I remember Bush sent troops to the area, before the UN conclusions, in such a huge number that analysts said he's going to attack Iraq no matter what, because otherwise it would be extremely humiliating to have to return the soldiers back..
This demonstrates that the Al Qaeda link as well as the WMD issue were just pretexts and nothing more than pretexts.
Bush and Blair gambled on the presence of WMDs in Iraq, without actually knowing whether it would be true or not. Meaning their speeches about knowing Saddam had them and/or where they were, were simply not true. Otherwise, they would have told the UN inspectors, wouldn't they? (Wasn't this discussed before the war?).
Meanwhile, the UN was undermined, western countries got divided and ridiculed for having held a position that so far is vindicated.
War is a serious matter and thousands of lives were lost. .
Raoul
Current Events » in reply to And yet another view
re:Pretexts