Why did we start the war in Afghanistan and travel in to Iraq?
Iraq is smack dab in the middle of the richest oil reserve on the planet. As of 9/11 Sadams army was in shambles , his brutality was legendary, and after over 8 years of sanctions the civilian population was undergoing a humanitarian crisis. Bush and the majority of his cabinet disapproved of Bush senior leaving Sadam in power after the first Gulf war. All this coupled with a reasonably logical assumption that Sadam probably had some WMD stashed away some where made for a relatively easy sell to the American people that a military invasion was justified on the heals of the 9/11 attack and the administration correctly ascertained that a military victory over Sadams army would be a cake walk. They incorrectly assumed that once Saddam was removed the Iraqi people would unite to rapidly adopt a democracy that would be a model for the mideast and friendly to the US. Had this gone off as planned it would not only have solved the US energy needs for decades it would also have provided an idea
