Stay the course, America, there's a mission to accomplish all over again
Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, George Bush, John Howard and Tony Blair have all been re-elected despite the increasing evidence that the justification they gave was a cynical lie – sorry, based on faulty intelligence that they had no control over. Now, finally, Americans' instinctive isolationism has finally kicked in, and many of them think they're stuck in a protracted, disastrous conflict that they never should have embarked on. And today, voters are set to dump the Republican s from at least one of the Houses of Congress. But we went to Iraq to find and neutralise its WMDs. And after only three-and-a-half years, it's definitely not time to give up the search yet. What if they're still hidden in another foxhole like the one where we found Saddam?
Sure, we've combed the country from top to bottom already. Sure, pretty much every piece of ordnance in the country has already been used to kill over 2800 US troops and an estimated 650,000 Iraqis. But can we be sure, really sure, there are no more WMDs?
Especially since we're – sorry, I mean they're – executing Saddam. The secret of where all those WMDs are, the ones that could have been given to Al Qaeda and used to attack America if bin Laden and Saddam hadn't been enemies and they'd actually existed, may well die with him.
And has it yet been proven that Saddam didn't plan 9/11 and pin it on Osama bin Laden? Has this been thoroughly investigated?
And are we sure that Saddam Hussein isn't actually Osama? Have they ever been seen in the same place at the same time? No. Whereas Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam have, they used to be friends. So we know they couldn't be the same person. But if you give Saddam a fake beard and a headscarf, couldn't he be Osama? Many Americans have long been unable to distinguish them, and everyone knows that the "wisdom of the American people" is the one constant in American politics. Perhaps the reason no-one's caught Osama that he's already been caught?
While these uncertainties remain, it's just too dangerous for US voters to dump the Republican Party. Because the US is much safer with the GOP in power. If by "safer" you mean "at war". The Democrats are always wanting namby-pamby options like sanctions, and involving the international community. Not the Republicans. They act. They don't worry about time-wasting luxuries like checking that Iraq actually has any WMDs, or involving the international community, or whether Saddam and Al Qaeda actually are linked. There was no time for that.
And fortunately, Bush had already drawn up the invasion plans before 9/11. It's called foresight, people.
We must stay the course, and must not cut and run. With the Republicans, I mean. Obviously the US is going to have to leave Iraq almost immediately. But it's not the Republicans' fault. They just had dodgy intelligence. Especially the President.
George Bush, John Howard and Tony Blair all survived elections after the Iraq War – the first two with increased majorities. It would be a tragedy if the Republicans were punished today simply because voters have had more time to think about it. Time to think isn't all it's cracked up to be. Just think – if George Bush had taken it, he might not even have gone into Iraq in the first place.
Dominic Knight