Did the United States "Rush to War in Iraq?"

[Bandit]

Kerry has made that charge but no Media I have seen has picked up on it. I think the question needs to be asked again and again. Why again was it so urgent that we invaded right then and could not wait for inspectors or UN to make a determination of if indeed there was extreme risk. Almost the entire world didn't seem to agree that immediate invasion was the correct course of action but we went anyway. It has been proved that we went in by mistake. Is it fair to say that the US did indeed "Rush to War". Why did Bush* think he knew so much more than the entire rest of the world and then was proved to be such an idiot?

[RobertSeattle]

1. We also forget the military reason we rush to invade

I'd bet a month's salary that General Franks told Shrub that we have to start the war prior to the end of March or it could get too hot for the soldier to invade Iraq in the (in retrospect useless) Chem Suits and we'd have to wait 6+ months until the fall, so Bush did what any impatient fool would do and invade then.

[Daisey Mae]

2. maybe the answer is GREED.....

We know Bush has no brains.
We know Bush has no heart and is unfeeling.
We know therefore it was Greed, because he has plenty of that.
OIL AND THE MONEY HE COULD STEAL FOR CARLYLE GROUP, HALLEBURTON, BECHTAL,... AND OTHERS... He is a horrible human immitation. A greedy mean stupid little man.....a dry drunk.

[bryant69]

5. Greed is a hard one to make stick

Because its hard to draw a straight line from the invasion of Iraq and Bush's bank Account. I prefer reckless stupidity as an explanation.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Mandate My Ass]

3. Yes, of course

The urgency was because they knew the inspectors would conclude there were no weapons and then they'd be screwed.

It was the classic scam: promise the benefits will be high, the risk low and most importantly -- Act now!!

[realFedUp]

4. Wonder who in the CIA was hired to kill Saddam?

Since the U.S. has supported coups for
40 years in Iraq, it's a given that
the CIA hired someone else to do
the job on Saddam....guess it didn't
work out. Too bad. We could have saved
us and the world money and lives.

More incompetence from the Bushies.

[Brotherjohn]

6. Kerry on March 18th, 2003:

"Even having botched the diplomacy, it is the duty of any president, in the final analysis, to defend this nation and dispel the security threat. ... Saddam Hussein has brought military action upon himself by refusing for 12 years to comply with the mandates of the United Nations. ... My strong personal preference would have been for the administration ... to have given diplomacy more time."

Even in "standing behind" the president and troops on the eve of war (having been fed the president's intelligence), he made clear that he thought the president had "botched" diplomacy and should have given it more time.

Also:
Oct. 9, 2002
Senate floor speech on Iraq resolution:
"In giving the president this authority, I expect him to fulfill the commitments he has made to the American people in recent days -- to work with the United Nations Security Council to adopt a new resolution setting out tough and immediate inspection requirements, and to act with our allies at our side if we have to disarm Saddam Hussein by force. If he fails to do so, I will be among the first to speak out."

And Bush's own words regarding the resolution in September 2002:
"If you want to keep the peace, you've got to have the authorization to use force. It's a chance for Congress to say, 'we support the administration's ability to keep the peace.' That's what this is all about."

And Bush on October 7, 2002:
"Approving this resolution does not mean that military action is imminent or unavoidable."

Bush himself said repeatedly that the IWR was NOT a vote "for war". It was, just as Kerry says, a tool to pressure Hussein.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/09/23/MNGQK8TI8O1.DTL
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/20021007-8.html

Bush could not wait. Bush has an itchy trigger finger. THAT's the point Kerry needs to be making.

[UdoKier]

7. No, George Bush did.

No decent Americans supported that war.

[Poiuyt]

8. No rush to war

Bush and the neocons have been planning this for 10 years.