Probably before they took office, Bush and Cheney decided to invade Iraq. After 9/11, they conjured up the weapons of mass destruction excuse and Secretary of State Colin Powell presented the "evidence" to the UN Security Council along with a pitch for armed intervention. Bush tried to form a "coalition of the willing" to invade Iraq.
The UN did not buy the story and neither did most potential coalition partners. The UN decision denied a U.S. invasion the appearance of legitimacy, but that really did not matter. If the Administration could not sell the weapons of mass destruction story, then they would tie the invasion of Iraq to the war on terror.
The U.S. vowed that countries that do not participate in the "coalition of the willing" would not be able to play a role in rebuilding Iraq afterward. "Vast numbers of countries" are with us, crowed Rumsfeld soon thereafter. Take that, Old Europe!
"Greeted as Liberators"
Cheney and the entire neoconservative movement were convinced that the Iraqi people would welcome an invasion of their country and the removal of Saddam Hussein.
In a March 16, 2003 Meet the Press interview, Cheney said, "Now, I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators." Think Liberation of Paris, 1944. Neocon Richard Perle had previously predicted "dancing in the streets" if Saddam were removed.
In the same interview, Tim Russert asked Cheney, "If your analysis is not correct, and we're not treated as liberators, but as conquerors, and the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly, and bloody battle with significant American casualties?"
Cheney's reply: "Well, I don't think it's likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators." The possibility we would not be greeted as liberators was apparently never seriously considered, publicly at least.
That was a fatal misapprehension.
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