The reason for war
March 12th, 2007 |1/18/03, 2 months before the start of the Iraq War:
I can’t imagine that anybody would say, We’re going to war because there are 11 empty warheads, probably left over from 10 years ago. These warheads are not the nuclear weapons we’ve been warned about. They travel about 12 miles.
But this is being used as a pretext for a decision that’s already been made at high levels of the U.S. government to change the government in Iraq. It has nothing to do with, boy, we’re — we are really worried about these little chemical warheads that’s going to cause a holocaust in the Middle East.
But the last thing that the hawks inside the administration, and their friends outside the administration, want is a coup d’etat that would replace Saddam Hussein. They want a war as a manifestation of U.S. power in the world and as a sign that the United States is capable of changing the balance of power and the political map of the Middle East.
Talking to a senior official, and he said to me, he said, Well, if we don’t hit in Iraq, where are we going to hit? And they — it’s a desire that the United States, the superpower, is going to manifest its authority to the rest of the world.
Listen, I just feel that this potential — this war, I just trust it comes off easily. But I have trepidation that it won’t be easy, and there’s going to be a terrible consequences from it.
Uttered Robert Novak of all people.
Terrible consequences? How prophetic.
God dammit.
