6-month review

Andrea Buffa wonders if the anti-war movement was right. Snippet:

Six months after the attack on Iraq, no chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons have been found. The Iraqi army could not even defend its own capital, much less pose a threat to Western civilization. And it's looking more and more like the Bush Administration lied about or at least exaggerated the Iraqi threat to get support for the war. Isn't it about time for a public evaluation of the pre-emptive strike policy that has the U.S. invading countries that are alleged threats, and an investigation into whether the allegations about the Iraqi threat leading up to the war were really lies? The Iraq war has made the world less safe from terrorism, not more safe. The other primary justification for the war was a purported link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. "Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of Al Qaeda," President Bush said in his January 2003 State of the Union speech. But intelligence experts and top Bush administration officials now acknowledge that no link was ever established between Al Qaeda and the Saddam Hussein regime. Just this week Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz admitted that his continued claims about an Iraq-Al Qaeda connection "should have been more precise." Even President Bush finally admitted on Wednesday there is no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The peace movement argued that war against Iraq was a bad way to fight terrorism ­ not only because of the nonexistent link between Iraq and Al Qaeda, but also because war would destabilize the world rather than making its people more safe. Unfortunately, this prediction seems to have become a reality. The United States angered and inflamed people all over the world by conducting a unilateral, unprovoked war against Iraq that killed thousands of innocent Iraqi people. And stability in the Middle East seems more precarious than ever as car bombings in Iraq and guerrilla attacks are making some experts argue that Iraq is literally becoming a terrorist haven before our very eyes.