Reading Response #1

The first article that I read was about the alleged suicide of Dr. David Kelly, a weapons expert who may have been the BBC informant that revealed that certain members of the media may have exaggerated the case for going to war in Iraq. This was a very controversial exit for Dr. Kelly, as it came only days after he was grilled by the House of Commons’s foreign affairs committee as part of an inquiry into the use of intelligence in the lead-up to the Iraq invasion. I also found it interesting that hours before his alleged suicide, Dr. Kelly sent an email to the New York Times. In his e-mail he warns of “many dark actors playing games.”

This article was very interesting because there seems to be a hint of conspiracy surrounding it. Did the doctor crack under the pressure of tough questioning and blame lying, or was he the victim of these “dark actors looking to cover up the mistake made in the build up to Iraq? I also found it interesting that the intelligence questioning came so soon after the invasion of Iraq. The US began the invasion on March 20^th, 2003. David Kelly died on July 19^th, 2003, which was less than two months after the “Mission Accomplished” banner fiasco.

The second article that I read was about documents that the US and British intelligence agencies heavily relied upon in justifying the war in Iraq. The documents were declared “obvious” forgeries by UN weapons inspectors. These papers indicated that Saddam Hussein might have attempted to purchase 500 tons of uranium for Niger. Secretary of State Colin Powell specifically mentioned the debunked documents in his presentation to the UN Security Council outlining the Bush administration's case against Iraq. This article was most interesting to me because it was published on March 14, 2003, six days before the invasion. Yet the invasion still occurred.

From both articles it seems that based on what we know now, the US should not have invaded Iraq. I cannot say for certain that we should never have invaded Iraq, but we definitely moved at the wrong time. It seems like we have tied up so many troops and money in Iraq that when they are needed elsewhere, we cannot be as effective as we would have been if there was no war in Iraq. For example, more troops at home could have made a big difference in the Hurricane Katrina disaster and subsequent cleanup. Moreover, with the evidence we had before the invasion, we should not have invaded Iraq. The evidence was questionable at best and there should have been more investigation before proceeding with the invasion.

Sources:

Ensor, David. “Fake Iraq documents 'embarrassing' for U.S.” (CNN) http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/14/sprj.irq.documents/index.html

“Weapons expert had slashed wrist” (BBC News)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3079787.stm