We would still be at war even if we never went into Iraq?

Question

I dont understand the people that complain about this war. Its really simple even without Iraq we would still be in Afghanistan fighting, wed still be threatened by Iran and North Korea and would possibly have a war with both, Hezbollah would still be trying to overthrow the government in Lebanon, and would be attacking Israel, we would still feel threatened by China and Russia. There would still be clashes in the middle east between Hamas and Fatah and there would still be an ongoing genocide happening in Africa. So we would still be fighting in a war even if we never went to Iraq, we need to fight!!! And for all of the people out there complaining about pulling out of Iraq, just sit back and think of the consequences, then youll realize that you would see death and destruction like you never have before

Answer 1

At least it would be justified if we were fighting those who attacked us. Iraq DID NOT attack us.This war is not just!

Answer 2

You make some interesting points MIke, however I think if the Dems would have got in in 2000 we wouldn't be on the offense in this war right now. Instead we would be singing Kumbya with the Islamic fundamentalists while more of our commercial aircraft and American embassies are being blown up. Instead of our military getting killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, we would probably be losing more innocent civilian lives all around the world. The people who complain about the war have been fed anti-Bush, anti-anything that Bush does by the liberal media, fueled by the far lefties who want that power back no matter what the cost. That's their tactic, scare the population into giving them back the power they lost

Answer 3

Although you didn't ask a question, you assume that opening another front in a hotbed of civil unrest is OKAY? Yes we would still be in Afghan, or maybe not. Had we used the resources we are using right now in Iraq, we might have accomplished our mission, Bin Laden. As it turns out, our government knew Iraq was a paper tiger and in truth, Iraq didn't want to see the US coming into the region. The notion that Hussein supported Laden is ludicrous. However, it is what it is and we are there. The fervent anti Americanism is stemmed from our BEING there now. I agree with you, we should deal with more pressing issues, those you mentioned. However, we disagree in believing that Iraq is one of those pressing issues. The thought is that if we leave we will spread the cause of the Muslims. Guess what? That was the same belief about the spread of communism if we left Vietnam. Turns out it isn't true. Most nations just want autonomy.

Answer 4

Thank you for making a good and clear point...

Let's say that Al Gore HAD won the election of 2000... we can guess that he would have reacted in a Clintonian fashion following September 11Th : lobbed a few Tomahawks into Afghanistan, perhaps given a order to target Osama bin Laden, PERHAPS even gone into Afghanistan...

Now... Iraq would STILL be an exporter of illegal oil, building their military, seeking WMD's...

Iran would be moving along apace with it's nuclear program and supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Gaza, Chechnya, and Israel. North Korea would still be working on it's nuclear program.

Note that all the diplomatic "achievements" of the Clinton-era had fallen apart well prior to the election of 2000... North Korea had already reneged on it's agreement... the Palestinians had abandoned the Peace Process... and Africa WAS a mess

Answer 5

I don't deny that, the problem comes when all the troops are tied up fighting an unwinnable war in Iraq for lies/misinformation, depending on who you believe, when there are ACTUAL crazies about who may very well ACTUALLY be a threat to the world. If Iran is much more advanced in their nuclear capability than they're letting on and fire a missile at Jerusalem next week, or have a nuclear suicide bomb in New York, then the army is caught up in Iraq and can't effectively strike back. Get out of Iraq and use the army to fight wars that NEED to be faught, instead of petty feuds like Iraq was.

Answer 6

I agree that there were much better places to go than Iraq. I don't think that we would have gone to war with a different president. There was no point in going to war. If we went to war with Iran, they would nuke Israel in a heartbeat. The fact that we're not attacking them now is the only reason that they're not going after Israel...and vice versa. We're not threatened by Russia, nor are we threatened by China. If China is any threat to us at all, it's an economic threat. North Korea is not a threat to us. If they're a threat to anyone, it's Japan. They're not stupid enough to attack Japan because the rest of the world would be on them in a heartbeat.

We don't need to fight anybody right now. If it weren't for Yassir Arafat, Clinton would have had peace treaties in the Middle East. Bush could have continued to build on that base of a relationship, but he decided to throw it out the window and go to a war that pissed off a lot of people/countries.

Answer 7

Yes, we would be. But we would be in a full out war against the terrorists instead of hamstringing ourselves being policemen in the Iraqi civil war. We'd be full force in Afghanistan, which as a result of our reduced forces there, is enjoying a upsurge in new terrorist camps. We'd be busier applying our forces to performing real war against the terrorists, as we did recently when we bombed areas of Somalia. War is going to be a necessary evil for us for an unknown length of time. The key is to be at war with the right people for the right reasons. Unfortunately, Iraq, having nothing to do with 9/11, should have been second in the mind of the President, while Afghanistan and the Taliban should have remained his first priority.

Answer 8

The consequences are that no more Americans would be killed in Iraq. And seeing as how Saddam Hussein would still be in power, there would be no sectarian death squads roaming at will. There would not be the daily car bombings. Al-Qaida would not have found a new haven in Iraq as they have under the US occupation. Billions of our tax dollars would not have been wasted. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed in this war would most likely still be alive.

By the way, Hezbollah has no plains on overthrowing the Lebanese government. Hezbollah exists to keep Lebanon safe from Israeli incursions.

Answer 9

Saddam may well be ignoring UN determination #34 approximately now. And Terrorists may well be extra emboldened than ever that 9/11 works, and we would probable have had extra assaults. Iran and Iraq may well be racing one yet another to get those Nukes armed and arranged. BTW, WMDs are not purely constrained to Nukes.

Answer 10

You miss the point. Of course we would still be at war, that is exactly why we should never have diverted our resources (soldiers, money, etc.) away from the real fight against terrorist by going into Iraq.

Iraq could have been contained while we directed our attention towards Afghanistan. Iraq was not the threat that President Bush hyped it to be, and we did not have to launch an attack on Iraq when we did.

Inspectors were on the ground, and Iraq could have been contained for now. Instead, Bush opened the door for Iraq to become a terrorist breeding ground. Like we needed another one of those.

Moreover, we have not captured or killed Osama. Remember him?

Answer 11

Some of what you are saying is true. I agree, Afghanistan would still be going on...maybe. Perhaps with all this energy the last 3-4 years spent on Iraq - Afganistan would be a thing of the past. They still haven't found Bin Laden. However, all that other crap going on. Sure enough we'd have troops located in many of these key areas for peace keeping purposes, but not a full fledged war. If the U.S. would side more with the U.N. there wouldn't be so many problems. It's ridiculous. You can't save the world! Especially somewhere as different as the Middle Eastern countries. They have been that way for centuries. You are never going to change their way, ever. Let them all overthrow themselves - we have our own problems in our own country. That is why they get so mad and do more violence, they are trying to tell you to get the h*ll out of their country. How would you like it if some big bully come into our country trying to tell us that we needed to be more like them. We wouldn't, that's for sure. We would rebel against them just as they are to us now. Human nature.