This is a good point about the costs of containing Saddam.
E-mail:
“Rich,
Good column. However, I don’t agree with your contention that, “The invasion of Iraq two years later angers Clark most now. On 60 Minutes, he blamed the Madrid train attacks on the U.S. invasion. Has it slipped his mind that al-Qaida attacked U.S. targets throughout the 1990s and carried out Sept. 11 well before the United States toppled Saddam Hussein?
As we know, al Qaeda was essentially formed as a response to our effort to contain Saddam by keeping troops in Saudi Arabia. In his 1998 call to arms, bin Laden makes clear that his number one beef with the US is Iraq and US troops in Saudi Arabia. So Iraq was always an issue with al Qaeda. It was only after 9-11 that the Palestinian issue was even raised.
This is what has mystified me for so long. Everyone is looking for a 9/11-Saddam connection and it is right there. No Gulf War, no troops in Saudi Arabia; no troops in Saudi Arabia, no al Qaeda and no 9-11. Did Saddam send the killers? No. But would the killers have been sent absent Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait and his refusal to disarm? We’ll never know for sure. In any case, Saddam does bear some responsibility for 9-11.”