Iraq- Myth Vs. Reality- Victor David Hanson explains........

I missed this one on Friday, but as usual VDH gives us another column devoted to debunking the common misconceptions about the war in Iraq, and does so in a detailed, factual way.

Here are the common myths- I put my condensed answers in bold, read here for the full explanations...


Myth #1: America turned off its allies..

There are more international forces in Iraq than Afghanistan right now. Remember, everyone was kosher with sending troops to Afghanistan, but the reality is more international troops are in Iraq than Afghanistan.

Myth #2: Democracy cannot be implemented by force.

Germany, Japan, South Korea.........

Myth #3: Lies got us into this war.

Then the entire world was lying. Every country on the UNSC as well as Hans Blix himself admitted that Saddam was not coming clean concerning his WMD programs. And if Saddam was the one telling the truth, then why didn't he allow unfettered access to wherever the inspectors wanted to go? This would have prevented or at least delayed military action. If you have nothing to hide, you don't act like you're hiding something. Especially not if doing so means you will be forceably removed from power.

Myth #4: Profit-making led to this war.

If by this you mean the UN-Oil for Kickbacks program, then you would have an argument. But show me how many gallons of Iraqi oil have been sold at a profit by American companies. Oh wait- they haven't sold any. In fact, regular Iraqi's have more control over there own resources than at any time during Saddams reign. And the US taxpayers are spending billions to allow Iraqis to sell their own oil. Some profit margin.

Myth #5: Israel has caused the United States untold headaches in the Arab world by its intransigent policies.

The Arab dictators will continue to blame the JOOOOOS and the US for their own failures as long as they can keep their own populaces from blaming themselves. Once this happens (as is beginning to happen in Iran), less attention will be payed to the Palestinians, and more towards internal revolution.