What are your thoughts all these years later?
Yeah, I wonder how we didn't end up controlling the country, routing terrorism there and owning all of the oil?
Iraq's oil business was n terrible shape after 2 decades of war with Iran and sanctions for lack of reserve management. Saddam Hussein begged the US to allow Haliburton to be allowed to come in and fix that in 1998. But, Operation Mass Appeal was already in full swing. Our decisions were unnecessary, arbitrary and punitive. Huge wasteful foreign policy blunder.. I quit the Republican party in the fall before the invasion. There was just no stopping it.
Between Clean Break Strategy and the PNAC the scenario was set in stone. They would have their war.