Why invade Iraq?

It is appropriate that I should address this question first, though it has now become rather academic. Various reasons were given to justify the invasion, though the issue of supplying a valid reason was more pressing for Tony Blair but rather less important for the neo-conservatives in Washington. The reason cited most often during the weeks and months preceding the invasion was the issue of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). In selling the war internally, the US also attempted to create a vague link between Al Qaeda and the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussain. In the post-9/11 climate, the US public was all too willing to believe in the existence of this link. The absence of any evidence, let alone evidence sufficient to justify a war, was no problem. It was also argued that since the Baathist regime was brutal, with a record of killing its own people, it was morally right to invade and to evict the regime from power. The public would be glad to get rid of the regime and would welcome the invaders as liberators.

The reality of the situation is different. The plan in fact existed before the atrocity of 9/11 and was part of a larger neo-conservative scheme to spread American hegemony around the world. However, this could not be achieved without controlling the world's supply of oil. Oil is central to everything- it is what drives the military-industrial complex. Saddam posed a threat to its free and unhindered flow. He presided over the world's second largest known oil reserves. Through his erratic behaviour, he was able to influence world prices. He had previously invaded Kuwait, an oil Sheikdom friendly to the US.

So Saddam was a threat, but a threat of another sort. Over a decade of sanctions and intrusive monitoring had succeeded in destroying the military threat- but it had not dealt with the fact that Saddam still sat on all that oil. This is the reason that over a year after removing Saddam from power, still no WMD have been found. There is no doubt that ex post facto justifications for the war will be found- but the central reason given at the time, that of WMD and the threat that posed to the world, was a lie