Stephen Hawking says Iraq war was based on 'lies'

HoustonChronicle.com - Stephen Hawking says Iraq war was based on 'lies'

Fortunately I have little faith in the political acumen of scientists. However, it'd be nice if Hawking were at least a little bit informed when he issues his political opinions. Or maybe his political blackhole is obliterating all information that falls into it?

Hawkings position (augmented by the media) rests on two perceived "lies". The first that there was a threat from weapons of mass destruction. The leap to "lie" on that one is popular in the far-left echo-chamber, but doesn't hold water. The CIA may have been WRONG about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but it did not "lie". The lies originated inside Iraq. Saddam Hussein's obfuscation of weapons programs, lack of records for allegedly destroyed materials, and general disregard for the authority of the UN inspectors gave rise to the CIA's misconceptions about what was and was not present in Iraq. Hawking's other point is that someone said Iraq was responsible for the attacks on 9/11/2001. I keep hearing that accusation but I don't know where people are getting it from. Iraq had a clear relationship of some sort with Al Qaida, Iraq was definitely funding terrorist activities in the middle east, and they have definitely been on the list of nations supporting terrorism for years. Certainly Iraq has been complicit with regard to attacks on the US. No one, however, has said they were responsible for it. We know who was responsible for the 9/11/2001 attacks already.

The real reason for an invasion in Iraq was the lack of evidence provided by the Iraqi government with regard to disarmament as REQUIRED by the UN and the 1991 cease fire agreement after the annexation of the independent nation of Kuwait by Iraq. The concern regarding weapons of mass destruction was that after 12 years of disarmament, Iraq was unable or unwilling to provide proof of it. By all accounts this was suspicious and needed to have been dealt with years ago. Additionally, Iraq's continuing involvement with international terrorists when coupled with a dubious disarmament record was deeply troubling given Hussein's record in the past. So what is Hawking talking about?

Well, Hawking, as a scientist is an idealist. Scientists deal with ideal situations based on observed evidence. To Hawking, the 100,000 lives lost in Iraq, are the issue. Loss of life is a terrible thing. It must be avoided and anything that leads to loss of life is wrong. No one will disagree with that. I don't. On the other hand, the opinion is simply based on incomplete data. No one is considering the mass graves being unearthed in Iraq. The estimated millions dead due to the fact that no one has interfered in Iraqi domestic policy for 20 years. No one is considering the potential loss of life that could have been caused by Iraqi funded terrorists if Iraq had possessed weapons of mass destruction. No one is considering that these weapons could have long ago been shipped to irrational zealots.

Sherman said, "War is Hell," and he was right. Real people die. The question is how many real people must die in peace-time before the world takes notice? It's an unknown quantity. In some cases, a variable. But if Hawking had done the math, he might have realized that the unknowns in the equation left the possibility for a truly cataclismic event to occur. Not every quantum event results in an atomic explosion. Sometimes the danger can leak undetected for years detroying something from the inside out. The war in Iraq may have been wrong in retrospect, but it was not based on lies.