In concept, would you agree that the War in Iraq was a good idea?

Question

We all know that there have been strategic mistakes along the way. Bush is a total idiot, and so is every person that is around him. So what can you expect?

But, in concept, do you think the War was a good idea? Here are some points to support this argument:

1) After we demolished Japan in WW2, we helped them rebuild, from the ground up, into a economically flourishing democracy. Could it be conceivable that the same thing would happen in Iraq?
2) Establishing a Democracy in the center of the middle east could have a positive influence on the neighboring countries of the region.

Answer 1

I concede that the possible benefits you mention could conceivably have been manifested in Iraq, alas, as yet they have not.

Launching an invasion should not ever be undertaken in pursuit of some conceivable benefit, though. Had Japan not attacked Pearl Harbor, would you still have been in favor of nuking that nation so that we could rebuild it into an economically flourishing democracy?

I agree that establishing a democracy in the Mideast could have positive benefits, but it is not for us to establish one, that is and always has been the job of the Iraqis themselves. For what it's worth, the American public would never have gone along with the idea of invading Iraq solely for some possible benefits that could conceivably have been realized.

Answer 2

This is a good question and it will point out why I have disagreed with this war from the beginning. This war was a major shift in US foreign policy. We preemptively attacked a country that we had already bombed into oblivion thinking it would be a cake walk and we could do exactly what you are saying. That was the official position of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, the principal war cheerleaders. That argument demonstrates such a fundamental misunderstanding of the complexity of middle east politics that it is frightening that these people were in a position to make these decisions.

A democracy (bad term-representative government is the best we could do)? How long will a democracy last before the religious loons take over? How exactly do we forge a representative government in an area where religious factions have been fighting for centuries. Where there are cities controlled by cleric warlords?

Just a small part of the problem.

Have a great day.

Answer 3

A terrible idea!!!

Where would America be today in the eyes of the world, if Bush had gone after the 9/11 culprits, namely Osama Bin Laden and Al Quaeda? It's obvious, (and proved), he had an agenda well before the actual invasion of Iraq. Was he finishing off what his Daddy had left undone? Was it the oil? Or was there a more sinister agenda? The U.N. was well on it's way to dealing with Saddam Hussein and his atrocities, and let's not forget, those crimes were committed against his own people not the U.S. So, here you are years later, trillions of $$$ spent and a sickening number of lives lost on both sides, for what???? Bush's uncalled-for and untimely invasion of Iraq, has allowed the real culprits of an attack on your country to walk free and unfettered to gather strength in manpower and armaments so they can attack you again. And they will!! The Taliban has regrouped. Al Quaeda has spread it's wings into numerous parts of the world, and Bin Laden is still making videos promising death and destruction.

Will Bush and his war-mongering cronies ever be held accountable for the murder of thousands, the disabling of a country who didn't want the interference, and the expenditure of such a vast sum of money that could have revolutionized your health-care system, and set up programs to eliminate poverty within your own borders? I doubt it!!

Answer 4

Bad idea. War should be a last resort but Bush wanted war from the start. To justify an invasion he told lie after lie--about Saddam's support of Al Quaeda, his nukes, his plans to attack us, his WMD, on and on.

Finally the justification-of-the-day was that we wanted to build an exemplary democracy in Iraq--in other words, it was not about US, it was about THEM.

But Bush was warned by every real expert that our force wasn't big enough to do this. He invaded anyway, and then our men watched helpless as the entire country was looted (including weapons caches--weapons that are now being used against our troops!), and the country sank into anarchy.

There's a HUGE difference between WWII an the Iraq War. For WWII everyone was on board. President Roosevelt came to the US people and told them it would be a long war, it would be -expensive-, and everyone would have to make sacrifices. Bush told the American people that the war might take a few weeks, and we should just not think about it--go out and spend money, take your family to Disneyland and let -us- worry about the war. Roosevelt made no attempt to hide war news from the American people, Bush tried to carry on the war mostly in secret. Roosevelt cooperated with allies, Bush bullied allies. Roosevelt wouldn't allow enemy prisoners to be tortured--in fact we built a prison camp here for German prisoners and many of them were so well treated that they moved here after the war! Roosevelt conducted lengthy, thorough investigations into war profiteering, in fact the hearings lasted longer than the war! There is very obvious profiteering in this war but Bush doesn't even want to acknowledge it.

I could go on and on. This is the difference between a war fought to make the world safe for Democracy and a war fought for purely imperialistic purposes.

Answer 5

In hindsight, I'm not convinced we exhausted all our diplomatic channels before we jumped in there. I think we could have better used the threat of an invasion to get other countries-- particularly middle eastern ones-- to put the fire under Iraq. We at least could have used that time to come up with a better plan for an invasion and occupation. What we have on our hands now is a big, expensive mess, and I don't think the anarchy that is going to result once we withdraw all our troops is going to be an improvement over the previous situation.

Answer 6

Your analygy to japan is a little off as Japan was never gripped by radial religios fanatisms. They were willing to kamakazi our ships in war, but they never had reason to suicide bomb thier own people

Somehow that particular strategy has gotten itself into the heads of the people in that region. I don't see how it is tolerated but it is.

So, I actually do agree that the invasion in Iraq was good for basically the reasons you mention, when all this is settled I think it can be a stable role model in the region. And don't forget, it was just plain good to take Saddam out of power. The man had no business being in power.

The thing is, what do we do now when we have a population that is not so "eager" to reform as Japan? Well, we either stay and they kill us and themselves while they try to work through it, or we leave, and there is a three sided religious civil war.

There is hope in for Iraq. Look at the prosperity of the Kurds. We went in there to help them out, maybe they were not ready for it yet. Regardless, as a Nation we have the responsibility to stick it out with them, until the Iraqi people and government don't want our help any longer. And that's just going to be awhile.

Answer 7

Democracy must be earned.
It's never "established" - even the Japanese had to want it.

Iraq wanted Saddam gone - but they Never wanted a Democracy.

So.. No - Iraq was a very Bad idea.

Answer 8

Again this isn't a war but an invasion/occupation. For the strategic placement of U.S. troops. To provide a vantage point in the Middle East. And no I think the whole situation is a travesty.

Answer 9

No, I don't think so. This is about the privatization of Iraqi oil. Understand the US acted in bad faith from the beginning.
Billions, spent and thousands of dead, we are mired down in a war we were never meant to win. No it was a BAD idea.

Answer 10

If Iraq had attacked us and we retaliated on them, then yes it would have been a great idea.

But Iraq never attacked us and never threatened or even posed a threat to the soverneighty of the US.

Thus it was a bad idea, period.