Why is Iraq a mistake?

Question

I first want to say that I have my own opinions about the U.S. War in Iraq; however they are irrelevant in this context. I am not trying to take a stand either way, only trying to understand both sides of the argument better.
So I hear from lots of people that they believe the War in Iraq is a mistake, that it is wrong, etc. I am wondering how people justify saying that.
And on the other side, for those of you who are totally for the war, how do you justify the war and why is it NOT a mistake and NOT wrong in your eyes?

I have always tried to be as "open minded" as possible and this topic is no exception.
Now, I dont want to hear the bashing of political leaders or the glorification of them, only the reasons why or why not the war is a good idea. Please answer with that in mind.
Thanks,

I'm not saying it was a mistake or was not, I’m just asking for reasons for the opinions people are so freely giving. I believe that an opinion without a good reason is just stupidity manifest in verbal diarrhea. So I'm trying to find out what the reasons for peoples opinions are.
Oh, and please don't get into arguments here, too many people died in our history for people to say what they want on this page and I want to hear what they have to say.

Answer 1

This is kinda a dumb question to ask online. Everyone here will either be preconditioned to be liberal or conservative and simply think they are cool/smart/diffrent for having their opinion. You wont get anything new.

I am pro-war. Humans have no check on them, no larger predator to keep us balalnced. So we are our own largest predator. War is nessesary to keep us fit and kill people dumb enough to get themselves killed.

GO WAR!!!!!!!

Answer 2

Being a Gulf War veteran, (liberation of Kuwait): I don't believe the war was a mistake. I believe that "Dubya" is finishing what his Daddy started in 1990 but didn't finish thanks to the U.N. telling us that we couldn't go into Iraq to get the nut-job dictator.

I can tell you from 1st hand account that the Iraqi people didn't want to live under an oppressive rule then, and they don't want it now.

Regarding the WMD's? I realize the whole reason we started this war was to remove these weapons from Saddam and now that we're there, we can't find them. I'd hate to use an excuse of "he moved them" and that's why we can't find them which may very well be true but it doesn't do any good to use these kinds of excuses because it just makes the Libs role their eyes in disbelief.

Although I know we did a good thing by removing a ruthless and murderous dictator from power, I wish we could've found these WMD's so the libs would get off our backs about it.

That seems to be their only mantra, that we "lied about wmd's" to start this war and it's an old quote that is getting older by the day when used as excessive as it is.

It had nothing to do with "lying" about the wmd's, it's about interpreting intelligence. If the intelligence reports we receive show indifference, we have to make a call on taking action, or waiting for action to take place against us.

It's a tough call....war is never a good thing but at times, it is necessary thing.

Answer 3

I don't believe its a mistake. Ask any soldier that has been there and they'll tell you they were there for a reason. I believe that its the media's fault for making the plan to attack Iraq so open and possibly the governments fault for not keeping it a surprise. I mean the CBS interview of Sadam showed he watched CNN. The most of been saying (sarcasticly) "What a huge suprise we attacked!!" They had time to get those weapons out of the country or hide them. A UN worker, who I know very well, told me that he was certain there was weapons of mass destruction there, they were just hidden. He could tell people were lying to him. The Iraqis aren't stupid. They LIVE in Iraq and would certainly know where the best place to hide weapons would be. Overall I say the war in Iraq was for a very good reason.

Answer 4

You use the words like 'mistake' and 'wrong' and then ask for an objective opinion?

Are you asking for an opinion in the matter of Iraq...?

My opinion is...terrorism has always escalated. By being in the Middle East, the terrorist are being attacked and western civilization and the world, is all the more safer for it.

And, as far as Weapons of Mass Destruction are concerned, what do you call the 9-11 attacks? It is the intent, in the minds of the terrorists, that is frightening.

Peace, democracy and the rule of law must prevail.

Answer 5

The liberal media tends to tell you that all theses thing are going so horrible in Iraq. Have you ever sat down and talked with any service men and women who have been in Iraq? The media never tells you all the great things that are happening. Yes it is still a war zone and people are still getting killed, but now the people of Iraq are free from an oppressive goverment where they could kill anyone for any reason at any time. And you think these types of goverments should be allowed to stand?

Answer 6

Iraq as a country is not a mistake.
What is it a mistake is the war that´s going on there.
For me, a war is always a mistake.
And a total waste of time, energy and lives.
I know what this one is about. And I don´t like the way the US is "handling " the whole thing (you said you don´t want bashing or glorification of political leaders, so I´ll end this here)

Answer 7

Same mistake we made in Vietnam. We did not know the Vietnamese people. We did not know that the Vietnamese would fight to the death, that they were skilled and tough, that they were smart and resourceful. And most importantly, they were not going to be ruled by a foriegn power, be it China or the United States.
In Iraq, we did not know what we were getting into because we did not know the Iraqi people. We did not know that Iraq has a powerful history of being rulers in the Middle East. We did not know that the gap between Shia and Sunni was so explosive. We did not know the Iraq people, their history or their religious' passion.

Answer 8

I can not say I am for war - too many relatives including son in military, but Iraq gave us little choice. Iraq women had no free speech, no education allowed, no way to divorce abusive husband who could marry 4 wives, no inheritance - it went to husband, rapes were not illegal or at least unpunished, wives reported of cheating were killed - no proof necessary.

The number of people killed under Saddam rule & who reported numbers are below:

UN 100,000-500,000
Human Rights Watch 290,000
UNICEF 500,000
Executed from prison to clean out - regardless of crime 2,500
Children dying from malnutriton per month 4,000-5,000

They prey on the weakest in their country children & women. Entire villages "disappeared". They were supporting the Al Queda who brought down the Twin Towers. They trained terrorist to attack US. If we as a country stand for freedom & protect our citizens, I do not see that we had a choice but to declare war on terrorism. I wish we had another choice but I do
know nor has it be presented to me not intelluctally.

Answer 9

Basically, I believe that Bush (and his supporters) went into Iraq for a decent purpose (to disarm him, to end Saddam's tyrannical regime, to make the government more friendly for American interests), but they messed most of it up.

First off, they should have gone with the UN. Yeah, it would have taken longer, but international support would have gone a long way to legitimize the conflict.

Secondly, Bush should have admitted he was wrong on WMD's. People love politicians who admit to their mistakes *cough*Bay of Pigs*cough*. Instead, Republicans said "well, maybe they're still there, or maybe they're in Syria, or who knows".

Thirdly (not our mistake), Iraqis aren't very familiar with democracy, and I'm afraid it might end up like Iran, an anti-US theocratic government with the support of most Iraqis. And that's not good news for us.

/Democrat
//liberal-moderate

Answer 10

in some respects the war can be a mistake for the fact that our men are gying, but its the US' way to help other countries and thats what weve been trying to do. take WW1, we went into the great deppression because we wanted to help france and england to rebuild. in WW2, we rationed cavillian food and product consumption to give rations to germans, austrians, and even russians. i think we as america should be asking more of other countries instead of helping them, but if war is the only way to fix it , let it be.

Answer 11

Let me give you perspective from my Iraqi brother-in-law. While the regime under Hussein was cruel and oppressive, people had order and organization. You could get on a bus without worrying about Sunni militants pulling you off and shooting you, or even worse beheading you. You could go out to the marketplace without hearing or being near bombs. You could go to the mosque and pray, without worrying about someone coming in a bombing the holy site. You had plenty of running water, electricity, and fuel (ironic isn't it?). And my brother-in-law, could sleep at night knowing that his relatives were safe.