The Iraq War was the single worst decision by an American president since the Civil War.What decision by what president are you referring to, with regards to the Civil War?
mcstayinskool: ut also, this whole WMD thing...that's grounds for invasion? Why haven't we invaded: Pakistan, North Korea, etc.?While I agree with your fundamental moral premise in this statement, stategically speaking:
clavdivs: The Iraq War was the single worst decision by an American president since the Civil War.... which, in turn, forced the surrender of a nation that was apparently prepared to lose many more times as many people defending their island from an invasion, and at least that many US soldiers during the initial invasion battle.
A few examples of your argument would be GREAT...like worse then incinerating 200000 japanese?
The estimated, unofficial cost of this war to U.S. and British taxpayers is around $1 billion per year.Economist - Iraq, Kurds, Turks and oil - A tortuous triangle
But Turkey is hatching a different plan for its section of the Kirkuk-to-Ceyhan pipeline. Its souring relations with the government in Baghdad have spurred it to cultivate new ties with the Iraqi Kurds’ regional government in Erbil, which oversees the oil and gas that Turkey’s growing economy craves. A wide-ranging energy deal is in the works that will see state-backed Turkish firms and Western oil majors plough money into Kurdish infrastructure and oilfields, connecting them to Turkey and the world beyond.A decade after the invasion of Iraq, the Kurds emerge as surprise winners
CRIST: This is not a lie. I wrote a history that I think five people read because of the sensitivity of it. It is an absolutely fascinating story and 70 years from now when that thing's declassified people will look at Desert Storm and the invasion of Iraq - really, our whole wars with Saddam Hussein in a different light. But it's just not going to - and it's classified for some very good reasons. There is a lot of people's lives on the line if these things are exposed.posted by Golden Eternity at 9:50 PM on February 18
About two of every seven licenses for the export of "dual use" technology items approved between 1985 and 1990 by the U.S. Department of Commerce "went either directly to the Iraqi armed forces, to Iraqi end-users engaged in weapons production, or to Iraqi enterprises suspected of diverting technology" to weapons of mass destruction, according to an investigation by House Banking Committee Chairman Henry B. Gonzalez. Confidential Commerce Department files also reveal that the Reagan and Bush administrations approved at least 80 direct exports to the Iraqi military. These included computers, communications equipment, aircraft navigation and radar equipmentposted by ersatz at 2:32 AM on February 19
The al-Anfal Campaign, also known as the Kurdish Genocide,[3] Operation Anfal or simply Anfal, was a genocidal[4] campaign against the Kurdish people (and other non-Arab populations) in northern Iraq, led by the Ba'athist Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein and headed by Ali Hassan al-Majid in the final stages of Iran-Iraq War. The campaign takes its name from Surat al-Anfal in the Qur'an, which was used as a code name by the former Iraqi Baathist regime for a series of systematic attacks against the Kurdish population of northern Iraq, conducted between 1986 and 1989 and culminating in 1988
The political process in Iraq was born dead. It was based on sectarianism. No modern country can be built on sectarianism. Although ancient and complex, Iraq was and still is constantly portrayed as Sunni, Shiite and Kurd. The country is far more than that. In the early days after the invasion and while the people were still in disarray and in a state of shock, Iraqis were presented with mainly ethnic and sectarian blocs as their representatives.Now at Law School, Veterans Work to Bring Those Left Behind to US
The other, nominally secular groups packaged and presented to Iraqis were led by a few 'imported' gentlemen including a convicted felon, a CIA asset described by his own controller as a thug and a tired, uncharismatic old man. They had little credit with the people. They were also out of touch with the country for more than three decades during which the country and society were subjected to, and distorted by, enormous stressful forces that included a harsh tyranny, three major wars and years of strenuous sanctions.
The indigenous Iraqi voices were choked. There were other forces of reason, moderation and reconciliation in Iraq. But, in that prevailing climate with the overwhelming strength of those divisive forces and lack of organization, funds and support, those forces of reason and construction did not have a fair fighting chance.
The irony is that some of the most powerful political and armed segments that emerged under the American administration of Iraq are enemies of the United States or close allies of countries that are declared enemies of the United States. I fail to see how any American can see this as anything but total failure.
Countries of the region will continue to pour money and arms and personnel into Iraq. Criminals will go on unchecked, as they are doing now. This means years of strife.
America was made great, among other things, by leaders with vision, integrity and wisdom. America was turned into an ugly bully by men and forces ignorant of history and driven by greed, arrogance and short-term outlook.
Recently I met three vets, all students at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. We gathered in a small room on campus and the veterans broke out their laptops to show me documents, elements of growing case files aimed at helping their Iraqi and Afghan interpreters get US visas and out of danger.posted by Golden Eternity at 9:36 AM on February 20 [1 favorite]
"The immorality of the United States and Great Britain's decision to invade Iraq in 2003, premised on the lie that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, has destabilised and polarised the world to a greater extent than any other conflict in history."Must...not...Godwin. Let me say that the German invasion of Russia in WWI and resultant Russian civil war had greater ultimate results than the Iraq war instead.
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posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:19 AM on February 18 [20 favorites]