Originally Posted by Zeld2.0

Which is a big reason why I hated the war in Iraq in the first place - yeah Saddam was an ass but I think he was a big reason why Iran was literally kept in check for a long time.

Saddam could keep bragging about his WMDs to deter Iran from doing anything - if anything, despite being a butcher, his strongarm tactics kept fundies out of Iraq and kept a check on Iran (that is after all why we supported him - he was a buffer and immediate check on Iran).

Indeed that is why I think Iraq was a mistake and a failure of realpolitik - why go after the guy that didn't have the weapons, that could've been used by us to deter our bigger enemies (and supporter of our enemies)?

Hell I think this whole time we were being played along by Iran - the entire idea that there were WMDs in Iraq was used to divert our attention, military, and resources on a non-threat over personal issues, ethics, and feelings from the real problem. We were played by them.