Understanding, e.g., Putin's motivation doesn't mean defending him.
Bull.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijackers_in_the_September_11_...
“The hijackers in the September 11 attacks were 19 men affiliated with the militant Islamist group al-Qaeda. They hailed from four countries; fifteen of them were citizens of Saudi Arabia, two were from the United Arab Emirates, one was from Lebanon, and one from Egypt.”
Iraq is not mentioned even once in the article.
Do not attempt to shift the goal posts. The 2003 invasion of Iraq was specifically tied to Saddam's possession of WMDs (demonstrably false) and his willingness to use them (therefore also false), and the constant linking of Iraq to 9/11 (fake news).
transcript of US General Wesley Clark on the Iraq Invasion | American War Generals (2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcWs4TFSjrY
00:04 I got called in by an officer on the
00:07 Joint Staff who told me that he said you
00:09 know we're gonna invade Iraq. I said but
00:11 why? And he said I don't know he said I
00:15 guess because we don't know what else to
00:17 do. But in fact the why of it went back a
00:21 decade to the spring of 1991, it went
00:26 back to the argument inside the
00:28 Republican Party about whether or not
00:31 the Gulf War should have ended with the
00:35 capture of Baghdad and the overthrow of
00:37 Saddam Hussein. And in 1991 when I talked
00:40 to secretary Wolfowitz you know he said
00:42 we didn't get rid of Saddam Hussein and
00:44 and we should have, he said we've only
00:47 got five or 10 years to clean up the
00:51 Middle East these old Soviet surrogate
00:54 regimes like Syria and Iraq get rid of
00:56 them before the next superpower comes
00:59 along the challenges
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2008/de...
1. It was relevant to the point being made further up :- that is to say, on the world stage, might unfortunately makes right
2. You don't get to police the boundaries of what I choose to respond to.
> Iraq '03 was wrong, and the current Russian invasion of a democratic country is wrong.
Which was my point. Whether the US does it in Iraq, or Russia does it in Ukraine, or Saudi Arabia does it in Yemen[1][2], or Israel does it in Syria[3]
Which is why I expect we'll see sanctions levied on Saudi Arabia and Israel any day now.
[1] Saudi-led coalition strikes target Yemen capital after drone attack: https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20220214-saudi-led-c...
[2] The Saudi blockade on Yemen is a war crime, and only civilians suffer from it: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/05/24/the-saudi-block...
[2] Syria: Two civilians killed in Israeli attack near Damascus: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/7/syria-two-civilians-... “Since war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air attacks inside the country, targeting government positions as well as allied Iran-backed forces and fighters of the Shia group Hezbollah.”