War Rationale: Version 10.0

The Bush administration has erased and re-written its
justification for invading Iraq time and time again. Its take on
the United Nations’ role, on reconstruction, political transition,
and the cost to the American taxpayer have all changed with the
seasons, and the bumpy ride isn’t over yet. Whew! Luckily, help has
arrived to sort out the mess. P.J. Crowley, a senior fellow, and
Robert O. Boorstin, senior vice president for national security at
the Center for American Progress have compiled a review of the
shifts that, as they put it, ‘resembles a software program that, at
first, works brilliantly, but then catches the user in a cycle of
‘fatal error’ messages.’

Version 1.0 warns us that ‘Saddam Hussein poses an ‘imminent
threat’ to the American people’ and his ‘smoking gun will be a
mushroom cloud.’ Yikes! Version 2.0 foresees that ‘Saddam Hussein
is ready to use weapons of mass destruction,’ but luckily ‘we all
know where the weapons are.’ So, let’s go get him! Version 3.0:
Wait!, Saddam didn’t try to buy uranium ore in Niger! Version 4.0:
‘Saddam has deep ties to Al Qaeda,’ and he’ll give them his weapons
to use against us. Version 5.0: ‘The United Nations just can’t
handle Iraq.’ Version 6.0: ‘The war in Iraq won’t hurt our efforts
in Afghanistan or the hunt for bin Laden.’

In Version 7.0, mission accomplished! ‘The troops will be home
in six months.’ Version 8.1: ‘The war will pay for itself very
quickly’ with oil revenues. And just to make you feel good, in
Version 9.0, ‘Democracy comes to Iraq,’ and ‘we [are] greeted as
liberators.’ And if you think that there might be bugs in this
software, go directly to Version 10.0: ‘Trust us. We know what
we’re doing.’
— Jacob Wheeler

Go there>>
War
Rationale: Version 10.0

Related Links: