What are your opinions on the Iraq war?
487083
The Iraq war is a complete waste of time for the U.S.   I thought the objective was to catch Bin Laden and the terrorists after 9/11.  Apparently not.   Bin Laden still resides in Afghanistan or Pakistan, but certainly not in Iraq.\n\nBin Laden still runs free while we are left holding the bag to pay for nation rebuilding out of our own pockets.  While a noble thing, it's not the objective.  If we were all about creating democracy, we'd have invaded North Korea in the 50 years or so that it's been the most horrific dictatorship in the free world.  It was about protecting oil and going after Daddy's nemesis.\n\nMeanwhile, our poor troops patrol Iraq while lunatics take potshots at them, many on their 3RD tour of duty, ridiculous.  No, these aren't "insurgents", these are Iraqi's who don't want us there, and will never give in since they have lost power and are a minority.  Would you give up your guns if you knew you would be killed and/or put down into the dregs of society?  We are trying to "fix" a country that has thousands of years of issues that we cannot possibly be successful in curing.\n\nEven Bush's daddy knew Iraq should not have been occupied. Read it for yourself, like Karnac, Bush Sr. predicted what would happen if we invaded.  Jr. fell into the trap.  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3019.htm\nThis is the time article extracted from Bush/Scowcroft book.\n\nSo there you have it, a useless war so far from the objective of catching the terrorists it might as well be in the wrong country, uh, oh yeah, it is.  I wonder how the families of the victims of 9/11 like Dubya?  \n\n"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." - GW Bush, 9/13/01\n\nReal important.  Yeah, ok.
1021873
I am, Go W.  \nThings that make you think a little:\n\n\n\nThere were 39 combat related killings in Iraq in January.\nIn the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the\nmonth of January. That's just one American city,\nabout as deadly as the entire war-torn country of Iraq.\n\n\n\nWhen some claim that President Bush shouldn't\nhave started this war, state the following:\n\n\n\na. FDR led us into World War II.\n\nb. Germany never attacked us; Japan did.\n>From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost ...\nan average of 112,500 per year.\n\n\n\nc. Truman finished that war and started one in Korea.\nNorth Korea never attacked us.\n>From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost ...\nan average of 18,334 per year.\n\nd John F. Kennedy started the Vietnam conflict in 1962.\nVietnam never attacked us.\n\ne. Johnson turned Vietnam into a quagmire.\n>From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost ..\nan average of 5,800 per year.\n\nf. Clinton went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent.\nBosnia never attacked us.\nHe was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three\ntimes by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on\nmultiple occasions.\n\ng. In the years since terrorists attacked us , President Bush\nhas liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled\nal-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Libya, Iran, and, North\nKorea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who\nslaughtered 300,000 of his own people.\n\n\n\nThe Democrats are complaining\nabout how long the war is taking.\nBut\nIt took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno\nto take the Branch Davidian compound.\nThat was a 51-day operation..\n\n\n\nWe've been looking for evidence for chemical weapons\nin Iraq for less time than it took Hillary Clinton to find\nthe Rose Law Firm billing records.\n\n\n\nIt took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the\nMarines to destroy the Medina Republican Guard\nthan it took Ted Kennedy to call the police after his\nOldsmobile sank at Chappaquiddick.\n\n\n\nIt took less time to take Iraq than it took\nto count the votes in Florida!!!!\n\nOur Commander-In-Chief is doing a GREAT JOB!\nThe Military morale is high!\n\nThe biased media hopes we are too ignorant\nto realize the facts\n\n\n\nBut Wait .\n\nThere's more!\n\n\n\nJOHN GLENN (ON THE SENATE FLOOR)\nMon, 26 Jan 2004 11:13\n\n\n\nSome people still don't understand why military personnel\ndo what they do for a living. This exchange between\nSenators John Glenn and Senator Howard Metzenbaum\nis worth reading. Not only is it a pretty impressive\nimpromptu speech, but it's also a good example of one\nman's explanation of why men and women in the armed\nservices do what they do for a living.\n\n\n\nThis IS a typical, though sad, example of what\nsome who have never served think of the military.\n\n\n\nSenator Metzenbaum (speaking to Senator Glenn):\n"How can you run for Senate\nwhen you've never held a real job?"\n\n\n\nSenator Glenn (D-Ohio):\n"I served 23 years in the United States Marine Corps.\nI served through two wars. I flew 149 missions.\nMy plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire on 12 different\noccasions. I was in the space program. It wasn't my\ncheckbook, Howard; it was my life on the line. It was\nnot a nine-to-five job, where I took time off to take the\ndaily cash receipts to the bank."\n\n\n\n"I ask you to go with me ... as I went the other day...\nto a veteran's hospital and look those men ...\nwith their mangled bodies . in the eye, and tell THEM\nthey didn't hold a job!\n\n\n\nYou go with me to the Space Program at NASA\nand go, as I have gone, to the widows and Orphans\nof Ed White, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee...\nand you look those kids in the eye and tell them\nthat their DADS didn't hold a job.\n\n\n\nYou go with me on Memorial Day and you stand in\nArlington National Cemetery, where I have more friends\nburied than I'd like to remember, and you watch\nthose
1001441
I support the troops in the fact that they are doing a job that they are ordered to do and they are risking their lives to do that job. I put fire fighters, policemen, etc. in the same category. I support them as well.\n\nI do not support the war in Iraq or the Bush administration. I think this war began on lies and deception. I think too many human lives have been lost, both American and Iraqi.\n\nIt's time to bring our men and women home, before any more lives are needlessly lost.
265548
The war in Iraq is going better than most people realize. We do not get the stories of the good things that are happening - just never ending liberal hype on the casualties and bombings. It just came out that Saddam said he got rid of the WMD's but kept it so secret even his own generals thought they still had them, so how the hell was President Bush and the rest of the world supposed to know otherwise? Did you hear about it in the media like when any liberal like Kerry, Clinton, Kennedy, or Dean opened their mouths to proclaim the President a liar? Of course not! It does not fit their agenda! The bottom line is this when it comes to my opinion on the war - we cannot allow these people in the press and capitol hill turn this into another Vietnam, which is exactly what they are trying to do (how many liberals have you heard say "quagmire"?). The saddest thing is that there are too many people that are buying into their anti-America, anti-troop propaganda (it's also my opinion that you cannot support the troops without supporting the war - it's the mission they are fighting for and it sends a bad and demoralizing message when people say we support you but what you're doing is illegal and sucks, right?).
917178
I don't like what Bush has done to this country.  I have no idea what is behind the war in Iraq.  No one does.  every reason he put forth has been proved to be bogus.  When the wmd's turned out not to be there, he had another reason.  and when that wasn't right, he had another reason, and so on.  We have a right to know.
786310
As it's turned out both the US & Iraq has experienced "shock & awe".   This war should NEVER have happened and Bush is still "shocking & aweing" me by his refusal to admit we were wrong to invade.  People continue to die because of it.
740770
I believe that Iraq has shown how dysfunctional this Administration and This President are. However, the country as a whole will survive his incompetence and deceit of the American people and the world. We have survived many catastrophes and Bad presidents. We suffered through the second least popular president after George W Bush (NIxon), and came out whole and strong. We survived Viet Nam, so I believe we can survive this tragedy in Iraq.\n\nUnfortunately, it may take a generation to win back the tarnished reputation of the US as a result of this President's complete disregard for the values and opinions of the rest of the world. He has caused more damage to international relations, and increased global terrorism more in his six years in office than I would have ever imagined possible in 3 or 4 times that amount of time.
257171
I knew it was going to be a mess before we went in there. The problem is politics. If we leave now it will strengthen the resolve of terrorists. It's psychological warfare, and unfortunately the weapons used are human lives. Its a no win situation. We have to find the lesser of two evils and run with it. I personally feel we have, but I feel we could be doing more to prepare the Iraqis to take care of their own.
1072742
I honestly think the Military have been too patient for too long. Glad Im not Prime Minister as I would have levelled the place long ago.\n\nI realise war is not fair but the Iraqi people play upon our humanity very unfairly. We have been trying to help them against their own government/leaders and give them the freedom, education, rights, basics and respect that any human deserves and they repay our soldiers/troops with women and children acting as innocent civillians with bombs strapped to their chests and suicide bomb us. Thats just total bullsh*t! Those people are nothing but savages. Its not worth risking our troops lives for them.\n\nI would have either given all the Iraqi, Iranian, Afghanistan and any other nutty Muslim based country heaps of guns and ammunition and let them shoot themselves to death till theres only one left standing and go in and put that one out of its misery or just press the button that levels the area altogether.\n\nWhat a complete waste of time, money and human life this war has caused us (our Government, our troops, our families and our loss of loved ones!)
248741
depends on the person. i am against the war completely, but some of my friends are for it. A few of my best friends are Marines and one of them is in Iraq right now.  We all agree that we disagree with the war and some of the President's decisions, but that does not affect our relationship at all. They respect my views as I respect theirs, and I definately have respect for all of our troops overseas.
831123
I think we do need to change how we are handling things in Iraq.\n But I think Bush and his policy with this situation went on way too long. So we need to proceed with extreme caution. President Bush authorized the invasion and frankly I don't think him or his advisers thought things completely through before doing so. Now everything is a huge mess because of this huge blunder. As far as many people thinking that we should just leave.......well now we can't. Just think about all the innocent citizens of Iraq. We bombed the crap out of their country completely tearing it to pieces. They are now on the verge of a civil war or already are depending on who you listen to. Since we made this mess we need to see it through to protect the innocent citizens and the children of this country. It would be very irresponsible now for the Unites States to just "cut and run" from a mess we created.\n\n Do you really think we can just leave and say "sorry my mistake" ?\n\nWe crippled this country and now it's our responsibility to help them get "back on their feet" and give the children of Iraq a future. If we don't the citizens of Iraq will always be bitter and an enemy of the United States. They will want nothing but the worse for the U.S. for generations to come. And in the future they may try to "pay us back" in a bad way if we just up and leave them in this mess we created.
111236
Yes, I support the war.  I am no longer being raped and my children are free from prison.  It's too bad Saddam killed my husband though.\n\nSigned-Any iraqi woman/mother
661743
I'd love to hear what our forces in Iraq think about this illegal immigration issue that is going on back home.  If any are on here, I hope they will speak up and tell us what they think.
108861
Well--it's nice to know you've got an open mind.  I'm sure it's easy for you to think all liberals feel as you suggest, since you likely feel the exact opposite.\n\nFirst, let's try and keep Iraq and terrorism separate.  I think it may be the single biggest bill of goods Americans have been sold by the administration.  I am 100% behind our nation's effort to fight terrorism, provided we do it in a way that upholds the best traditions of our nation.  We simply cannot sink to the level of others just because "that's the way the game is played".  We cannot break laws and trample on people's rights just because it's easier that way.\n\nAs for Iraq, it seems obvious to me that our invasion had NOTHING to do with terrorism.  Unfortunately, we're in a mess there that we created.  Am I glad Saddam is out?  Of course.  Do I think a democratically-elected government in Iraq is important?  Darn right.  Am I proud we were able to bring it about?  Sure.  But America cannot just decide that a nation isn't operating the way we'd like and then invade it because it's the right thing to do.  It's just like the whole NSA spying business. I doubt there is a single American who doesn't believe they should be checking out suspicious individuals.  But bypassing legal DUE PROCESS for any reason is not the way we do it here--at least it shouldn't be.  It's no wonder Republicans in Congress are starting to back away from Bush on this.\n\nIt looks to me we are stuck in Iraq until we can make it safe enough to leave.  Despite many American's anger at our presence there, you will likely find grudging support for a logical exit.  I'm proud of the young men and women who are there putting their lives on the line--and many losing them--in service of our nation.  I just pray that their sacrifices haven't been in vain.
885411
People should know at least as much about who runs our country as they do about the contestants in Dancing with the Stars, the plotlines of their favorite soap operas, or the current college football rankings.\n\nThey don't.\n\nIt's disgusting.\n\nPeople have opinions on Iraq, but many couldn't even find it on a map.\n\nGod help us.
180943
What war?\nThere is a war in Iraq?\nWooow! Dude!
1161249
Thanks for your well informed and written question. The US should never have bolstered its way into Iraq in the first place. It was ill founded, against World opinion and the UN's wishes. Hans Blix was pleading with Bush for more time to complete his search for WMD's which have since never been found, this war was entirely unnecessary. I'm afraid it's typical of conservative political forces around the World. They railroad and treat their respective electorates with contempt and are divisive and uncaring. Bush is the worst of them all and should be impeached and tried as a war criminal. Our leaders here in Australia are almost as bad and are falling over themselves to get into bed with Bush and his one eyed crazy policies. Democracy in both our countries is the casualty and coming under increasing threat from are almost fascist leaders. I am sorry about the American soldiers and I am surprised that there isn't more of a back lash in the US over this unwarranted sacrifice of good people for nothing. Regards Jules.