for the war effort. Become a soldier, go and fight. I said that if I truly believed that Saddam Hussein was anywhere near the level of threat that the George W. Bush administration seemed to think he was, I would probably sign up myself. 

The thing is, logic should have dictated that he was nowhere near that level of threat. He had been defeated in  a war before the entire world just a little over one decade earlier. Then, his country had been humiliated with conditions limiting their power, and with a no fly zone imposed in the country. Some compared Saddam to Stalin or Hitler, but neither of those two men ever had such limits on their power imposed on them like that. Also, nobody predicted that they could be defeated quickly in war, that it would take six days or six weeks, but likely would not last six full months. 

Still, the Bush administration insisted that Saddam posed such an urgent threat, that something needed to be done immediately. And as Hans Blix states below, peaceful inspectors from the United Nations had to give way to an invading army, and Iraq saw missiles and bombs fall all across their suddenly destabilized and devastated country:

So it was that a few hundred unarmed U.N. inspectors left Iraq, to be replaced by hundreds of thousands of soldiers who began an occupation that would have a horrendous cost in lives, suffering and resources.

Below is more of what Hans Blix had to say about the war, as well as a video documenting how the war - which lasted a lot longer than six days or six weeks or even six months - came to change the world:

Hans Blix: Iraq War was a terrible mistake and violation of U.N. charter by Hans Blix, Special to CNN, Tue March 19, 2013:

https://www.cnn.com/2013/03/18/opinion/iraq-war-hans-blix/index.html