This moment in history is the culmination of a confrontation that goes back 20 years to the Gulf War of 1990.
Following the al-Qaeda terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President George W. Bush and his Cabinet argued that Saddam was too much of a threat given the climate in the Middle East to remain in power.
When Saddam refused to allow U.N. inspections of his weapons facilities, Bush argued that Saddam "needs to let inspectors back in his country, to show us that he is not developing weapons of mass destruction."
In October 2002, the House and Senate voted overwhelmingly to authorize force against Iraq. In November 2002, the United Nations Security Council adopted a unanimous resolution offering Saddam "a final opportunity" to comply with disarmament.
Three months later, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said U.S. and European intelligence agencies believed Iraq was hiding its weaponry and seeking more.
The final U.N. weapons inspection report stated that Iraq failed to account for chemical and biological stockpiles. Lead U.N. inspector Hans Blix stated he had "no confidence" that the weaponry had been destroyed.
In his State of the Union Address in January 2003, Bush said: "Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words and all recriminations would come too late."
At 5:34 a.m., March 20, 2003, a U.S. force backed by 34 nations crossed into Iraq. The war was on.
In the ensuing years, the war saw failures and unforeseen consequences. No weapons of mass destruction were found, and a violent insurgency arose that shocked many.
There were successes as well. Millions of Iraqis braved terrorist death threats to vote in free and fair elections in 2005. Saddam's regime was deposed, and democratic institutions moved into his palaces and ministries. Violence eventually plummeted.
Wow. That's actually accurate.
And the remainder is pretty good, too, giving both sides of the question of whether we won some print time to state the opposing positions on the question. The focus that we don't know whether we've won is accurate enough, in my opinion. While we've achieved much already, it is true that future failure to remain engaged in Iraq could undo much of what we've done up to now and deny us greater victories in the future.
