Does anyone here think the US was right for going into Iraq in the first place?

Question

OK, we all know that the major reasons for going to war in Iraq turned out not to be true. But does anyone still think it was a good idea anyway? I'm not talking about staying now or when to withdraw; I'm talking about the original invasion... If you could turn the clock back, would you have the US do it all over again?

Come on dstr, tell us what you REALLY think.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, yes. I'd hate to be the person giving the order, though. And WMD's WERE found. I know, I know, they were old, BUT Hussein was not allowed to have even old ones.

And no, the Iraqis do NOT say that life was better under Hussein! Most of them say that it's better now, even with the violence simply because at least they can speak out against their government without fear of retribution.
EVERY Iraqi that my military friends have spoken to says that they appreciate us coming in and taking out Hussein. I don't pay attention to what the media says on this matter.
THEY ARE NOT THERE on a daily basis. MY FRIENDS are!
So, to all the people who wanted to give me thumbs-down for telling the truth, I'm sorry you couldn't HANDLE the truth!
Members of Hussein's regime have stated that yes, he had more WMD's than what were found. Let's see: Who am I going to believe, them, or CNN? Tough choice. I would say that I'd rather believe HUSSEIN'S ADMINISTRATION. What reason would they have for lying? They would gain nothing. If there were no weapons, big deal, they were still serving "loyally" under duress. Under Hussein, it was "obey me, or I'll kill you and your whole family."
He was like Hitler. Yeah, I guess we should have left him alone, like we allowed Hitler to violate the Versailles Treaty constantly. Who knows, maybe nearly another ONE MILLION troops would have been killed.
Our government was screaming for Saddam's head. They were right to do so. Period.

Answer 2

Right or wrong was never the issue, or at least it should never have gotten that far.

Iraq was a stupid idea doomed to failure. Every nonpartisan Middle East expert gave Bush’s plan less than 50% change of ANY success, and they were mostly being optimistic. Everyone with any knowledge of the area knew there was going to be a civil war.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia (both border Iraq) were opposed to it. In fact, both countries had quit even bothering to patrol their borders with Iraq because as Saudi Prince Bandar said when asked by an NBC reporter, “why would we do that, he [Hussein] can’t do anything to anyone,” I saw the interview and he literally laughed at the question.

Farkas419 –

NO WMDs, even the Republican Congress’s reports say so. Also, no terrorists, no association with any terrorist organization. In fact, Hussein hated Al-Qaeda before we did.

And now, most Iraqis say live was better under Hussein than it is now and most approve of attacks on Americans. We have created a whole new generation of enemies. Enemies that will become Allah’s soldiers – soldiers willing and glad to die for their cause. Those Americans who don’t realize how dangerous that is will find out.

It gets worse. Because of our failures in Afghanistan and Iraq, the world sees that as America having been defeated. This also instills boldness and determination in our enemies. Look at what just happened to Israel in Lebanon. Now matter what the conservative pundits say – that was a loss for Israel and a victory for the terrorists. That is the perception around the world – and perception is reality.

Another disastrous move by the administration was to try to deal with terrorism militarily instead of as a police action. When was the last time you heard about the Red Brigade or IRA? You don’t – because they were dealt with through police tactics. The British stopped the recent airline bombing plot through police work (an English citizen of Arab descent went to the police with information more than a year ago – that’s how they knew to infiltrate the group.

Answer 3

Bush and obama inherited it from clinton!! Bush tried to get us out of it and obama spent greater and placed us deeper in debt!! The conflict, ah the iraqi conflict!! I bear in mind a time while muslim terrorist flew 2 air craft into the two towers of the international commerce center. in addition they flew one into the pentagon and tried for the White homestead yet replaced into met with courageous souls on that flight and the crashed right into a field!! Killing basically themselves!! the place the different 3 planes killed most of the persons in the tower and pentagon and 2 towers and all of the persons in the air craft!! that includes a 4 year previous lady!!i replaced into hoping we could take on the full muslim international, yet iraq replaced right into a good initiate!! I additionally bear in mind those situations! Now they desire to place a mosque very close to floor 0 and obama thinks this is a good option!! this isn't any longer!! Such disrespect!! i assume i can not anticipate something yet that from muslims!!!!!

Answer 4

This war was inevitable - after the continuous murder and maiming, day after day - it was clear to anyone, with any sense at all, that these radicals were not going to go away.

After 9/11, I think the invasion was a logical response to an enemy that has no country, no army, no infrastructure - we are fighting an ideology that is directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children.

Afghanistan was basically their base camp - and Iraq wasn't any better. We would be having this same debate if it had been Iran or Lebanon or some other Mid Eastern country.

We WILL have to step up to the plate and take these psychos on - if not today, then maybe at a later date when they have had the time to better organize and perhaps acquire nuclear weapons. Do you think for a moment that these Islamic radicals wouldn't use any means available to them to try and destroy you and your family?

We had better take their threats very seriously - they have given us only two choices - convert to Islam, or die.

We have answered with a third choice: To stand and fight against yet another fascist, demented group, hell bent on a one world government under Islamic Law.

If I could turn the clock back, I would wage a MAJOR war on these dirt bags - and not worry so damn much about winning the hearts and minds of the people who will not even condemn the terrorists' tactics of continuing their indiscriminate murder of innocent civilians.

Better the Mid East than New York.

Answer 5

I think this falls on Saddam and his ignorance. He dared the U.S. to do something about his regime and when we did, he shipped what weapons he still had to Syria so that we would not find anything and then leave again. Unfortunately, things got crazy.

Knowing what we know now, it would be silly to repeat our mistakes, at least the ones that can be obviously fixed. I would have given Saddam more time and a more severe ultimatum to prove he was not storing or producing WMDs.

The one thing we can say though, and the one thing that anti-war pundits ignore, is the fact that we have not had any further terrorist acts on our soil since 9/11. Isn't that the real reason we have troops overseas? to protect our way of living (yes, even the way of living for the liberals!).

There's no room for hate! All it will do is continue to fester and destroy your soul. God Bless!

Answer 6

Big costly mistake. It will take years to recover the loss of international prestige -- if it can ever be restored. We will never be believed again. At two billion dollars per week of borrow money, when and how can we regain financial equilibrium? How long will it take us to pay for W's mistake? The military is in ruins with equipment and man-power shortages. How long will it take to rehabilitate the military? The results are almost the opposite of what was hoped for. Talk about unintended consequences!

Answer 7

It was a stupid action to take then and it's stupid now, however we're stuck at the moment. We had a potentially dangerous region nailed down by a dictator that had no particularly aggressive tendencies towards us. The region was secure and the only ones paying for it were potential enemies. Now we have a breeding ground for international problems there. We opened a Pandora's Box and we will regret it at our leisure, as we funnel vast resources into fixing the problem we ourselves created.

Answer 8

I support the war, but if we could go back I wish we could redo everything. We are in a mess that will take a long time to get out of.

Answer 9

War is NEVER a good idea. I would want us to go in, if we had to make the decision again, but I would want us to have been prepared for this insurgency and to have handled the "winning the peace" better.

Answer 10

Bush blew it by not getting Osama when he had the chance. And believe me, I have talked to soldiers who were there, he let him get away. I think it was intentional. Had Bush nabbed him, his approval ratings would have shot through the roof and remained there. No, Iraq was a colosssal blunder and it will cost us for years to come.

Wake up America, your being conned by the GOP.