19th November 2007, 5:25 PM
Quote:What about the other countries that thought Iraq had chemical/biological weapons as well? It wasn't like America was the only one saying they had that kind of thing.
Yeah, I do believe that people really thought that Iraq had chemical weapons, including, I believe, many people within the Iraqi government itself. Sadaam wanted to have them, and did in the '80s, and didn't want to hear that they didn't anymore thanks to the effectiveness of the UN sanctions crippling the nation's economy... this has nothing to do with why we invaded, though. I thought at the time (and still think) that Bush made such a big deal about WMD because he thought that it would be the easiest excuse to prove. His administration had been determined to invade Iraq from the day they got into office (for the usual reasons: revenge, profit, political gain, etc). All they needed was an excuse, and between 9/11 and WMD they found it. Sure, the WMD thing didn't turn out to be true, but it helped get us into Iraq, so it served its purpose at the time...
In fact, I'd say, everyone was so sure that Iraq had chemical and perhaps biological weapons that nobody thought to check and see if the "witnesses" telling them about WMD in Iraq were credible or if they actually had any intelligence operatives in the country telling them any direct intelligence on the matter. It turned out that they didn't have either. It definitely says something about the danger of assumptions...