Unjustified Intervention Quotes

The Polk Administration wanted War with Mexico but felt it would not have public support if the Unites States was the aggressor. So the Army was sent to the border to provoke the Mexicans to attack first. The strategy worked and President Polk had much more support since he claimed that Mexico had attacked American Soldiers and retaliation was necessary. In the aftermath of the Mexican War, the United States obtained much new territory including the Southwestern States and Mexico was destabilized.

The facts given by the administration to justify the preemptive invasion of Iraq turned out to be wrong. Moore who is usually not very circumspect in his accusations delicately used the term “misled” as the major debate became one or whether 1) the wrong intelligence was given to the President and his administration and they unknowingly used and reported the false information to the public. 2) the uncertainty of the intelligence accuracy and the contrary evidence was given to the administration which had a predisposition to believe one scenario and the deluded themselves and our allies and the public. 3) The decision to invade Iraq was made with full knowledge that the intelligence was wrong in some areas and weak in others and some administration members pressured the intelligence agencies to make the kind of assessment they administration wanted. “Misled” covers all 3 possibilities.