1. 9/11 demonstrated that there is no 'far away' in respect to non friendly countries. One of the furthest and poorest countries in the world was the staging area for the worst attack on American soil of all
time. 

2. Iraq was one of if not the worst dictatorship in the world at the time. Brutally suppressing its own people, run at the complete whim of Saddam and his close relations.

3. Saddam had invaded 3 of the six countries it bordered causing 1-2 million casualties.

4. Not only actively pursued the acquirement of WMDs nuclear (destroyed by Iranian and Israeli attacks), biological and Chemical that it not only used against the countries it was invading but to use them against there own people.

5. Genocide: The Al-Anfal Campaign (named after a event described inthe Qu'ran, an interesting move for a 'secular' regime) resulting in the deaths of around 150 thousand Kurds, including the gas attacks on Halabja.

7.  Iraq is one of the most oil rich countries in the world, giving tremendous poltical power to Hussein.

8. Iraq had at the ability to pay for its own reconstruction

9. Militarily it was an achievable goal, his army was very weak at the time.

10. The Jews ordered it.




1. Humanitarianism :  Iraq was one of - if not the - worst dictatorship in the world at the time.  Saddam brutally suppressed his own people, denied them their rights, used aid money during the sanctioned period to build palaces and suppressed the Kurds with gas attacks in the Al-Anfal Campaign

2 : Weapons of Mass Destruction : Saddam had demonstrated in the past both a willingness to acquire and make use of WMDs (Osirak, Iran-Iraq War, Al-Anfal).  The Kelly report specified that even though he may not have them currently, the only way to ensure Saddam does not use or acquire WMDs again would be regime change.

3 : Saddam had invaded three of his six neighbours and demonstrated a willingness to attack Israel in the Gulf War.  The Iran-Iraq war killed around 1.5 million and demonstrated Saddam's willingness to use WMDs.

4 : Democratic Peace Theory : 9/11 demonstrated that there was no longer such a thing as 'Far Away'.  One of the most backward and poor countries was the staging ground for the worst attack on US soil in it's history.
  Failed states could no longer be left alone to fester into another Afghanistan.  It was also hoped that deposing Saddam would act as a deterrent to other dictators antagonistic to the West.  It's also why democracy and rebuilding afterwards was an important part of the invasion as simply removing Saddam and leaving the country to fate wouldn't prevent it from ending up like Afghanistan.

5 : Oil : Iraq is one of the most oil rich countries in the World (and has invaded 3 of the others), giving a mentally unstable dictator tremendous political and economic  power, it could also be used after the invasion to fund the rebuilding of the country.

6 : Achievable Target : Saddam's army was very weak and with very low morale due it part to after the Gulf War and was defeated incredibly easily during it.

6 : Achievable Target : Saddam's army was very weak (for many reasons sanctions, loss of the Iran and Iraq wars etc) and therefore would be very quickly defeated.

7 : Failure of Sanctions : After the Gulf War strong diplomatic and economic sanctions were placed on Iraq with the same goal of regime change and at least containment.  These did not work as intended and if anything strengthened Saddam and hurt his people more.

8. US troops (at least) were almost certainly end up in Iraq anyway due to the good probability of the regimes collapse, due to the fact that they are the the only country in the world with the ability to project its forces in sufficent numbers for sufficent time.