April 30, 2004: Wilson: US Should Have Used Cold War ‘Blueprint’ to Achieve Regime Change in Iraq without War

Former ambassador Joseph Wilson, in his newly published book The Politics of Truth, reflects on what he perceives as the absolute lack of need for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. He writes: “[J]ust what was required to ensure the [Hussein] regime’s eventual collapse was already happening before the middle of March 2003. We had infiltrated Saddam’s intelligence services; we had turned several of his senior military commanders. We were locked and loaded, but we did not need to fire. Not at all. A little patience would have achieved everything we wanted, without creating the whirlwind that we are now reaping in our bloody and chaotic occupation of the country.” While it has been trying on the nation’s patience to impose economic and military sanctions on Iraq for 12 years, Wilson notes, the Cold War lasted far longer and featured a much more dangerous opponent. How the US handled the Cold War provides “a useful blueprint on how to subvert an oppressive regime and achieve regime change without resorting to brute force,” he writes. [Wilson, 2004, pp. 422-423]