Before the Bush administration launched the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the president laid out a series of reasons the threat required immediate military action. The reasons — all of them — were stunningly wrong.
Iraq had not acquired uranium for a nuclear weapon; it did not have vast stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction; there was no smallpox, anthrax, or VX nerve gas; Iraq did not have 45-minute strike capability; there were no mobile biowarfare labs; no uranium-enriching aluminum tubes, no “reconstituted” nuclear weapons, no drones, no ties to al Queda, and no connection to 9/11.
But the New York Times’ Maureen Dowd also stated the obvious today in explaining that the administration has been equally wrong in its expectations and predictions for Iraq after the invasion. As Dowd put it, “Every single thing the administration calculated would happen in Iraq has turned out the opposite.”
Paul Wolfowitz assumed that the Shiites, tormented by Saddam over their religion, would be grateful, not hateful. Wrong. It isn’t a cakewalk; it’s chaos.
Every single thing the administration calculated would happen in Iraq has turned out the opposite. The W.M.D. that supposedly threatened us did not exist. The dangerous dictator was deluded and writing romance novels. The terrorism that would be thwarted has mushroomed in Iraq and is feeding Arab radicalism.
Mr. Rumsfeld thought invading Iraq would exorcise America’s Vietnam syndrome, its squeamishness about using force. Instead, it has raised the specter of another Vietnam, where our courageous troops don’t understand the culture, can’t recognize the enemy and don’t have an exit strategy. And the administration spins the war every day.
Rummy also thought he could show off his transformation of the military, using a leaner force. Now even some Republicans say he is putting our troops at risk by stubbornly refusing to admit he was wrong.
Dick Cheney thought fear was better than weak-kneed diplomacy, that if America whacked one Arab foe, all the others would cower. Wrong. The Iraq invasion has multiplied and emboldened our enemies.
Mr. Cheney and Mr. Rumsfeld thought America should flex its hyperpower muscles, castrating the U.N. and blowing off multilateral arrangements. Now the administration may have to crawl back for help.
The hawks thought they could establish a democracy that would produce a domino effect in the Arab world. Wrong. The dominoes are falling in a scarier direction.
The president thought he could improve on the ending to his father’s gulf war. Wrong again.