American Experience: George W. Bush- Saddam Hussein (2020)

Source:American Experience- Saddam Hussein (Baathist) President of Iraq (1979-2003)

 "Osama Bin Laden’s escape from allied forces and the swift collapse of the Taliban left President Bush dissatisfied. Initially resistant to the neoconservative argument to invade Iraq right away, President Bush felt himself increasingly drawn to the idea. The reasons were not only political, they were personal. "Bush developed a sense that there was unfinished business from the first Persian Gulf War in the early 1990s, that leaving Saddam in power had been a mistake,” recalled journalist Barton Gellman. “Bush was attracted to the idea of finishing something his father had left undone." 

From American Experience 

"The latest addition to AMERICAN EXPERIENCE’s Peabody Award-winning series of presidential biographies, this two-part, four-hour look at the life and presidency of George W. Bush features interviews with historians, journalists and several members of the president’s inner circle." 

Source:American Experience- President George W. Bush (Republican, Texas) 43rd President of the United States.

From American Experience

The original mission in the War in Iraq of 2003, was to go in and take out Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction and destroy them. Figuring that we would have to take down the Hussein Regime and its security forces, or as it turned out what was left of them which brings me to another point. 

Our military and intelligence apparently wasn't aware that even though they believed that Iraq had a military of 500,000 personal, easily one the the largest military's in the world, they didn't have much of a military left and didn't have any WMD as well. We didn't know that they didn't have the WMD at the start of the war of course. Iraq is a big country about the size of Nigeria physically, but we did know early on that Iraq didn't have much of a military left. And I think this should've been a pretty good clue. 

If a country can't even manage a military, how are they going to be able to develop nuclear weapons? Iraq no longer had WMD let alone the ability to develop nuclear weapons. Iraq is clearly not North Korea with its military, even though they are substantially wealthier economically. North Korea clearly has WMD and nuclear weapons and the ability to deliver them. So does Saudi Arabia and Egypt, as well as Turkey with WMD, but these are all allies so we are not worried about them. 

What we apparently we found out later that Saddam Hussein didn't have any terrorist groups that he liked or trusted and didn't have relations with them. Which is more evidence suggesting that we shouldn't be there in the first place. President Bush famously or infamously (depending on your perspective) declared Mission Accomplish in Iraq in June 2003. And looking back at it even though it might seem comical 17 years later. 

But in a sense if you look at the original mission, President Bush was correct. Because again the original mission was to take out the Hussein Regime and locate and destroy the WMD. And whatever Iraq was working on as far as developing nuclear weapons, Saddam Hussein may of had dreams of have nuclear weapons and being the Superpower of the Middle East. But his WMD were taken out by the late 1990s, four or five years before the Iraq War. And taking down the Hussein Regime happened within a few weeks of the Iraq War, because Iraq no longer had a military capable of defending this big country. 

We've done our part now its time for America to pull out and bring in other partners to help Iraq develop its Federal Government and security forces so they can govern and defend this large country. The United States has borrowed about 2T$ to finance our involvement and we now have a national debt and deficit and a weak economy to show for it. It's time that we do some nation building in our own country and keep these resources at home before we try to build other peoples countries.