Tell me if this sounds right, those of you who count yourselves among the anti-war/we shouldn't have gone into Iraq type crowd. I am wondering why people oppose what's happened in Iraq. Confirm or deny, either way, please. I assure you in advance that I am not constructing an array of straw men. I am genuinely curious, and these reasons are the best ones that I can devise.
Those who don't like the war in Iraq grant that some good may have come from the downfall of the Hussein regime (like no more massacres at Halabja and of the Marsh Arabs), the justification at the time was so foul and morally reprehensible as to render it a horrible blunder.
The justification might be balked at for some, all, or none of the following reasons.
1.) Iraq has oil, Bush/Cheney used to work in oil industry, ergo this is a war for pure exploitation of Iraqi natural resources, for the personal benefit of themselves & their cronies in the oil industry.
2.) Bush is white, American, & Republican, ergo he is out to kill as many dark-skinned people as possible.
3.) The UN is the world's sole legitimate authority when it comes to determining whether use of force is valid/justified. Bypassing the UN, even in the supposed attempt to do good, is morally and ethically on par with Hitler's slaughter of the Jews, Stalin's slaughter of the enemies of communism, & Pol Pot's slaughter of the educated. For an act of conflict to be proper, it must have the imprimatur of the UN.
4.) Bush erred in not having France, Germany, & Russia sign onto the coalition. After all, an action's legitimacy increases with the number of nation states signed on as partners.
5.) Violence is always and everywhere wrong. There does not exist a situation in which any use of violence would be justified for any reason, ergo Bush is wrong for having authorized violence.
6.) We have treated Iraq worse than did the ancien regime. We have fouled up transportation, infrastructure, waterworks, electricity, plumbing, etc. We have tortured, humiliated, and oppressed innocent Iraqis, who if they attack us are fully justified because we are the fascist imperial aggressor seeking to add another jewel to our crown.
7.) Hussein had nothing to with bin Laden, and in fact quite loathed the bastard. So we have really gone and screwed the pooch by invading Iraq, when what we should do is knock Israel down a few pegs, for it is their brutal oppression of the helpless Palestinian peoples that is among the chief root causes of Islamic terrorism. Smash Israel, and you smash your unpopularity among the Muslims.
8.) Bush fraudulently stole the election in 2000, ergo any and all actions he has taken in office are offensive.
9.) Hussein had no WMDs. We know this because the UN inspectors say so. They have investigated fully and found no evidence whatsoever that Hussein possessed WMDs or even desired to manufacture them.
10.) Had we but waited a short period of time, the UN economic sanctions against Iraq would have surely worked, deposing the tyrant without the need for any of that imperial jockeying by the US.
11.) This was pure petty vengeance for Hussein's alleged attempt to kill Bush père.
So those of you who were/are/continue to be in opposition to the act of going into Iraq, tell me if any of these sound familiar.
