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The purpose of invading Iraq was to cement, in the minds of state leaders, that they will pay a price for open or covert support of terrorist actions against the US. Without regard to UN or other "allied" positions the US would, in the future, act to defend itself by going on the offensive.
If there was another state who stood so blatantly in opposition to the US for decades and supported terrorism regardless of the presence of oil we would have invaded them as well. Look at Libya as an example. We attacked them on several occasions with the trigger very nearly being pulled on invasion when the Marine barracks was bombed in Lebanon. A key decision that shaped US response to terrorist acts was made in those days. That decision was one of not going tit for tat with terrorists. Deny them a resonse and a world stage and they would slink away. Since then states sponsoring terrorism and terrorist networks themselves learned the US would take being bloodied with only the mildest and most ineffective response and they learned that they could take the world stage by inflicting massive injury on innocents.
Denying terrorists safe havens and unobstructed support is the first step in protecting the US. Allowing terrorist organizations to fester and grow with no serious constraint resulted in the exponential growth in audacity and civilian death tolls we've seen over the last 3 decades.
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Strive to be more curious than ignorant.
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