Post Scripts: Hidden weapons or liberation?

The intense fighting in Iraq didn’t last very long, thank goodness, but it did end long before any “weapons of mass destruction” were found. I’m sure President Bush prays extra hard each night that some will be found because that was main reason he took the United States military into Iraq and world opinion demands we put up or shut up.

So far we have uncovered barrels of insecticides but, hey, it takes time to dig up huge portions of the enemy’s countryside to find suspected weapons. However, let me make it clear to readers that if Hussein had such weapons of mass destruction, they need to be found and destroyed. So far U.S. officials will only say it will take time – even months – to locate them.

Funny thing is, polls taken here in America show that a vast majority of citizens not only approved of our invasion, but that most do not regard finding weapons of mass destruction essential to the war’s success. In fact, internationally, experts say perceptions about the war have reached the point where the discovery of weapons of mass destruction, (hereafter referred to as WMD) is not all that vital to the success of the war.

Public opinion surveys back up this viewpoint, but as the full costs of the war become more apparent the claims about “hidden weapons” without evidence may become a big problem. Then, too, our failure to find WMD would give those nations and individuals who opposed the war new evidence that invading Iraq was not justified.

To some extent, it may be already too late to win over critics in the international community, weapons or no weapons, say experts. Most of the opposition to this war comes from Europe and the Middle East “because it is being done by the world’s super-power.” Discovery of banned weapons probably won’t change their opinion.

Some experts note that opposition to the war is so strong, and suspicion of U.S. motives so questionable, that many nations may question any major weapons discoveries that our nation claims. Even if some are found, people in some parts of Europe would question whether the claims are true, or that we simply “planted” evidence. Some nations have even suggested the U.S. is not above that.

All this is an indication of how we rate among many other nations. Some of it may be envy, but some can be only labeled as distrust of our international motives. Some even say Iraq’s possession of banned weapons was the nation’s only means of standing up to America’s might.

Some experts argue that the uncovering of WMD was never really the top priority for the U.S., but rather the liberation of the Iraqi people. To this day we don’t know if Saddam is dead or alive. I believe that once blood has been spilled in a war, there is always the tendency to say it was not done in vain.

Vice-President Dick Chaney’s former company, Halliburton, received the first big contract for re-building Iraq. Surprise, surprise!