Lynn C. Woolsey: “I am beginning to lose count of the number of reasons why we went to war in Iraq. First it was because Saddam Hussein…”

“I am beginning to lose count of the number of reasons why we went to war in Iraq. First it was because Saddam Hussein was closely linked to al Qaeda, the terrorist group that conducted the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11. After that theory was disproved, the reason for going to war became the imminent and immediate threat that Saddam posed to the United States. According to the White House, Saddam possessed stockpiles of nuclear and biological weapons. When we learned that Saddam's nuclear weapons program had actually been dismantled after the 1991 Gulf War, which was a full 12 years ago when the U.S. began its first invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration changed its rationale yet again. This time the reason for going to war was for the very cause of democracy itself, to bring democracy to the Iraqi people. Some have said that Iraq's recent elections are the very embodiment of Iraq's quick embrace of democracy. It is important right now to commend the brave 58 percent of registered Iraqis who voted in these elections, voted to select the legislators who will write the Iraqi constitution. In fact, Iraq's voter turnout was higher than the turnout in most American elections.”