How better off would we be without the war in iraq? Politcally economically etc....?

Answer 1

I wish we would have asked this question 400 billion dollars ago. did anyone actually believe that the iraq republican guard was going to march down wilshire boulevard?


p.s. stickman- would you care to show the math on that?

Answer 2

Right after 9/11 George Bush had a 80% approval rating, at this time it is under 30%. Politically he has squandered not only his political but he has lost face and credibility in the rest of his world what an opportunity that he has lost. Economically we have spent to much money on a war that not very many citizens agree with. Morally we have killed far to many civilians for a war that was based on George Bush's lies. The real price of the war is the lose of life, 3000 Good Americans, hero's, and an estimated 655,000 Iraqi's. It should be a shame that he dies with. Also morally we have reduced America to a country that holds people without benefit of due process and now it is ok to torture people, this in my gut tells me we have lost a part of America and the terrorist are winning. I don't see any way out of Iraq, we are damned if we do and damned if we don't and there are no real good answers. I hope a so called troop surge does the trick, but I do doubt it will. If we didn't have the war in Iraq, we would be far better off.

Answer 3

It is too early to tell, since the conflict is still continuing, and the President has proposed an escalation. Additionally, this conflict has changed the global position of the United States politically, and will continue to have a significant effect our global political influence.

With that said, there is a vocal minority of about 1/4 of the U.S. population that sees things completely differently than I do, and will argue to the death that the war in Iraq is the only thing that has kept us from Armagedon. I'm not one of those.

At this point in time, the cost of the war is around $400 billion dollars, and is increasing at a rate of $8.4 billion dollars per month. For less than this amount, for example, everyone in the United States could have been covered by a universal health insurance program, and we could have increased our ability to inspect cargo containers at our ports.

The real cost of the war is political. Following the September 11 attacks, the world rallied behind the United States. Unfortunately, our insistence on unilateral action has worsened our relationship with every nation in the world, including our most staunch allies, the British, and our allies back to the Revolutionary War, the French. Having not found in Iraq the nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons that were repeatedly promised, we have lost our ability to go before the international community and command action based upon our unimpeachable reputation.

It is repeatedly argued that we are fighting "terrorists" in Iraq so that we don't have to fight them here. This does not make sense. The enemies that we have been fighting in Iraq are, for the most part, insurgents who are fighting against an army that they perceive as occupiers, not liberators. Should we be surprised? What would Americans do if a foreign army ever invaded the United States? What is missing from the fight are terrorist groups that were responsible for the past attacks against the United States. Rather than reduce terrorism, the conflict is increasing the incidence of terrorist attacks globally. By clothing the conflict in the robes of a holy war, Iraq has become a recruiting tool by the terrorist organizations that we are hoping to surpress.

The resulting rise in hatred of Americans has also turned American tourists into targets wherever they travel in the world.

The war in Iraq has pushed our military to its limit. An extended conflict on two fronts (Iraq and Afghanistan) has reduced our ability to deploy elsewhere, and has provided a critical distraction from the events elsewhere in the world. It is unlikely that North Korea and Iran would have been as bold in developing their nuclear programs were we not in a weakened condition from this conflict. Although it was probably innevitable that new nuclear nations would develop, our actions have likely accelerated this process. The more nuclear powers that exist, the more opportunities there are for the existence of rogue nuclear weapons that could be used for terrorist purposes.

In all fairness, it did not need to be this way. When the war began, we had an opportunity to improve the country of Iraq. Had the lives of the people living there improved, we would have indeed been liberators. Unfortunately, we did not send enough troops to secure the nation, and did not develop plans to rapidly repair the Iraqi infrastructure. This was just the first of many mistakes that were made. With each mistake, the number of opportunities to salvage the situation diminished. Now we are merely hoping that we can avoid genocide, or at least not be blamed for it.

For those that think this war is great- If you can address the issues I have listed above in an intelligent manner, I might be swayed. Simply stating "There hasn't been another 9/11!" doesn't cut it. It reminds me of the old joke, "Why do elephants paint their toenails red?", "So they can hide in cherry trees!", "But elephants don't hide in cherry trees!" "You don't see them? See, it works!"

Answer 4

What do you have against New York? What do you have against the Innocent people that died in the 9/11? What do you have against the heroic men and women of the Police and Fire departments that gave their lives that day trying to help others? Do you believe in the pinko leftist 9/11 conspiracy theories that use irrelevant science information to substantiate the preposterous notion that 9/11 was "self inflicted" as an excuse to use military force in the middle east for political gain? Well, these myths have been long debunked. Don't take my word for it. I'm not a scientist or engineer. these people are. http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/1227842.html

The left will do anything to make people believe that we are in Afghanistan (remember that place?) and Iraq for politica gain, not to fight the spread of terrorism. I guess either you don't follow current events, or only choose to acknowledge those that support your agenda. Only yesterday in Iraq, a U.S. chopper was attacked by AL Qaeda. (remember them?)

Being involved in conflict is never easy. Bush may not be the best president we ever had, but he has worked very hard to defend and support our nation in very difficult times. Have you forgotten the alternative... John Fonda Kerry ?(who voted for the war, based on the same intelligence provided to the president) I feel much safer and better off with a hard working man that face challenges head on and can admit mistakes, then a proven self-serving, contradictory, bald face lying trator.

God Bless America.

Answer 5

Much better. Lets see the war will have a estimated cost of 1 trillion dollars. That is probably a low cost. We have killed over a million people. The rest of the world is sick of our empire ways and starting to take action. You know the whole thing hinges on the dollar. They can destroy this country by dumping their dollars.
You do know that we borrowed the money for this war from the chinese and japanese. No this supposed war on terror is probably the greatest tragedy in the history of this country.

Answer 6

If you knew anything about economics you would know we would be worse off. Nothing fuels an economy like a war or a military build up. Remember Reagan and his cold war military build up? Enough said. Just because your party is not in the white house you can't go and assume everything would be better and ignore basic economic facts.

Answer 7

I believe that we would be just as bad off with or without the war, politically.
However! Economically speaking, we would be worse off.
It is a fact that, wars create good economies.
A war takes away people from the senders tables, less mouths to feed from our country's food source = more food for those who stay home.
War, and the equipment it takes to wage one, puts people to work, making the supplies needed.
War brings a feeling of (togetherness), to the nation. A sense of unity tward a common goal. Regardless of the reasons.

Answer 8

(a million) A healthful communicate and reading on what's morally and ethically splendid is nice for which no faith is necessary. although faith also does a similar element, although that is inflexible in making human beings settle for it ideas with blind faith. with the exception of, religions bask in meaningless rituals and in describing universe and medical phenomena that are outdoors its purview. (2) we ought to continually no longer hardship about afterlife and concentrate on our artwork and responsibilities. (3) there is not any want to debate no matter if God existed oe no longer. it ought to neither be proved nor disproved. Time spent on it and its effect are futile. (4) We certainly would were more suitable off if the actual and psychological resources spent on religions were diverted to larger effective channels like housing for the undesirable, faculties, hospitals and scietific analyze interior the precious route, no longer in coming up guns of mass destruction. (5) it is real. we are dropping our time in attempting to keep religions alive of their modern style. those who get indignant at the prompt are not non secular minded.

Answer 9

Politically we would be better off by not tarnishing the name of democracy. If we would have spent the TENS of BILLIONS of dollars on the victims of Katrina instead of a war of aggression, our money would have been spent on a dire and worthy cause, it would have been money to save lives instead of take them away.

Answer 10

I don't know about all these technical terms but one thing is sure those 3000 and odd brothers and sisters who lost their lives in Iraq would have been alive and amongst us.