France and Germany were against the war not because they believed Saddam did not have a WMD program but because they had illegal business interests with the former dictator. There was a move a foot to end sanctions - which were not working. They only hurt the Iraqi people. Saddam was building more palaces and squandering more and more from illegal deals with countries willing to deal with him. Iraqi intel officers were busy making backroom deals with UN non-permanent members and it was apparent that a lifting of sanctions was not too far off. An eventual lifting of sanctions would have given saddam at least an additional 30 Billion dollars annually. We know Saddam is vengeful (he used chemical weapons against the Kurds and Iran and planned an assassination attempt against the elder Bush) and with additional monies he would continue a weapons program and if the chance came assisted an international terrorist group to carry out his revenge. Bottomline, he needed to go - better sooner rather than later.
France and Germany were against the war not because they believed Saddam did not have a WMD program but because they had illegal business interests with the former dictator. There was a move a foot to end sanctions - which were not working. They only hurt the Iraqi people. Saddam was building more palaces and squandering more and more from illegal deals with countries willing to deal with him. Iraqi intel officers were busy making backroom deals with UN non-permanent members and it was apparent that a lifting of sanctions was not too far off. An eventual lifting of sanctions would have given saddam at least an additional 30 Billion dollars annually. We know Saddam is vengeful (he used chemical weapons against the Kurds and Iran and planned an assassination attempt against the elder Bush) and with additional monies he would continue a weapons program and if the chance came assisted an international terrorist group to carry out his revenge. Bottomline, he needed to go - better sooner rather than later.