9, Further, Israel under Sharon was dubious about Bush's Iraq adventure. Israel rightly saw Saddam as cowed & worried more about Iran.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
10. Uncertainty of causes can be seen in this post by the estimable
@joshtpm:http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/so-why-did-it-happen …1 reply 2 retweets 6 likes -
Replying to @HeerJeet
11. Marshall: "So why did they want to do it? At some level I think it had simply become an idee fixe for many of these people."
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Replying to @HeerJeet
12. To say it was an "idee fixe" is circular: they wanted to invade Iraq because they wanted to invade Iraq. Doesn't explain much.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
13. But "idee fixe" does get at obsessive nature of Iraq project. Let's step back and ask WHY it became an "idee fixe."
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Replying to @HeerJeet
14. 1991: USA victorious over Saddam, but dictator still in power, still defiant. This stuck in the craw of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
15. Norman Podhoretz described 1st Iraq war as coitus interruptus: it was unfinished business (sorry for glimpse of Podhoretz's idea of sex)
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Replying to @HeerJeet
16. Sense of "coitus interruptus" became more intense when Bush Sr. lost in 1992. Meant unfinished business had to be deferred ever longer
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Replying to @HeerJeet
17. Need to complete unfinished business explains PNAC & idee fix but doesn't quite get to why Iraq seen as necessary post 9/11.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
18. To speculate: one problem USA had after 9/11 was that Bin Laden & Al-Qaeda weren't "big enough" enemies.
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19. A big power needs a big enemy. Pace Romney, ridiculous for Holyfield to fight a 98-pound weakling, he needs to fight another champ
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Replying to @HeerJeet
20. You don't match up Sherlock Holmes against a pickpocket: he needs a commensurate foe, a Professor Moriarty.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
21. Military-Industrial Complex experienced 9/11 as a humiliation. They needed to flex muscle, to prove they can still push people around.
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