I listened intently to the Sept. 11 hearings, wondering if new information would come to light. Most of what was said had already been covered in the months after Sept. 11, except of course the insider’s view of the White House provided by Richard Clarke. There is little doubt that George Bush used the tragic events of Sept. 11 as an excuse to lead this country to war with Iraq.

Saddam Hussein is a very bad man, and the Iraqi people are better off without him. We knew him to be a very bad man in the 1980s when more than one million soldiers and civilians died during his war with Iran. He used chemical and nerve agents to kill many during that war, even gassing 5,000 Iraqi civilians (Kurds) in 1988. He obtained these weapons using equipment, ingredients and technical assistance provided by the United States. Our government was a real advocate of Saddam during the 1980s, we guaranteed billions in loans to Iraq (several billion were defaulted so U.S. taxpayers footed the bill) and helped his prosecution of the war with Iran.

Why did we help this very bad man? Our government felt Islamic fundamentalists in Iran were a great threat to Middle East stability (“stability” in the Middle East is a code word meaning a steady flow of oil). Our leaders really let us down in the 1980s because we eventually fought a war against the “Butcher of Baghdad” to “free” Kuwait and maintain “stability” in the Middle East.

Last year, we went to war on the pretext that Saddam was going to use those chemical, biological or nuclear weapons we helped him attain.

I honestly believe the president lied to us about these weapons that have not been found. He wanted to oust Hussein for his own reasons and surrounded himself with like-minded people in his administration. I am glad Saddam Hussein is not in control of Iraq but disturbed by the role the U.S. played in this mess and horrified by the senseless violence and massive loss of life.

Ted Peterson

Alumnus

Ames