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April 22, 2005
The Volokh Challenge
I've decided to take up the challenge of Orrin Kerr of The Volokh Conspiracy
First, assuming that you were in favor of the invasion of Iraq at the time of the invasion, do you believe today that the invasion of Iraq was a good idea? Why/why not?
I believe that the invasion of Iraq was a good idea. The United States, under the provisions of the United Nations, had been involved in an ongoing war in Iraq for 11 years. Many millions of dollars was being spent in ongoing patrols, intelligence gathering, attacks on military targets and defensive maneuvers in response to aggressive action by Iraqi troops. No end was in sight to this ongoing battle, as neither the US or UN had any intention of moving forward with war, or backing off of enforcement of the terms of Iraq's surrender.
In addition, Iraq was refusing to comply with UN directives on its creation, ownership and use of weapons of mass destruction. Iraq had been instructed to end all WMD research, destroy all of its stockpiles, and comply with UN inspectors in the verification of the end of its WMD programs. Iraq did not dismantle its WMD programs, as evidenced by the discovery of chemical weapons and delivery systems. Iraq did not destroy its stockpiles, as evidenced by the discovery of chemical weapons and delivery systems. That the international forces in Iraq have not found large amounts of WMDs is not sufficient evidence to conclude that there were no WMDs in Iraq, because small amounts have been discovered and there is belief that more may be hidden away or exported to Iraq's allies. The UN inspection teams that attempted to verify the end of the WMD program should have been escorted by Iraqi officials to the existing weapons stockpiles to witness their destruction. They should have been directed to the manufacturing and research facilities to witness their dismantling. Instead, inspectors were restricted from access to many major facilities, held back from others for hours at a time while materials were moved out the back, and generally led on a wild goose chase around Iraq.
The United Nations should have acted on these problems with decisive actions. They did not. To take such actions would have required action by the Security Council. The Security Council's actions can be vetoed at any time by any one of its permanent members. In this case, the problem child was France. France, it seems, had been cooperating with Iraq in defying UN mandates over oil exports, weapons sales, and equipment for Iraq's WMD program. Also defying UN mandates were Germany and, possibly, another permanent UNSC member, Russia. There was no way that action against Iraq could be taken, because of a veto by France. Likewise, the US and Britain would have opposed any end to the restrictions and the requirement for inspections. The resulting waiting game could have lasted for decades, as it has with Cuba.
The wait is now over. Saddam Hussein is out of power. The WMD programs of Iraq are now finished, and verifiably so. Soon, the need for US and international military actions in Iraq will be finished for the first time since 1991. Collateral wins in this battle include Libya, which has decided to end its own WMD programs and willingly submit to proper UN inspections as Iraq should have done.
Second, what reaction do you have to the not-very-upbeat news coming of Iraq these days, such as the stories I link to above?
With any military action, casualties can be expected. That US soldiers die is not evidence of failure. In fact, the relatively low numbers of casualties in this war are an indication of how successful it has been. As with any war, there are forces who will refuse to recognize the end of hostilities. It happened in Germany. It happened in in Korea. Indeed, after the end of our own Civil War here in the US, there were some areas in the Southern states that a northerner would risk his life to enter for years.
News stories from Iraq are written from a very limited point of view. Reporters are, for the most part, limited to safer areas of the country. They report on statistics they receive. They're not going out into the countryside and seeing the schools. They're not witnessing the de-baathification classes. They're not looking at the miles of electrical wire or oil pipelines in operation. They do, however, report on the feet of oil pipeline destroyed in an act of violence by terrorists who would prefer a return to the deadly days of Saddam. The bottom line is that you simply cannot trust any given media source to give you the truth on any story. One must look to multiple sources for information, something the blogosphere has made easier.
Third, what specific criteria do you recommend that we should use over the coming months and years to measure whether the Iraq invasion has been a success?
This is a great question, and one which I have not spent enough time thinking on. That said, here's my first list.
- Saddam Hussein is not in power
- Iraq is not engaged in WMD programs
- Iraq does not stockpile WMDs.
- Iraq does not pose a military threat to US forces in the region
- The people of Iraq are guaranteed at least some of the basic freedoms enjoyed by citizens of the United States
- The economic power of Iraq and its people is allowed to grow
- The people of Iraq are able to elect a representative government of their own in free and open elections
- Iraq does not fund terrorism in Israel and around the world as it did under Saddam Hussein
- Iraq's government does not voluntarily harbor known terrorists
- Iraq's government does not work to train terrorists
- US and International forces are able to end hostilities under conditions of victory
Posted by Lockjaw at April 22, 2005 11:58 AM
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