Iraq War (a few facts)

[Cyrus]

You don't know how much I actually appreciated that!

* * *

My personal rating system for such texts is Equivalent Lifetime Added, or ELA for short. It has a scale starting from one minute and going up until three months (this is my personal estimate of the maximum amount of time that a single comedic episode can add to a person's life).

Your post rates a solid 15 minutes in ELA points.

Feel free to try again.

[Chris Alger]

I didn't say or imply any of these things and you haven't explained what they have to do with anything.

[BillUCF]

It is fairly simple. Do you agree or these statements or not?

[m1illion]

Nothing in this post gives me any reason to believe that any random high school student could have been selected to direct this war effort and we would be in better shape militarily, economically, and in relation to other countries than we are now.

[ QUOTE ]
In the 9/11 Comission report Al-Queda had terrorist cells operating in every country in the Middle East, including Iraq. That is the link between BL and SH. If SH didn't want them in Iraq he could have kicked them out. Allowing them to exist in Iraq is just like the UK allowing US military bases in their country.

[/ QUOTE ]

There were cells in the US, if Bush didnt just want them here he could have kicked them out. The link between Bush and Bin Laden is clear.

[John Ho]

There were Al Quaeda cells in the United States (the guys who did 9/11) and Spain and the UK at the very least.

Were the United States, Spain, and the UK linked to 9/11? Should we invade Spain, the UK, and ourselves over the tragic deaths of 9/11?

Your view reflects fundamentally flawed thinking. Correlation does not prove causation.

[BillUCF]

Al-Queda existing in Iraq is only one reason to take out SH. There are numerous other reasons which the UK, Spain and other countries don't have. The only fault I give the Bush administration is not having a decent PR program to explain the Iraq liberation. Here are some of the other reasons.

1. Iraq has been a supporter of terrorism longer than I have been alive.
2. Iraq invaded Kuwait and was poised to invade Saudi Arabia.
3. SH regime massacred tens of thousands of his own people, often using WMD to accomplish this.
4. SH balked at over a dozen UN resolutions to let inspectors perform their job.
5. SH did not abide by the cease fire agreement he personally signed in 1993.
6. In the 1980's he started a war with Iran where over 1 million people on both sides were killed.
7. The civilized world would be negligent to allow SH to have control over a significant portion of the world's oil supply.

I am just glad that we have Bush as our president. The Democratic party is falling apart and all they do is bitch about things. They have provided no solutions. It is easy to be the Monday morning quarterback and criticize. It is real leadership to take action and stand your ground. Just look at how recent American history holds Ronald Reagan up as an excellent leader and how we pity the failure of a Jimmy Carter.

[Il_Mostro]

[ QUOTE ]
2. Iraq invaded Kuwait and was poised to invade Saudi Arabia.

[/ QUOTE ]
You mean to tell us that the Iraqi military was in shape to take on Saudi Arabia?
[ QUOTE ]
6. In the 1980's he started a war with Iran where over 1 million people on both sides were killed.

[/ QUOTE ]
Surely now you are joking? Invade now, 20 years after the fact, and also with full knowledge that the US provided the weapons for that war?

You must me trying out that new thing, satire. Right?

[phlup]

Wow, so now who needs a history book? Try picking one up about Central American history.

I'll look at your points:
[ QUOTE ]
1. Iraq has been a supporter of terrorism longer than I have been alive.

[/ QUOTE ]

You have no proof of this at all. No matter how many times you say it, it doesn't make it true.

On the flip side however you should take a second to look into a small thing called the School of the Americas. Ask anyone in Central America if it's a terrorist training school. They'll say yes.

Iran-Contra anyone?

Yeah, the US exports more terrorism than almost anyone.

[ QUOTE ]
2. Iraq invaded Kuwait and was poised to invade Saudi Arabia.

[/ QUOTE ]

Which is why we went to war with them in the 90’s. As much as you'd like to say we're still fighting the same war, we're not. Try again.

[ QUOTE ]
3. SH regime massacred tens of thousands of his own people, often using WMD to accomplish this.

[/ QUOTE ]

He did this before the first Gulf War. If you wanted to use this as a basis for war, you needed to break out that little card under Bush Sr.

Also it should be noted here that the WMDs he used on the Kurds he received from the United States of America. But maybe you skipped that chapter in your history book.

[ QUOTE ]
4. SH balked at over a dozen UN resolutions to let inspectors perform their job.

[/ QUOTE ]

He really didn't let the inspectors do their job during the 90s. I'll give you that.

However, in the run up to this second war, he DID let the inspectors back in and they came back to us and said there were no WMDs. Guess what...they were right!

[ QUOTE ]
5. SH did not abide by the cease fire agreement he personally signed in 1993.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh god, really? I didn't know this. Had I known that my view would have changed 180 degrees. How could I have been so stupid?

No really, I did know that. Hence the reason we bombed him multiple times in the 90s. Again, a history book would do wonders for you here.

[ QUOTE ]
6. In the 1980's he started a war with Iran where over 1 million people on both sides were killed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok, remember that history book I keep telling you to read? Time to put it down. That was the 80's man. If you wanted to punish him for that, you should have done it then. But instead of punishing him, we gave him biological weapons to use in the fight. You can't have it both ways. If he was evil then, why did we support him?

[ QUOTE ]
7. The civilized world would be negligent to allow SH to have control over a significant portion of the world's oil supply.

[/ QUOTE ]

The civilized world would be negligent to allow the mass genocide in Rwanda to occur. The Civilized world would be negligent to allow the genocide in Darfur to occur. The Civilized world would be negligent to allow the genocide in Bosnia to occur.

Getting my picture?

And the civilized world can just STFU about the oil. If we're so afraid of him having control over it, why don't we find a good alternative to oil? Doing that would shift any power he had based on control of this stuff.

Like gold or diamonds, oil is valuable when demand for it is high. Crush the demand (by finding an alternative) and the value of those oil fields will come crashing down.

Oh, and Reagan sucked as a president.

[ QUOTE ]
In the 9/11 Comission report Al-Queda had terrorist cells operating in every country in the Middle East, including Iraq. That is the link between BL and SH. If SH didn't want them in Iraq he could have kicked them out. Allowing them to exist in Iraq is just like the UK allowing US military bases in their country

[/ QUOTE ] are you kdding me? Is this all you've got? Fact: There are Al Qaeda cells in many western european countries as well as cells in Canada. By many reports there are cells in the U.S. as well. There sure as hell were active cells in the U.S. in the late 20th early 21st centuries. Your claim that the presence of cells indicates a governmence compliance is ridiculous. As for your claim that arabs are more warlike because they like to fight each other, pre WWI, the europeans have been going at it on a consistent basis for centuries. Everyone knows Saddam had chemical weapons in the 80's and 90's. he may well have had them when we invaded. If he did, it's alot more likely that they are in terrorist hands now then prior to the war. Even if he did have some remedial weapons, do you know how many other states who have closer ties/insider sympathisers to terrorists also possess said weapons. (Iran, Pakistan etc...) War in Iraq does not make us safer from a chemical attack. Your right, forget Clinton, it took a truly great president to get us into this war.