This is my opinion on the war, is it a good one?

Question

NO ONE knows the situation in Iraq but the "higher ups". NO ONE. Every American is talking about bringing the troops back and NO ONE knows what is ACTUALLY going on over there. So how in your right mind can you even have an opinion? You don't know the true situation. You just know that Americans are dying over there and that's the only bases you are using. If that's all the information you have that you are going by that's ridiculous. There is so much more in play than soldiers dying. ONLY "higher ups" (the President, generals, etc) know exactly what is going on over there and have the right to make decisions as to what is going on. If you don't want your sons, daughters, etc to be dying in war, tell them not to join. Simple. We basically do not have the right to preach to the President and his generals like we know what we're talking about, because we DON'T. We don't have a clue what's going on there.

I'm tired of people acting like they have a clue as to what the situation... cont

cont...in Iraq is. Even troops who have been over there don't know the true situation. Only the President and his generals have a clue. They are the ONLY ones who are totally informed and you can't have a solid opinion without complete information. Correct? So maybe we need to support our President and trust he's making the right decisions since we can't know all there is to know in the Iraq situation. This is my opinion? Is it a good one?

Answer 1

While I agree you that only the higher ups have the full picture of what is happening, I don't agree with blind trust. Politicians act with clandestine motives all the time. It has been proved time and again that they are not above lying to the people to serve their own ends. If a strong belief in the President satisfies your requirements regarding the war I certainly won't fault you for that, but I expect you to extend the same courtesy to people who don't have as strong a belief in the administration in return. In order to gain respect for your positions and ideas you must also be willing to give the same.

Answer 2

This is a certain merit to what you say. In fact, I have pondered the same myself. What do we really know? Are those in a position of authority doing what they need to do? Shouldnt we just trust them?

Unfortunately, in this particular situation it is clear that we cannot trust our leaders to make the decisions that need to be made. After the mid-term elections, Bush admited that changes needed to be made, finally! Rumsfeld "stepping down" exemplied this concretely. However, just a few months later, Bush went back to his "stay the course" rhetoric. I will grant you that the Democrats did not exactly "wow" anyone with any particularly new course of action. The facts of the matter are, we all know its not working, yet nothing is changing.

Here is my major point of contention: You can blame the CIA or whoever for "providing evidence" that we needed to invade Iraq, that is beside the point now. The fact is that we had an administration that decided to invade and occupy another country for no clear reason and no sound long term strategy. Remember "mission accomplished?" Read Woodward's book on the infighting that went on during the decision process involving Iraq. It'll scare you just how out of touch Cheney is.

Anyway, so how I am supposed to believe and trust in this regime to lead us into the future and make correct current decisions, when every decision, when looked at in hindsight, has been wrong? Sure hindsight is 20-20, but there have been so many incredibly poor decisions made to date, their "batting average" is low enough to warrant "benching them".

Keep thinking and pondering though! It was a good question.

Answer 3

If the "higher ups" you speak of had an even halfway positive assessment of the progress in Iraq, don't you think they'd be reassuring us every single week that things are going well? Instead, we get the line "it's difficult..the going is rough...there remain large challenges...but progress is being made." And this we get only when they have to appear before Congress.

Why should we continue to trust the President? He gave us unfounded, if not utterly false, reasons for going to war. EVERY initial estimate (needed funding, number of troops, length of time we'd be there) has been grossly insufficient. Most of the original team of "higher-ups" managing the war effort have been replaced, fired, retired, or taken off the job, and more than a few former generals and top advisers have since expressed serious concerns about the planning and oversight of the conflict (to a man, they all seemed horrified by the immediate dismantling of the entire Iraqi military apparatus).

It's our money, our friends and neighbors and family members, our national interest, that we're putting on the line over there, toward a goal that not even the most fervent supporters of the war can admit to seeing clearly anymore. So don't tell me that we don't have a right to express concern.

Answer 4

Amazing !! A few weeks ago , I posted almost exactly what you just did . So obviously I agree with you 1 Zillion percent . I also remember answerers saying that they have the right to dissent , and it's freedom of speech , and dissent is the highest form of patriotism , Blah Blah Blah .
Everyone has the right to free speech , but that doesn't mean they know what they're talking about . And THERE is where they go off the deep-end . They can speak as they may , but that doesn't mean it's worth a sh!t .

Now I'm gonna look-see what answers you got .

EDIT* - For the folks who love to quote retired or current Generals , I have this to say . AT NO TIME EVER do our Generals all agree on anything . They all have their own opinions and argue amongst each other daily . Daily folks . There are hawks and doves within the ranks and that's fine .
Now , couple that disagreement with the fact that we have NEVER had to fight a war like this . No borders , no uniforms , no capitols to bomb . So naturally this is going to be hotly debated for a long time .
If we were to accept the argument that 'some' Generals disagree , then they must accept the argument that if we were to withdraw then many other Generals would disagree with that . Therefore that particular argument is baseless and moot !!

Answer 5

* "For six years Republicans in Congress have stymied and stonewalled legislation to enact security measures to prevent a second 9/11 suggested by the 9/11 commission"

I would agree that that would be a huge problem, IF THERE WERE A SECOND 9/11!

The fact is that anything the President does, the left will be directly opposed. If the President steps on an ant, the left will say he should have walked over it. If he wears a blue tie, it should have been red.

All this talk of civil liberties being violated forgets the most important liberty of all, LIFE. The President has done a fantastic job at protecting mine!

Answer 6

Trust is for suckers! Even St. Reagan said, "...trust, but verify." At this point we only know what's going on indirectly; what we do know doesn't pass the sniff test. Objectivly, by every measure, Iraq is falling apart....10% of the population has left and 90% of that 10% are the educated elite. The entire country is split nto factions, the infastructure, both social and physical continues to disintigrate, the iraqi army and police are worthless and almost all Iraqis are either unemployed or under employed. The only generals saying 'good things' about Iraq are those currently on active duty. Almost all retired generals with service in Iraq are now opposed to this occupation, and for good reason....it's not working in our favor, there's no natural stopping place and for what we might 'win' the cost in lives and borrowed money is way too high.

Answer 7

I agree with you.

For all of these people that insist the Bush is running the entire show, they couldn't be more wrong. He is merely briefed on what is going on; he appoints people to oversee operations. This is also true in all aspects of governing the nation. His job is to preside.

Answer 8

because you are not informed do not think others are not.
the Nazis relied on thinking like yours
please , if you want to let others think for you, instead of you, fine
but don't A-S-S-U-M-E.
especially that we didn't make more effort than you to learn more than you.
you have made every clear comments showing that you truly don't have any idea about many many things.

many of us do have a clue.
some of us several.

you should begin by reading the US Constitution.
you might also want to let the news people and learned scholars and others who have been involved know they are all clueless in your opinion..

you might want o visit a VA hospital where ill be in a couple hours and look up whats going on with soldiers who cant get care and help and more.
on say VeteransforAmerica.org or iava.org
(let them all know they have no clue too)
so much more going on than people dying.. you dont know how positively evil that sounds.. do you?

we don't want someone who dominates and controls us we elect those who carry out the will of the people


are you a Nazi?

Answer 9

No, we don't have a clue as to what is going on over there. Can you not see that as a reason some people would question why our troops need to keep dying?

Answer 10

The war ended on "Mission Accomplished" day. This painful occupation has been going on for years and will continue for years to come. In a historical perspective, we have occupied S.Korea for 54 years and we occupied Germany for over 40 years. More Americans die daily on I-95 than on streets of foreign occupation. We lost over 200,000 men in WWII ( out of half the population we have today ) so Americans, spoiled on years of luxury and ease, need to stop whining and jump on board with the team for the big win.
Our biggest mistake after winning the Iraq "War" was to give them democracy. We should have installed a friendly authoritarian government, with a pro-business and pro-liberty charter (libertarian by Islamic standards). It worked pretty well in S. Korea, which evolved to full democracy over time, with one of Asia's strongest economies -- and a fine ally, to boot.
STOP HITLARY NOW!!!