Steady Leadership? Me No Think So.

Thanks to MyDD and AMERICAblog for pointing out the many (still counting) reasons Nookleeyar George has given for going to war in Iraq.

Let me (that is, AMERICAblog) count the ways:

1. War on Terror
   
2. Prevention of the proliferation of WMD
   
3. Lack of Inspections
   
4. Remove Saddam Hussein regime
   
5. Saddam Hussein is evil
   
6. Invading Iraq would allow us to gain favor in the Middle East
   
7. Example to other terror states
   
8. Liberate the Iraqi people
   
9. Broken Promises - Iraq had made commitments to the UN and the world
   
10. Revenge for Iraq's attempt on the life of President H.W. Bush
    
11. Threat Saddam posed to the region
    
12. Because We Can - There would be little conflict or struggle, little price to pay for entering the country, the war would be easy.
    
13. Cleaning up unfinished business in Iraq from the first Gulf War
    
14. War for Oil - The US' oil interests in the Middle East and Iraq serve as a reason for wanting to invade the state and topple its leader.
    
15. Sake of History - Pres. Bush claimed history had called on the US to take action against Iraq
    
16. Disarmament - total elimination of ALL weapons in Iraq
    
17. Safety of the World - Iraq as a terrorist nation could sell weapons to other terrorists and thus posed a threat to the entire world
    
18. Commitment to the Children - America should give its children and the world's children a better future.
    
19. Imminent Threat - The uncertainty of Iraq's weapon power and future plans.
    
20. Preserve Peace - Iraq posted a threat to the peace of the world by its continued terrorist involvement and its increased tension in the Middle East
    
21. Threat to Freedom - By oppressing its people and threatening the world with possible terror acts, freedom was prevention from spreading through the Middle East and was lessened in those nations that feared terror in their backyards.
    
22. Link to al Qaeda
    
23. Iraq Unique - Rumsfeld declared that Saddam Hussein in combination with the weapons potential in Iraq made Iraq different than the other "axis of evil" countries, and therefore a great immediate threat.
    
24. Relevance of UN - The UN was put on notice that it would face illegitimacy if it did not support the cause of the United States.
    
25. Iraq had broken international law - Colin Powell said that violations of UN resolutions broke international laws established in the UN Charter.
    
    I would also add 2 more that Bush announced in the past few days:
    
26. Saddam "hopes" to "some day" get WMD (as compared to he "has" WMD).
    
27. Saddam had an "ability to work with terrorist organizations" (as compared to actually "working" with terrorist orgs).
    

Maybe I could add a few myself:

• Saddam Hussein smelled bad.
  
• Afghanistan was not enough. We needed more WAR!
  
• Just cleaning house for the rapture. Really. See Bill Moyers' article linked below.
  
• Needed to destroy irreplaceable items of immense historical value.
  
• Nothing like body counts to give you something to, well, count.
  
• Oh, don't forget collateral damage. It's no fun unless you can euphemize away thousands upon thousands of deaths of innocent civilians.
  
• Bush presidencies' (41 and 43) popularity only goes up in wartime. In all other times their incompetence is too noticeable.