Quote:
Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
A better "money" quote, IMHO:
"We did not and do not agree with the view that the invasion of Iraq was a mistake. It had a clear strategic purpose that it achieved: reshaping the behavior of surrounding regimes, particularly of the Saudis. This helped disrupt the al Qaeda network sufficiently that it has been unable to mount follow-on attacks in the United States and has shifted its attention to the Islamic world, primarily to the Saudis. None of this would have happened without the invasion of Iraq.
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I'm not sure I agree with this. We have shown neighboring countries that we are willing to use force, but we also have made clearer the limits on our force. Without sufficient forces to secure Iraq, we are in no position to invade anyone else now. I also don't understand why we think invading Iraq has "reshaped" Saudi behavior. The Saudis are more threatened by Al Qaeda than we are. I don't seem any plausible nexus between the invasion of Iraq and whatever disruption of Al Qaeda has happened -- other countries (like Pakistan) were cooperating with us post-9/11 and pre-Iraq, and it is this cooperation that made the difference. Iraq was not supporting Al Qaeda, of course. To suggest that the disruption of Al Qaeda would not have happened without the invasion of Iraq is, in a word, ludicrous. Indeed, the invasion of Iraq has been counterproductive in some respects. It has been well chronicled that military resources were diverted from Afghanistan -- where we are still dealing with what's left of a regime that actually did support Al Qaeda -- to Iraq, and I have posted previously about how our focus on Iraq cost us Syria's assistance with Al Qaeda.
Quote:
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As frequently happens in warfare, the primary strategic purpose of the war has been forgotten by the Bush administration. Mission creep, the nightmare of all military planners, has taken place. The United States has shifted its focus from coercing neighboring countries into collaborating with the United States against al Qaeda, to building democracy in Iraq.
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Had we only been interesting in coercing other countries, we could have gone to the brink with Hussein and then accepting something short of full capitulation from him -- weapons inspectors, etc. But we didn't want to coerce him, we wanted to replace him. The mission creep you describe includes the war itself.
