The problem with Blair's statement isn't so much eradicating a dictatorial leader, it's doing so under false pretences.
Documents were leaked that there wasn't reasonable suspicion over Weapons of Mass Destruction. If they really existed, I cannot fathom why at least one weapon wasn't found whilst armies were there for so long with all their available resources.
And before you go on about B Arts complex, I researched this pretty thoroughly and saw documentaries on this stuff. Besides, having an Arts degree can be useful to this sort of discussion and allows you divulge in a range of disciplines of thought.
It's one thing to want to eradicate Saddam Hussein which arguably many Iraqis wanted, but when they discovered their situations were even more dire without him, it's not like there's much to cheer about. A lot of infrastructure was destroyed in a war that was not even approved by the UN, which would surely be more informed to make appropriate decisions than a country which has its own nuclear weapons (not just "reasonable suspicion" but definitively) which it isn't planning to do anything about before it challenges and wages war in another. It's disappointing because there was no consistent core reason given why war was raged - sometimes WMD, sometimes oil, sometimes Iraqi sustainability, back to oil which again suggests there wasn't a strong basis for such a war.
Further, alot of the infrastructure that was destroyed was then rebuilt with US Funds on the condition that it was spent on US workers rebuilding such infrastructure- again I can't fathom how this is good for Iraq. I watched on TV whilst a guy had his car crushed by a US Army officer because they saw him stealing food from US supplies whilst many others got away with it, as "this is what you get" for messing with us, then being told that he was a taxi driver such that nor does he have enough supplies to prevent him from looting it in his desperation, but he now has no capacity to earn it legitimately for himslef and his family to survive.
Sure Iraq gets to keep some oil revenue now, but it's still less than it would've been otherwise. The problem lies further, that once you wage a war, which many condemned, it is now necessary to stay for quite a while to re-establish stability and security. Plus, if US was not in it at all for the oil or other ulterior motive, why didn't they help when the Hutus and Tootsies were raging civil war in Africa where there could've been no other reason but humanitarian concern for involvement? I can't help but being cynical about it being a way to gain support for Bush because people can be quite pumped about Wars that are "won".
Eliminating Saddam was something many would've wanted, but that is not the reason that was given and that alone is not enough to justify the disempowered state Iraq was left in. Blair helped perpetrated this illegitimately so it's surprising he has no regrets.
End this racist thread immediately.
+ 1
Seriously, this is becoming more of a thread of unjustified insults than a response to the thread title itself.