Oblather is forsaking every possible bit of leverage we had, INCLUDING 4 AMERICANS STILL BEING HELD, to simply have something Iran will merely sign. And we all know how well that kept Germany in check when it was Chamberlain seeking a "peaceful" solution. Oblather's administration admits that ‘We Should Expect’ Iran Will Spend Some of the $150 Billion in revenues Oblather’s deal gives them on their Military and possibly terrorist endeavors". That should have been a red flag right there
Yes, you and a very small minority of folks didn't believe that Saddam still had is WMD stockpiles, way back then. Yes, you made that painfully clear, and made some credible arguments to that end. However, the vast majority of intel concluded otherwise. And given the weight and references of a "slam dunk", Bush made the appropriate judgement call, based on the predominant intel at the time. And it wasn't just our CIA, it was a vast majority of the rest of the globe's intelligence agencies as well. Were they ALL cherry picking as well? Or did they simply decide to go with the predeominence of intel that said he did? I'm going with logic on this one, minus the blinders.
It was a judgement call, H......I'd opine 85% intel says he had them....15% was inconclusive or he didn't have them. He, as would most leaders in that situation, and following the events of 911, went with the 85 answer. I know I sure as hell would have, and I had no interest in some "real objective of toppling Saddam". We all know now the 15% were the ones who had it right, but that doesn't mean that Bush lied us into war or even took us in on false pretenses. The region was made better, and was stabilizing. Had Oblather not foolishly put a timetable on everything, and pulled all our troops out, without any option of a residual force, that we've had in so many other countries following conflict, the current ISIS & Iran mutations would not be metastasizing, and we wouldn't be heading back down that Chamberlain road