Originally posted by Auger
Time to put on my Obviousman cape and asbestos underwear.
Try not to flame, just inform . . .
Originally posted by Auger
The Iraqis had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. Nada, zip, zilch. If you read the investigation results published by the 9/11 Commission very closely, they wrote that Iraq was not involved. You have to dig to find it, as it is not a popular truth. But it is the truth.
I've seen the media cite polls that say people thought that is why we went into Iraq. Not the case. No one in the administration ever said it was. Not once. Not ever.
Bush did not declare a war on Al Qaeda. He declared a war on TERRORISM. And by extension, any country that supports terrorism. Iraq supported terrorist organizations. Best documented (but not the only) cases involve paying the families of suicide bombers that hit Israeli civilians.
It is also a fact that Saddam at one point tried to hire assassins to go after Bush 41. Saddam was not cooperating with UN weapons inspectors. His forces regularly targeted our planes patroling the no-fly zones. Bottom line, he was an enemy of the US. He appeared to be a relatively easy next step after Afghanistan. IMO, if Iraq had come out "as planned", we would have been in Tehran or Damascus by now as well.
Originally posted by Auger
The Iraq war has been a Charlie Foxtrot since it was first conceived. Not enough troops, ineffective/nonexistent policing of the looters, firing everyone who had a clue about how the country ran, etc.
Won't argue - things did not go as planned, probably could have done better. As for firing people -- well, it is no different than the de-Nazification policy in Germany after WW2. That one was rather lame-brained too. But, they canned Patton in part because he thought it was lame-brained, so at least we are consistent.
Originally posted by Auger
It is also a major distraction from what should be job one, finding every swinging member of Al Qaeda and sending them to Allah.
Umm . . . Al Qaeda
is in Iraq. Or does Zarquawi (sp?) not count?
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We are still in Afghanistan. And elsewhere. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. Honestly, this argument really bothers me. I guess we should should have ignored Germany, since after all it was Japan that attacked us. We should not have conducted the Torch landings in North Africa because we were still fighting on Guadalcanal. Couldn't do Overlord because we were bogged down in Italy. Again, the prize here is the dismantiling of terrorism. Al Qaeda is in many many places, and they are not nor should they be the only target in this endeavor.
Originally posted by Auger
The clowns who messed up get to sit in their comfy homes, far from the danger, ensuring us that we must stay the course.
True of every war in US history aside from the Revolution and 1812. Not much of a point. Can't think of any country's leader in the modern era who went to fight his own war instead of sending others.
Originally posted by Auger
The ones getting screwed in all of this are the Iraqi civilians and our miltary volunteers.
The Iraqi civilians were quite screwed by Saddam long before we got there. It amazes me that people have so short a memory. I guess had Hitler lived, someone somewhere by 1948 would have been saying Germany was better off under the Nazis.
As for the military volunteers . . . anyone who signed up knew it was possible they would get shipped off somewhere and might not come back. I am truly in awe of and thank anyone and everyone who volunteers. But IMO the only way they have been screwed in this is by limp-wristed politicians here at home who compare them to Nazis or say they are running Gulags.
Originally posted by Auger
They're in the meat grinder and the crony capitalists get to enjoy the hash.
Ahh . . . is this your true color coming out, and is it red? You don't honestly believe this is all about money, do you? If it was about money, much more would have been made by lifting the sanctions and allowing the corporations to go in and do business with Saddam. Just ask the Germans, French and Russians.
And if someone is making a buck, so what? You don't work for free, do you? I wouldn't expect any company to try to re-build Iraq for free.
Originally posted by Auger
The really big winners are the Islamic radicals. They gain several recruits for every civilian killed by a stray round or bomb.
IMO, jury is still out on this one. If Iraq stabilizes and becomes a functioning democracy, and if it spreads to the other countries (granted, appear to be BIG IFs at this point), ultimately the lure of Islamic Radicalism will fade. If the whole thing is allowed to fall apart, then you can expect the terrorists to be stronger than ever -- which is why failure is not an option.
Originally posted by Auger
So continue to feel avenged with each Iraqi death. Someone has to pay, so it may as well be them.
I will continue to feel avenged by every terrorist death, thank you, be they Iraqi, Saudi, Iranian, Syrian . . . Irish, Canadian, whatever. Please don't assume we can't make that distinction. And I will also applaud the death of any repressive regime such as Saddam's or the Taliban. The freer the world is, the better as far as I am concerned. I hope and suspect you would agree.
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