Iraq: Justification for War

Why We Went To War In Iraq
(Wall Street Journal)…Douglas J. Feith, July 3, 2008
Pg. 11

A lot of poor commentary has framed the Iraq war as a conflict of "choice" rather than of "necessity." In fact, President George W. Bush chose to remove Saddam Hussein from power because he concluded that doing so was necessary.

When the president ultimately decided that the Iraqi regime must be ousted by force, he was influenced by five key factors:

1) Saddam was a threat to U.S. interests before 9/11. 

2) The threat of renewed aggression by Saddam was more troubling and urgent after 9/11.

3) To contain the threat from Saddam, all reasonable means short of war had been tried unsuccessfully for a dozen years.

4) While there were large risks involved in a war, the risks of leaving Saddam in power were even larger.

5) America after 9/11 had a lower tolerance for such dangers. 

Mr. Feith, under secretary of defense for policy from 2001 to 2005, is author of "War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism" (HarperCollins, 2008), the author’s proceeds of which are being donated to charities for veterans and their families.