Salon.com: Today Iraq, tomorrow Iran

Adapted from Salon.com

Neocons were dead wrong about Iraq in at least 21 (count 'em) ways. Yet Wolfowitz, Krauthammer et al. are nevertheless pushing for "preemption" in Iran.

1. "The Iraqi army would instantly collapse as soon as U.S. forces crossed their border in a 'cakewalk.'


2. Ahmed Chalabi, now charged by our own puppet Iraqi government with money laundering and counterfeiting, would quickly emerge as the popular natural leader of Iraq once President Saddam Hussein was toppled.


3. Because no serious anti-American guerrilla operations could ever get established Iraq, only a small number of U.S. troops would have to remain after the fall of Saddam.


4. Strong links between Saddam and al-Qaida would be found following our occupation.


5. Overwhelming evidence of weapons of mass destruction would quickly be uncovered by U.S. troops.


6. The U.S. occupation of Iraq would discredit and weaken al-Qaida throughout the Arab and wider Muslim world.


7. Iraq would quickly develop a stable democracy after the fall of Saddam.


8. Sunni and Shiite forces would never find common cause against U.S. forces.


9. Reconstruction in Iraq would occur quickly and easily (disproving the State Department's far more cautious assessment of how difficult it would be).


10. NATO didn't matter and we could safely ignore it in occupying Iraq.


11. The United Nations didn't matter and that we could safely ignore it as well.


12. We could put together a militarily significant 'coalition of the willing' -- which recalcitrant allies like France and Germany would quickly regret not joining and thus finally be prevailed upon to send in troops to ease the burden on our own forces in Iraq.


13. Leaders of countries such as Japan, Spain and Poland who took the plunge and sent forces to Iraq would not suffer enfeebling electoral or political losses as consequences of doing so.


14. Iraq's oil could be made to flow again on a lucrative scale within a few months of the invasion, and pay for everything from conquest to reconstruction.


15. The occupation of Iraq and opening up of its oil fields would rapidly cause global oil prices to drop back into the range of $20-$25 a barrel, if not even lower -- breaking the cartel power of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries led by Saudi Arabia and Iran.


16. The toppling of Saddam would demoralize the Palestinians and break the back of the second Palestinian intifada, thereby ending the wave of suicide-bombing massacres of Israeli civilians.


17. The occupation and remaking of Iraq would quickly boost the prospects for stable, pro-American democracies throughout the Middle East. (The prophets at the American Enterprise Institute, home to Lynn Cheney and, since he left the Pentagon, Perle, were particularly hot to trot on that one.)


18. The CIA and other primary elements of the U.S. intelligence community who could not be bullied or manipulated by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Feith, Wolfowitz and their acolytes in the Pentagon could be ignored forever.


19. L. Paul Bremer and his Coalition Provisional Authority (heavily staffed by neocons, almost all of whom have since prudently fled back to suburban Washington) could ignore the intelligence assessments and policy recommendations of the U.S. Army on the ground.


20. Last spring's crackdown on Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr would be quickly and easily carried out and that he would enjoy no significant support from the wider Iraqi Shiite community.


21. Any insurgency in Iraq would be carried out solely by embittered old Saddam loyalists and evil outside agents, none of whom would be able to operate for long because they would find no significant support among the wider Iraqi community. (Krauthammer was particularly enthusiastic about that one.)"

Remember who benefits from war - Defense Contractors, many of whom are in TEXAS, and Halliburton, who is still giving money to Dick Cheney. War makes rich people richer, while young poor people die. These NeoCons have to be stopped.