On Wednesday the top U.S. weapons inspector appeared before a Senate committee and presented damning evidence on Bush's rationale for the Iraq war. The inspector reported that Saddam Hussein rid Iraq of its illicit weapons in the early 1990s. He said his team of inspectors found no evidence that Iraq was making an effort to restart their weapons programs when the United States invaded in March 2003.
The claim that Iraq had dangerous weapons and therefore posed a threat against the United States was Bush's primary reason for the war. As every American knows we have found no such weapons in Iraq. Bush blames bad intelligence for this mistake. "My opponent looked at the same intelligence I did and declared Saddam Hussein was a grave threat," he said in last week's debate.
Bush's argument ignores the fact that a chorus of world leaders and weapons experts told him Iraq had no weapons in the months before the war. When Congress voted to authorize force in Iraq, Hussein gave the inspectors free reign. Hans Blix and his team of inspectors questioned whether Iraq had any weapons and plead for more time to look for them.
The inspector's report this week proved that Blix and his inspectors were right and Bush was wrong. Had Bush listened to these voices and given the inspectors a few more months, no weapons would have been found, and we could have avoided the war.
Hundreds of thousands of young Americans have gone to Iraq with the most noble of ideals. They were inspired by our nation's history of sweeping down walls of tyranny and saving the world from threats. But this week's report was the latest evidence that Iraq was the war that didn't have to be.
Since inspectors have proven Hussein was not a threat, Bush says we have fought a just war because we have freed the Iraqi people. He often says that Iraq and the United States are better off without Hussein in power.
But things have gone worse in Iraq since we invaded. The best-case scenario for Iraq's future is for the violence of this past summer to continue indefinitely, and the worst-case scenario is for civil war, according to July's national intelligence estimate. And democracy is at a standstill. Donald Rumsfeld said last week that elections will not take place in large parts of the country due to violence.
Neither is the United States better off because of the invasion. In fact we face a greater terrorist threat. Acts of terrorism have increased around the world since we invaded Iraq, according to a State Department report this summer.
We did not have to go to war and we are not better off because we did. That is an awful conclusion to have to face after 18 months have passed and thousands of people have died. It is not what we want to believe. But it is what the evidence proves, and it will be Bush's legacy.
