Re: [OT] Iraq

SkippyPB wrote:
On Wed, 19 Sep 2007 02:16:16 GMT, "William M. Klein"
<wmklein@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Just posting to get this thread with a new subject. I assume (could be wrong) that SkippyPB doesn't know for who LX-i works. (Names withheld to protect the guilty - but I won't say whom I think is guilty).

Yes I know he works for the USAF. He cries that half (it is over
half) of Americans are against the war while his "brothers in arms"
are still there. Well, I am a Vietnam vet and the first thing I did
when I got out was protest that mistake.

And some of us thing that the protesting was the mistake in Vietnam.

And I'm not crying - I think it's despicable, bordering on treasonous, but I'm not crying. Angry would be the term.

And as I look around at who
is opposed to this mistake, I see more and more Vietnam vets and more
and more Iraq vets as well. If Mr. USAF REALLY cared for his
"brothers in arms", he'd be there yelling for them to come home as
well. But then the fact he is still in the military may prevent that.
I know it did when I was in.

Bringing them home before the job is done would waste the sacrifice that has already been made. Then, ten, twenty years from now, we'd have to go *back* there to try to "fix" it the third time. What happened when we pulled out of Vietnam? What happened when we pulled out of Iraq the first time? Neither of those results were desirable, or reflected well on America. If we fail this time, our credibility is through.

But, that's what the Democrat leadership has aligned themselves with. The socialists in that party have always hated our success, our freedom, and our capitalistic society. The fact that it has thrived while other socialist experiments have failed just drives them absolutely crazy, because socialism is so "fair". I really don't understand why they cling to such a discredited philosophy, but they do.

And no, none of my views are being prevented due to my current employment. If anything, they're probably being mellowed by it. Turning that desert into a sea of glass would have been a lot quicker and resulted in a lot smaller loss of American life. Plus, it would be over by now.

The war on terror was never in Iraq and the "stuff" they allegedly
moved to Syria (that has never been proven) was old anyway.

Oh - so old weapons don't work? Who was it here that was talking about RPG's? I'm sure the families of our troops killed by them would love to know they're just old anyway.

And with
no fly zones being enforced on the north and south of Iraq, what was
Saddam going to do?

Admit he had them, disarm, and keep his country. Instead, he hid things, refused to let inspectors in large areas, and defied 12 UN resolutions over the course of 11 years. His choice - you can't blame the police for giving you a ticket when you were the one speeding.

The war on terror was and still is in Afghanistan
and Pakistan. But because GWB had a different agenda, that war is
still flourishing, the Talaban and Al Queda have grown stronger, the
culprits behind 9/11 still roam free and are able to spread their
propaganda and Al Queda has a training ground they never had before in
Iraq and a rallying cry for militant muslims.

Iraq is now a magnet for al-Qaeda. We keep hearing how Iraq had nothing to do with al-Qaeda, but what's this group that keeps killing folks called al-Qaeda in Iraq? Sure, maybe GWB had a personal interest in toppling the guy who threatened his dad, but Saddam certainly gave him enough excuses. And some of the hijackers *did* train at camps in Iraq.

Was invading Iraq a mistake? Even Bush's own administration now says
it was badly planned, badly executed and had no exit strategy and no
forward goals other than toppling Saddam.

Just because you weren't sure how something would end doesn't mean it's a mistake to start it. But, this is another one of those "depends on how you take it" statements. *I* think it was badly planned and badly executed, but my views probably aren't what most people think of when they hear that. We were too soft, too surgical, and too concerned with what people would "think." We should have gone in, kicked as much *** as possible to get the thing over with quick, *then* come back home.

It think the question
answers itself.

Not really... There are many means to the same end.

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