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Did We Waste Our Time Going To Free Iraq...


The Glory Land

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It wouldn't be Dubya's fault - he's been out of office for 6 years...it falls squarely on the shoulders of the current "Commander" in Chief.  And it use quotes because he's not leading , therefore not truly a commander.

 

I am not defending OBama, but Bush did sent the troops over. Did we removed them too quickly perhaps?

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Actually, it kind of IS GWB's fault, because he went to war with no clear idea of HOW to fight it, WHO the enemy was, and how to win. We just went in a tried to kill the right guys and not to kill the wrong ones. How do you go to war with an ideology with no national borders? The best we should have done was strengthen our borders to keep it from happening again, and if we found out who was behind it, send in small strike teams to take them out.

 

Iraq and Afganistan have been nothing but a huge, expensive, fatal mistake. I understand we need to go to war sometimes and the Lord has given the leaders the sword to bear, but normally we know who we are fighting.

 

Frighteningly I have to, for once, admit that I agree with OBama and say that if the Iraqis and Aeghanis want a change in their lot, they are going to have to take up the cause and fight for themselves.

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Actually, it kind of IS GWB's fault, because he went to war with no clear idea of HOW to fight it, WHO the enemy was, and how to win. We just went in a tried to kill the right guys and not to kill the wrong ones. How do you go to war with an ideology with no national borders? The best we should have done was strengthen our borders to keep it from happening again, and if we found out who was behind it, send in small strike teams to take them out.

 

Iraq and Afganistan have been nothing but a huge, expensive, fatal mistake. I understand we need to go to war sometimes and the Lord has given the leaders the sword to bear, but normally we know who we are fighting.

 

Frighteningly I have to, for once, admit that I agree with OBama and say that if the Iraqis and Aeghanis want a change in their lot, they are going to have to take up the cause and fight for themselves.

 

 

 

They have been fighting for thousands of years, before Christ. We cannot change them, for they hate us. We need to start protecting our boarders. We need to pull out of the rest of the World. Put our arm forces on all of our boarders, North, South. East and West. Americans must prepare for the End Times, when all nations will attack Israel. Will the US be defeated when this happens?   

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Many warned of the consequences of invading Iraq yet in their hubris the neo-con warhawks ignored them. The neo-con plan was to invade Iraq where the people would be so grateful to America they would welcome us like the Parisians did in WWII. Then they expected the Iraqi people to adopt American ways, sell us their oil cheaply, and quickly have a wonderful democracy where everyone got along and lived in peace following American leadership.

 

Then, after the easy and grand reformation of Iraq the neo-cons wanted to deal with Syria and Iran in like fashion. Thankfully the insurgence in Iraq put a halt to those plans.

 

While most all in the Middle East are Muslim, they are divided among many branches of Islam which don't like one another. If one ruling faction is removed, the others will quickly fight to establish their own rule. This is part of the reason the old American standard for dealing with these people was to work with the faction we knew and kind of understood rather than risking another faction we didn't know and weren't sure about gaining control. This is why America had dealings with the Shah of Iran, worked with Saddam in Iraq (mostly behind the scenes) and has had dealings with Assad in Syria, and good dealings with Mubarak in Egypt.

 

In recent history American leadership knew Saddam, Assad and Mubarak were "evil" but each served to keep the radicals and militants in their countries in check and thus served to help stabilize the region. Saddam also served to help keep a check on Iran as Saddams Iraq and Iran were bitter rivals.

 

Now look at the mess which has been created. We have militant factions fighting for control of Iraq, which could fall to one of them or could end with Iraq being split into areas where different factions have control. Iran is no longer checked by a strong Iraq which has allowed their influence and power in the region to grow. Iran stands a chance of gaining control of part or even all of Iraq even if only by influence from behind the scenes.

 

While America had no good reason to invade Iraq, there was good reason to go into Afghanistan. However, we should have simply went in, dealt a devastating blow to the enemy and then left that rock pile to the goat herders.

 

American attempts at nation building in the Middle East have all failed. This is a lesson we need to learn.

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My son's 5 trips to Iraq were not wasted. When  a soldier in the U.S. Army is ordered to go and do a jOB and he performs that jOB, it isn't a waste of time.

 

That said, we should not meddle in the affairs of Islamic nations. We all know the history of the middle east and the jealousy over the birthright of and promise to Israel. 

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I agree, I am chief.  This is exactly the kind of thing the military is trained for.  However, I do agree that the whole thing in the middle east has been going on for ages, and there is nothing that the USA can do to help things.  We can only make things worse. 

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I agree the soldiers themselves didn't waste their time. They had a duty to perform and most carried out that duty in good fashion. They deserve our respect for that.

 

The waste was in the part of leadership focusing upon the wrong things, going to war when unnecessary and then hanging around long past the time they should have departed, putting our troops in unnecessary and prolonged harms way.

 

If only we learn the lessons we need to from this.

 

Thankfully the troops pointed out some prOBlems with equipment and such and the military made steps to correct these prOBlems and better supply our troops. That's a big positive which came out of this.

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I had two BIL's serve in Desert Storm.  Neither of them regrets their service.  My older BIL is a retired Lieutenant Commander in the US Navy.  He flew the A-7 Corsair over Baghdad, which dropped the bombs on Iraq.  It was the first plane to go in.  He also stayed in the Middle East, in Kuwait, for several years working for Bowing.   My other BIL, was made Sergeant, at the age of 18, in the Marines.  He was a sharpshooter.  He was the very first ground troops in Iraq.   When he came back to the USA, he was one of GHWB's personal guards in DC.  A SIL of mine, had a brother who served in the Army, when GWB was POTUS.  The Army found empty canisters, which contained nuclear weapons, in the warehouses of Iraq.  Saddam managed to send them to Syria before the US troops came in.

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Many warned of the consequences of invading Iraq yet in their hubris the neo-con warhawks ignored them. The neo-con plan was to invade Iraq where the people would be so grateful to America they would welcome us like the Parisians did in WWII. Then they expected the Iraqi people to adopt American ways, sell us their oil cheaply, and quickly have a wonderful democracy where everyone got along and lived in peace following American leadership.

 

Then, after the easy and grand reformation of Iraq the neo-cons wanted to deal with Syria and Iran in like fashion. Thankfully the insurgence in Iraq put a halt to those plans.

 

While most all in the Middle East are Muslim, they are divided among many branches of Islam which don't like one another. If one ruling faction is removed, the others will quickly fight to establish their own rule. This is part of the reason the old American standard for dealing with these people was to work with the faction we knew and kind of understood rather than risking another faction we didn't know and weren't sure about gaining control. This is why America had dealings with the Shah of Iran, worked with Saddam in Iraq (mostly behind the scenes) and has had dealings with Assad in Syria, and good dealings with Mubarak in Egypt.

 

In recent history American leadership knew Saddam, Assad and Mubarak were "evil" but each served to keep the radicals and militants in their countries in check and thus served to help stabilize the region. Saddam also served to help keep a check on Iran as Saddams Iraq and Iran were bitter rivals.

 

Now look at the mess which has been created. We have militant factions fighting for control of Iraq, which could fall to one of them or could end with Iraq being split into areas where different factions have control. Iran is no longer checked by a strong Iraq which has allowed their influence and power in the region to grow. Iran stands a chance of gaining control of part or even all of Iraq even if only by influence from behind the scenes.

 

While America had no good reason to invade Iraq, there was good reason to go into Afghanistan. However, we should have simply went in, dealt a devastating blow to the enemy and then left that rock pile to the goat herders.

 

American attempts at nation building in the Middle East have all failed. This is a lesson we need to learn.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/yellowcake.asp

yellow cake uranium, weapons of mass destruction 

mar-2011-uranium-yellowcake.jpg

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The Iraqi weapons programs was always to serve as a deterrent against Iran. The only ones Saddam was a real or potential threat to were those who opposed him in Iraq and to the Iranians. Saddam had worked behind the scenes providing America with intelligence against various terrorists. Iraq wasn't a threat to America.

 

Today, with Saddam gone and Iraq falling to militant Islamists, we not only have Iraq as a potential real threat but Iran is left unchecked in the region and since the fall of Saddam they have greatly increased all of the nuclear ambitions. Iranian influence in the region has grown tremendously. If Iran can now succeed in getting their people in power in some of these other countries they will be able to dominate the region.

 

Meanwhile, how hypocritical of those in government who claimed Iraq was a threat to America and had to be invaded when North Korea and China both possess actual nuclear weapons; of which China admittedly has over two dozen aimed at American cities, yet we didn't have to invade them.

 

China is America's largest potential threat yet rather than confronting that threat and trying to minimize the threat, America pours billions of dollars into China helping them to build their military so they can reach their stated of goal of being able to confront America anywhere in Asia or the Pacific with the expectation of being able to win.

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