A new US think tank report has just set out in forensic detail how the US intelligence on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) did not reveal an imminent threat to the United States, which the Bush White House claimed as its reason for invading Iraq. In addition the report finds no evidence that Saddam Hussein was aiding or abetting Al-Qaeda in particular or international terrorism in general.
Secretary of State Colin Powell’s response to the 115-page document from the left-of-center Carnegie Endowment for International Peace was revealing, in that he appeared to be putting distance between the WMD intelligence received and the decision for war made by the administration. While he still insisted that as far as he was concerned the intelligence was correct, he seemed to accept that the jury was still out on the quality of the reports. The Bush White House was set on invasion, regardless of the evidence garnered by the intelligence services. Either the CIA and its fellow spooks got it completely wrong or their ambivalent reports were massaged and inflated to suit President Bush’s bellicose plans.
However, as demonstrated by the low-key US press coverage of the Carnegie report, the lack of real WMD evidence is no longer an issue for US voters. Now that Saddam himself has been captured, Americans are comforting themselves with the concept of a just war to overthrow an evil regime. The rising death toll among US servicemen in Iraq no longer matters as much, especially with the June deadline for a power hand-over to the Iraqis, which many Americans assume will also be the time for US military disengagement and a welcome return of the troops. How Bush will handle this issue in the last five months of his campaign to stay in the White House is going to be crucial.
At the moment voters are still rejoicing in a job well done in overthrowing an evil dictator. Little thought is being given to the other part of the Carnegie report, which is deeply critical of the Bush policy of pre-emptive invasions. Despite the rising casualties, Pax Americana is at present going down well with voters. With the economy apparently recovering, they are feeling good about themselves again. Bush’s aggressive foreign policy has brought Libya’s WMD program to an end, and may be about to do the same thing with North Korea while also having an effect on Iran.
Nothing succeeds like success. Who cares what weak intelligence is cobbled together to justify an attack? The important thing is that US military muscle seems to be working. That this simplistic analysis ignores so many subtler and fundamental issues, not least the Palestinian plight, is the reason why a second term for President Bush is such a thought-provoking prospect for anyone who is not American.
