America Invaded Iraq, That Is A Fact, But Then The Reasons Given Were Lies- Here’s Why

It is now common knowledge that the Bush administration was largely made up of unapologetic liars who were all too keen to use their country’s military muscle. A look into The Center for Public Integrity’s reports on the Bush leadership’s lies in the case of Iraq tells a tale of trigger happy leaders who enjoyed bullying the rest of the world.

The hypocrisy exhibited in Iraq is a good lesson for Africa. After cooking up all sorts of mistruths about the America’s motive in Iraq, it is now all clear: it was largely a currency war. It was a war to maintain an economic hold on the global stage.

The Bush administration lied

The Center for Public Integrity, founded in 1989 by Charles Lewis did the world a big favour by analysing all the statements the Bush administration released and sifting through them for the lies. The Center found that President Bush and seven top officials made 935 false statements leading up to the Iraqi war. Bush himself made 232 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 28 false statements about Iraq’s connections with Al Qaeda. In a radio address Bush gave on September 28, 2002, he said,

“The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons, is rebuilding the facilities to make more and, according to the British government, could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes after the order is given. The regime has long standing and continuing ties to terrorist groups, and there are al Qaeda terrorists inside Iraq. This regime is seeking a nuclear bomb, and with fissile material could build one within a year.”

It sounds ridiculous now that all the facts are known but when he said this, he managed to manipulate the American population which was still reeling from the effects of the 9/11 al Qaeda attacks. Manipulating intelligence findings and cherry-picking only those elements that supported the Iraqi invasion were sure ways to rally public sentiment behind the attack. The claims became increasingly desperate with time, ranging from the Weapons of Mass Destruction right to how Saddam Hussein was violating human rights in his country. Interestingly, with that same human rights violation profile, the United States had supported Hussein in fighting the Kurds only fifteen years earlier.

What had changed? The hypocrisy and web of lies is sickening. Was this not the same approach used on Libya? The more things change with the United States, the more they stay the same.

The truth was in the money?

In March 2003, a week before the invasion, Kofi Annan who was then UN chief warned the United States that military action would violate the UN Charter.

The USA did not heed his call to refrain from the attack. Despite almost 400 United Nations inspections which showed no evidence of the WMD claims by the US, the invasion was carried through. Speaking in 2004, Annan then clearly said, “I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN charter. From our point of view and from the charter point of view it was illegal.”