General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Chris Hedges: The Ghoulish Face of Empire [View all]merrily
(45,251 posts)had doubts significant enough to have insisted that the inspections continue--if the goal had been doing everything possible to avoid war. I believe the inspections were cut short because it had become apparent that Saddam had no WMD and not because they panicked that "the smoking gun might come in the form of a mushroom cloud" any second. Not because they thought Saddam had nukes that he'd managed to conceal from our satellites, spies, etc.
Before the invasion, it was mushroom clouds, no time to lose, etc. After the invasion, it was that we suspected chemical weapons, gas, etc. Jeez, even a respectable size gang probably has those--but apparently Iraq did not.
So, the story became, almost seamlessly, "No one can deny that the world is better off without Saddam Hussein." How do we know no one can deny that? Because Condi said so. Many more times than only once, too, bless her heart.
Me, though? I bet some of the dead Iraqis that we never even bothered to count and the over 100,000 who were displaced might beg to differ.
BTW, I am not sure hubris implies good intentions gone awry unintentionally. You might want to check the wiki.