Thread: What's your opinion on invading Iraq in the first place?

I am a veteran of both Operation Desert Shield/Storm in '90-'91 (1 TDY to Saudi Arabia) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) '04, '06 (2 TDY to S.W. Asia)

You can't cry over spilled milk...I have no opinion on it anymore.

Only history can judge it now, as it's done n' dusted.

Originally Posted by IgnoranceisBliss

Are you referring to Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Syria? If so, aren't some of these changes good?

Fair question IisB,

To be honest, when I first post to this thread, I was thinking more about the ever increasing tension and upheaval with Iran.

The U.S. could have kept it's thumb on Saddam/Iraq, which would have kept Iran in check. Why? No question Iran feared Saddam, weather it was actually warranted or not (Iran didn't know Iraq really didn't have WMD's). But they were well aware that Saddam would have no hesitation in knocking on their door.

Deposing him and dismantling Iraq, opened the door for Iran to further it's ambitions. We have all been witness to that. And one would be remiss to believe that the situation is going to do anything but get more complicated.

Right or wrong, as long as the U.S. stands steadfast with Israel, Iran is a problem/threat to the U.S.. Could things change? Sure, but not likely.

More specifically (briefly) to your question...


Tunisia perhaps, although a work in progress.

Egypt no (IMO), there is no indication that things for the average Egyptian has improved. If anything, conditions have only worsened. Aside from that, speaking again to U.S. interest. Within Two weeks of Mubarak leaving power, Iran put warships through the Suez Canal, something that he never allowed. Again, Iran flexing, and Egypt aligning with them to the determent of Israel and the U.S.'s seemingly endless interest in supporting them.

Libya? Again, conditions have worsened. Don't read me wrong, I was certainly no fan of Qaddafi (and think Reagan should have taken him out), but he posed no threat to U.S. interest at the time of his death.

Finally, Syria. *sigh* I really don't know what to think of the situation. Surely Assad is a lackey of Iran, and it makes me sick to think of his innocent civilians being killed in the streets on a recurring (daily) basis. But what to do? I don't have an answer, honestly. If the U.S. gets involved militarily, in likelihood all hell is going to erupt through the region, and judging from the aforementioned states, the result may prove more regrettable than the current situation.

An old adage comes to mind... "Sometimes the devil you know, is better than the one you don't know."

My apologies if my ramblings make no sense. I often have reasonable thoughts, but trying to express them in written form seems to go to hell. LOL

Thanks for the question, AND, I completely agree with you about the whole U.S./Iraq oil interest protection BS. Your post was spot on. I never understood why so many person seem to use that in conversation.

Regards

Pretty sure a certain West Virginia native was sent back. Other than that it's good and scary simultaneously that the realization hit me that I don't know anything about it except that war is a sadly tragic time for everyone. I wish there were never any wars and still i know nothing.

The war on marijuana now that is certainly a load of crap and everyone knows it. If most the people who are legally responsible for our country's welfare aren't eating it or smoking they have to be popping Valium or Xanex at night because the with my 3 times voting I feel personally responsible for everything. EEEK! I'm mental that way.

We should have never invaded Iraq in the first place. I think next time politicians are ready to rush us into another war, they should take a step back, and think about what happened in Iraq.

Originally Posted by IgnoranceisBliss

What oil interests? This is an argument I don't understand. The U.S. receives relatively little of its oil from the Middle East and almost none of it from Iraq. How has the war benefited the U.S. in terms of access to oil resources? What significant amount of oil is the U.S. getting from Iraq that it wasn't before 2003?

You'll never get an answer to this question. Whenever it is asked, they instantly shut up, because the answer doesn't fit with their preconceived notions that America is the most evil nation on the planet who engages in war for petty reasons.

Originally Posted by Mushroom

Myself, I thought they should have been eliminated in 1991. But by 2003 it was no longer a question in my mind.

After being almost ignored, in 1990 they suddenly became the center of the attention of the world. And after the conclusion of the 1991 Gulf War, they could have made the choices to work to regain legitimacy among the nations of the world.

Instead we had increased greed and corruption in their government, and mass graves that are still being discovered in the desert, even almost a decade after the end of the war. Saddam's government has gone down as one of the most genocidal in history, only falling in behind Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot in the number of it's own citizens killed.

http://www.kurdishglobe.net/display-...9A86D7D2F682BA

Personally, I have never cared much about the "Chemical Weapons" claims. That to me has always been very low to me for the justifications needed to enter and dispose of that thug. I look at the numbers of people killed, both in his own country and others (Iran, Kuwait) at his orders and thought it should have stopped over a decade earlier then it did.

But Saddam and the Ba'ath Party in 1991 had a chance to clean up their act, but they refused. And instead of a nation trying to "clean up it's act" and behave like modern nations should, we had a nation that continued to kill it's own citizens, corrupt a world body with "oil for food", and to constantly violate the terms of it's own peace treaty repeatedly.

Why is it you think Saddam's life trumps those of thousands of others? No the Iraq War was ENTIRELY without moral reason. It was an aggressive, unproductive war that has done more damage than good to everyone involved.

Originally Posted by SiliconMagician

You'll never get an answer to this question. Whenever it is asked, they instantly shut up, because the answer doesn't fit with their preconceived notions that America is the most evil nation on the planet who engages in war for petty reasons.

I cna answer the question easy. The war was fought for perceived geo-strategic gains. This includes access to resources like oil. This does not make Americans evil, it makes then ignorant. It does however make American leaders morally incompetent.

We don't take into account that the things are the other way round in islamic states. We consider their way of life and ruling cruel, but it's normal for them.

And one more point! How do we know that Saddam's regime is brutal and sadistic? Can you say for sure that the stories CNN or ABC show us are truthful? If you totally believe TV then you didn't see 'Wag the dog' movie. The reality is not the same we watch it on our screens!!!

Iraq was a bad idea born out of the "Who's next" attitude that we managed to acquire post 9/11. We went into Afghanistan after Bin Laden, then found the nearest country that objected and gave them a good kicking in the teeth. Afghanistan man have had a moral objective. Iraq was a "Watch what happens world." move pure and simple.