Daily Inspiration Quote by Douglas Feith

“Inevitable” is the kind of word that does political heavy lifting while pretending to be modest. Feith’s line isn’t a prediction so much as a pressure tactic: it converts a contested policy choice into an approaching fact of nature. If disarmament is inevitable, then debate becomes theater, dissent becomes denial, and delay becomes irresponsibility. The sentence is built to move the audience from “Should we?” to “How soon?”

Feith, a senior U.S. Defense Department official in the run-up to the Iraq War, speaks from inside a post-9/11 Washington that was hungry for certainty and allergic to ambiguity. The phrase “I think” offers a thin veneer of personal judgment, but it’s paired with a categorical claim that shuts down uncertainty. That combination is strategically calming: it sounds reasonable while signaling resolve.

The subtext is less about Iraq’s actual weapons capacity than about managing coalition politics and domestic opinion. “Disarmament” is a morally clean verb, a technocratic goal that implies compliance and verification; it avoids saying “invasion,” “regime change,” or “occupation,” each of which carries political cost. “Iraq” stands in for a broader story the administration wanted to tell: that American power could impose order preemptively, that the U.N. and inspections were at best instruments, not constraints.

The line also functions as a deadline without naming one. If inevitability is granted, the only remaining question is whether Iraq will submit voluntarily or be compelled. That’s the rhetorical trap: it frames force as the reluctant escort of destiny rather than an elective act with consequences.