What's up with Cheney? I can understand the motives of most of the other architects of our disastrous war in Iraq. Wolfowitz really did think that he could "bring democracy to the Middle East" with the barrel of a gun. Pearle and Feith thought they would make Israel safer by taking down Saddam Hussein. Rumsfeld believed a successful war would help him in his plan to create a more mobile and effective US military. Rove wanted a war to give W. more gravitas: a war Presidency plays well with the populace and would increase Republican power. Bush probably just wanted one time in his life to accomplish something his father hadn't.
Of course they were all wrong. The war in Iraq has lessened American prestige and power, raised the price of oil, and killed thousands of Americans and ten of thousands of Iraqis. It has increased the risk of terrorist attacks, destabilized the region, and made the lives of most Iraqis far worse than they we3re even under Saddam. The only winner in the war is our brand new enemy Iran.
Actually there is another winner: Cheney's old company Halliburton. Their subsidiary KBR is omnipresent in Iraq, having obtained hundreds of no bid contracts. They have made lots of money from this war. Could that be Cheney's motivation?
But the guy already has tens of millions of dollars. Can the desire for no-bid contracts be enough to put our boys in harms way? Is kleptocracy the defining ideology of the Cheney dominated Bush administration? Can it be so simple? I find it hard to believe that a man as rich as Cheney would sacrifice the good of our country just for money. But maybe I'm naïve.
What do you think?
Oh and by the way, what is Tony Blair's reason for supporting the war? Invasion was never popular in Britain, it has cost the Labour party greatly (they came in third in recent local elections), and his place in history will now be as Bush's poodle.
What were they thinking?