Really, Senator?

So, among his several snide comments regarding the State Of the Union message, Lindsey Graham (R-SC) stated “It was a good thing we took Saddam Hussein out.”  While there can be no doubt that the late unlamented Iraqi dictator was a bad man, where was the public uprising against him as against Al Assad in Syria?  Missing.  Where was the real evidence of his “weapons of mass destruction?”  Missing.  Where are the 4,486 US troops killed in the “war” in Iraq?  Missing. Where are the (depending upon the source, I chose The Lancet, a Brit. Source) over 600,000 killed violently during and after the time we destabilized the Iraqi government? Missing.

Even Graham’s  president (Bush 43) has claimed faulty intelligence and cited that as a reason for pushing the US into a war in Iraq that drained resources from Afghanistan, another essentially unwinnable war. The “unwinnable” adjective comes from the embarrassing historical disasters there experienced by Britain and the late USSR.  Bob Woodward has cited other reasons, including information from someone inside the Bush White House who told him that from inauguration day on, taking out Hussein was a Bush priority.  

Without deep analysis, there are several reasons that make this seem plausible. First, after Desert Storm, or the “first Gulf War” as we now call it, there were stories of Bush 41 having been targeted by Hussein for assassination. Could be, but “poppy” is still alive at age 89. Second, and more likely is the concern of Bush 43’s  staunch financial and political allies, the Saudi royal family who, like many in the region,  had felt threatened in 1990 and disliked Hussein’s much more secular Sunni state.

Is the world a better place overall because Saddam Hussein is dead?  Maybe, but probably not for the majority Iraquis.  Is Iran freer to pursue adventures elsewhere, since we destabilized their greatest regional opponent, Iraq? Probably.  If Graham, and others believe the death of more than half a million innocents is no big deal and a “good thing”, then it’s a wonder Benghazi is even on their radar, especially now that the whole truth shows that the ambassador had lamentably rejected several offers from the State Department of increased security in the months prior to the attack that resulted in four tragic deaths.

Perhaps in the world of Lindsey Graham, deaths on foreign soil are fine as long as they’re either in uniform, not our citizens, or sent to die by his party.  Then again, Lindsey Graham  once touted his own military service,  In 1998, according to the Congressional daily newspaper The Hill, describing himself on his website as an Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm veteran. In reality, he never left South Carolina. As an Air Force Judge Advocate General (JAG) officer he probably spent more tee time than desk time, and no war time. But, not to worry, Lindsey likes to send others.