Ford Disagreed With Bush

Ford Disagreed With Bush About Invading Iraq - washingtonpost.com

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Wow It looks like President Ford saw things pretty much the same way I did.
Bush didn't sell the invasion of Iraq and that the WMD issue wasn't a valid one.
Ford saw the same briefs that President Bush did and probably saw the same holes in the story that I did.
The biggest that you can't prove a negative.
The WMD charges against Saddam were trumped up plain and simple, it looked that way before the invasion and this administration failed to prove the charges after the invasion - for the same reason. You can't prove something doesn't exist - only that is does.

The other big hole was not the error of not going into Iraq with a major INTERNATIONAL force.
No the U.S. is not so weak or effete that we have to have the worlds help, but was about actually getting through conflict and back out the other side to peace.
A real international force does two things, it creates a unified message to opponents, that you do not simply have to defeat or demoralize one nation, you're going to have to do it to many and that's much harder.
The Iraqi people like any are proud of their nation and any invader good or bad is not going to be seen as a good guy for long if at all.
A unified international force is easier to see as a rescuing force more than a small alliance.
The other thing that wide international force accomplishes is that it creates a bond between the members of the force, the more you bring in the stonger it becomes in opposition to those that are not inside.
This is why, not weakness, not what you can do by law or terms of a cease fire but what works best - and in this case what works, and what doesn't.

The question this raises is Ford saw it as a mistake and stayed silent, how many other Republicans who could have raised a voice that would have counted stayed silent?
The time to be heard on this was before the commitment of troops and national credibility not after each "leader" passes.

Now the U.S. installed government will execute Saddam probably before the end of they year and history is going to indicate that the U.S. did it, not the Iraqi people.

Democracy is a great thing, I hope that one day the Iraqi people actually get a real one.

In other news President Bush may be announcing an escalation of troops in Iraq today.