Please explain to me WHY we are still in Iraq? The WMD reason was a lie, we found Sadham, now what?

Question

Go ahead, get offended by my question, I can take it. I would just like a good solid reason why we are still there....and allowing more loss of allied troops' lives. For what? Don't give me the reason "until the job is done". That is NOT a reasonable reason. My belief is that we have gone this far now, it would be an embarassment to the U.S. gonvernment to turn back now.

Also, I DID support the war in the beginning when I thought there were WMD (which we know now is a lie). I voted for Bush, and I support many of his programs. But come one, we have lost over 2,500 troops now, and I don't think anyone can come up with a single reason why they were sent over there to die now (yeah, after the fact).

I feel so bad for the families that had to lose their beloved sons and daughters in this war for what???? The soldiers are NOT at fault here, so don't you even dare start pulling that guilt trip on me.

Convince me otherwise, I have an open mind.....

I'm confused....are some of you actually implying that the people of Iraq were the ones who flew our planes into the WTC, the Pentagon, and a field in Penn? I thought that was why we went to Afghanistan.
Anyways, if I am not mistaken, most if not all of those terrorist ***** who hijacked our planes were from Saudi Arabia??????

WTH does that have to do with Iraq???

KB-EXCELLENT points....thank you for taking the time to answer and respond to all of my concerns.

Oh yeah, and than you for calling me "young lady"!!!

God bless you for your service to the U.S.

God bless ALL of our troops.

Answer 1

Don't forget the 50,000+ (I'm sure it's higher than 50k) Iraqi civilians who have died at the hands of allied operations and allied bombing, and the countless other atrocities being committed by US troops, like the rape and murder of that 14-year-old and her entire family. What did she do? They didn't have to kill her or her family just to cover up their tracks--they even burned her body. Who feels bad for her or her family?

And that's just the one we heard about.

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

Wow, they call it "military intervention." What nice doublespeak, straight out of Orwell's 1984. That's like saying "wet work" for assassination, or "baton" for a policeman's nightstick--or the all-popular, "friendly fire" for "we effed up and killed our own guys." My all-time favourite is mentioned in the film Apocalypse Now: "...terminate the colonel's command...terminate with extreme prejudice."

Doublespeak definition:
•extreme prejudice: Kill. A dead person can never be rehired. --www.sourcewatch.org http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:Trkf72mUwugJ:www.sourcewatch.org/index.php%3Ftitle%3DDoublespeak+doublespeak+extreme+prejudice&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=safari

More on doublespeak, if you're interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublespeak

Oddly, the guy to whom the word is often attributed--George Orwell--never used the word "doublespeak" in his book, "1984," which is often cited for examples of doublespeak. He did coin the words "newspeak," "oldspeak" and "doublethink," however.

Anyway, back to the program:

I think the thinking is that there are "weapons of mass destruction" at the bottom of those Iraqi oil wells.

And remember, we're also protecting Freedom, according to our president.

I'm not much of an anti-war protester, but we do not belong in Iraq. And then people wonder why Americans are hated everywhere.

Answer 2

It´s simple: There are more objectives to accomplish. No WMD found (might be in Syria now), Saddam arrested but there is no political stability yet, which was the main goal of this mission. The troops have to stay as long until the insurgency is put down, the Iraqi government can stand on his own feet and the Iraqi people are united willing work together on a new Iraq.
If the troops pull out now, the country will be in a state of civil war and finally consist of small realms governed by Warlords: A perfect place to establish Al-Quaida base. Then the whole operation was for nothing, the troops died for nothing because Iraq would still be a threat. In order to achieve victory over the terrorists and create a strong ally in the Mideast, the troops must stay.

Answer 3

The reason we are still there is exactly what you said isnt a valid reason. "Too get the job done." We have put Iraq in a very delicate situation. If we leave now there will be nothing but civil war and mass civilian casualties. Look at how many casualties there are at the moment with the best military in the world over there fighting. Now just imagine if that same allied force left, the insurgents would go in and create a new dictatorship. Why should we allow Iraq to replace one dictator for another, the answer is we shouldn't and until the Iraqi government is completely set up and the Iraqi troops can support and defend themselves we need to stay over there to minimize the chaos.

Answer 4

Ok, it pissed me off also that no WMD were found, but that was not the key point. The key point in Afghanistan was to free the country from the Taliban. The key point in Iraq was to destroy the Saddam Government and Republican Guard, in hopes that the people of Iraq would build their country on their own. Things actually didn't go that way, and it has ended up not the way it should of, but we have to stay the course, no matter and support our military and families. I voted for Bush, and no I don't like allot of his policies, but he is the president, and just because it has gotten bad, I'm not going to turn around and tell people I didn't vote for Bush. Remember our young men and women in uniform are professionals, who are trying to perhaps start another life when their enlistment is finished, maybe they needed a job, or have goals in their lives that they needed the military, or as many, they felt it was their duty because of the attack on America on 9/11. It is hard now, but young lady remember one thing and it has nothing to do with being in the military..that is

when things are hard and tough, the strong get stronger!

We lost 58,000 Americans in Vietnam, after 16 years and the fall of the South Vietnamese Government and lack to fight by their military we left in disgrace.....we, as Americans can never, never let that happen again!

when things are hard and tough, the weak get weaker!

Answer 5

Oh my, I know where you are coming from....!!

But there are two reasons why we are still there.

1. Hussein was captured. Osama Bin Landen was not. Bin Landan is the creature that took all the credit for the 9-11 strikes against the Twin Towers. All over the news it was Bin Landen. Hussein wasn't mentioned much until they found him. When Hussein was captured they never talked about Bin Landen for a long time. Now that creature is in the news. So maybe has a lot to do with him.

2. OIL--This is an awful reason for the lives that have been lost and for the ones that are going to be lost. My nephew done a tour of duty in Iraq. He signed up for 3 more years. He prays to God he doesn't have to go back. He's a United States Marine. I thank God that he made it home the first time.

But my main reason, I believe is the OIL....Everyone wants control.

Answer 6

There were WMD....... but, were obviously moved...
And yes, I feel sorry for the families who have lost members in Iraq.... If we pulled out now, we would be so overrun with terrorists, all hell would literally break loose on American soil!! At least now, while we are still there, we are keeping some control, while rebuilding, and instilling some stability.

I ALSO feel sorry for those who lost loved ones over here when those terrorists flew OUR planes into OUR buildings. I also feel sorry for my Aunt who lost a husband, and my cousins who lost a dad, who was a Fireman in NYC, was never found. So, you see, it stems back....... We need some justice...



P.S. has NOTHING to do with oil!!

Answer 7

I am a 61 old french guy who lives in Brazil.
Liked the "sincerity tone" of your question, and believes you are an open minded person.
So I am pleased to give my point of view.

I believe "we" (=occident values, as democracy, liberty...) are engaged in a new sort of war. We are at war because some "organizations" work to destroy the values we stand for.

We know a lot of these "organizations" are physically located in the middle-east. We know they don´t wait in their corner to strike back, but use "terror technics" to arm ours societies (i.e. the destruction of the World Trade Center). There is no way to keep quiet.
Don´t know if this was on the mind of Bush, when he decides to invade Irak. But the result is that US manages to be physically present in the region that matters not only for the US security, but for the security of the entire "free" world.
If he had not "vision" (I don´t know) he had, at least, "intuition".

Answer 8

it's the same war that's been going on throughout human civilization.

You don't know why were in the iraq war because you don't need to know (according to the people who think they represent 'the people' and/or are doing the 'dirty work' to protect us so we can rent videos and go to parties and drive the roads and spend our money and pay our taxes

i guess it's because people prefer war behavior than peace because survival has been like a war and even though we all don't need all the consumer goods and services we work a lot and buy a lot and keep busy and tollerate our governments behavior because real peace is a social thing, lots of us have to get together to give each other hope in a future with significantly more peace.

The good new is we can do Peace.

So keep asking questions...

Answer 9

Just a little something to throw in on the WMD debate.

I worked with locals while I was in Iraq--most of them being former military and whatnot, so I asked one of them that question while we were ouside sweating our asses off in the 120 degree heat. His response? A snort and then asked me if I knew where the one rail line in Iraq led to because that's where it all went. Can anyone guess where it leads?

Oh and to answer your question: We're still there because we're training their military and police--it takes time to build these from nothing.

Answer 10

500 plus artillery shells and rocket warheads filled with Mustard gas and nerve agent actually are weapons of mass destruction. That was even in the New York Times.

We found 500 tons of yellow cake (Uranium ore) and a whole bunch of centrifuges in Iraq.

Saddam (not Sadham) had his military bury a bunch of fighter jets in hope that he would survive the war and remain in power. If he was willing to bury his airforce, what else did he bury or ship out of the country?