It's popular these days especially in leftists circles to malign the war in Iraq. One can hear the common refrains in the evening news. They will say things such as, there were not weapons of Mass destruction, Bush Lied, Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9-11, this was is about Oil Etc. I will try to address some of these Issues as I am perhaps one of about ten that still supports this war.
To begin with I must address a question that may be forming in the minds of some. How can a Catholic who claims to be devout support this was in light of the Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI's opposition as well as many other bishops. The answers is simple. The Catholic church is not opposed to war as a matter of Doctrine the same way the church is opposed to Abortion and Contraception. The fact is that the Catholic Church has developed a Just war Doctrine (Read here and here) There is no Just abortion doctrine. The Issue of War is a matter of prudential judgement by legitimate authority and neither the Pope not the bishops are privy to the information available to heads of state that leads them to such decisions. One can be a Catholic in Good standing and be in support or in opposition to this war (though I think that those that oppose it are misguided)
OK, now that that is out of the way lets address some of the talking points of the opposition.
1. There were not WMD's. This is one of the most common statements of those opposing the war.
First it must be pointed that this argument was used by no one before the war started, the fact is that every intelligence service in the world from the French, to the Germans, to the UN and everywhere in between had intelligence that they did have WMD's. He was tried on the use of the WMD's (article, and article) He used the weapons on his own people.I remember watching the Images when it happened. In actuality WMD's were found (Article). It is true that the expected stock piles were not found waiting for our troops to just pounce on them (As if Saddam were dumb enough to leave them liying around waiting to be found.). Was was found was documentation that a WMD program existed (This article shows that though it is not friendly to the U.S. cause) The opposition to the Iraq War before the was centered around allowing the inspectors to do their Job, the only notable war opponent that did not hold to this view was Saddam himself, he did all he could to prevent the inspectors from doing their Jobs.
Bush Lied. This statement shows a fundamental misunderstanding what a lie is. For someone to lie they must know that what they are saying is not true. Bush was relying on the same Intelligence used by the previous administration to support military action in Iraq. The only difference is that this time it was a republican and there were no interns involved. And yes the little Matter of 9-11. The famous sixteen words regarding Uranium in Africa is still affirmed by British intelligence to this day.
Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9-11, No one said he did. Though the 9-11 commission report did document contacts at various levels with Al quaeda. the events of 9-11 showed us the reality of Islamic terrorism in general of which al queada is but one group and the one brought to the fore front after 9-11. Bush said as much in his speech after 9-11. We are at war with Islamic terrorism not just Alquaeda. Furthermore to beleive that Al-quaeda a world wide organization was everywhere but Iraq is self delusional. Sadam was himself a terrorist, he ran a terrorist state and he sponsored terrorism world wide paying money to the families of suicided bombers in Israel.
The Iraq War is about oil, This argument was used during the last war with Iraq. If this war were about oil, gas would not be $4.00 a gallon. The Iraqis run their own Oil.
The war in Iraq diverts from tracking down Bin-laden, this argument is based on the notion that we somehow left Afghanistan to go after Iraq. This not true, the hunt for Bin-Laden is still ongoing. The ground condition in Iraq and Afghanistan are different thus different force structures are required. The notion that the U.S. cannot, with the most powerful military in the World cannot fight war in two countries. The fact is that the war on terrorism has our troops all over the world, including the Philippines and Somalia. Iraq is and has always been one front in the war on terrorism and those that say we should have stayed in Afghanistan are trying to imply that Iraq has nothing to do with the terrorism. If Iraq has nothing to do with terrorism then why are the terrorist streaming in from all over the world to fight there. I mush prefer they take on our trained troops than to have them here killing my family. Make not mistake they still want to do that.
