Reply #1: Not in my opinion. [View All]

[Ready4Change]

I just think that war in Iraq suited almost all parties involved. Perhaps even Saddam at the beginning.

The Bush administration wanted military action to invigorate patriotic loyalties, capture oil, get vengence for threats to Bush Sr., and provide a military sandbox.

Al Qaeda wanted a war in Iraq to prove that America is a threat to the Arab world, fire up islamic radicalism, and oust the secular Iraq government which had resisted al Qaeda attempts to infiltrate that nation up to that point.

Saddam wanted increased tensions in order to keep the international limelight on himself, in order to present himself as the point man in the conflict between the the Arab world and the West. The higher the tensions, the more he appeared to be a hero. And if it came to war, there was a chance it would be like the first Gulf War, where by just surviving with his leadership intact he could claim victory.

If anyone gamed the US into the Iraq War it was Chalabi. He provided a lot of the contacts who gave us misleading information, and wanted us to oust Saddam and put him (Chalabi) into control. So if you think al Qaeda did this, you might also need to think Chalabi was in cahoots with them.