How were things in Iraq right before the US invaded in March 2003?
917557
Iraq was stable.  Saddam, like it or not, had it under good control.  His government was secular, and he did not tolerate religious extremism.  Women did not have to wear the veil, and had access to the best jobs and education.\n\nThere have been 650,000 Iraqi deaths as a result of our invasion, many more if you count the people who have died because of the loss of access to health care, clean water, shelter, power, and sanitation.  Saddam has been condemned to death for a fraction of that number.   How do his atrocities stack up against ours?
335158
I'm in Iraq right now. Me being on here should give you an idea of what I'M doing...nothing. What's it like? HOT! Alot of people do have it pretty rough over here though, but I wouldn't say the majority have it all that bad. It just sucks being away from home for so long. I don't think it's really getting better. They're gonna fight us as long as we're here.
303048
Actually, Saddam seized power all by himself, locking up and in some cases executing members of his own party in order to declare himself dictator.  The US did not do that; Saddam did, and the Iraqi people let him.  Get your facts straight.\n\nIraq before Saddam was already a bit of a basket-case.  The regional and sectarian splits that we see today were definitely around back then.  If Saddam had not seized power, somebody else might have.  The government was pretty corrupt, like most in that part of the world.  Iraq had joined other Arab states in attacking Israel, so it is likely that a Saddam-less Iraq would have continued in its hostility to Israel, possibly supporting terrorist groups like its neighbors Iran and Syria.  It is difficult to say how exactly things might have turned out, but there is no good reason to believe that it would be much different.
247002
What pisses me off about this country is the amount of people that were "pro-war" in 2003 and now that they see blood on the television they are suddenly humanitarians. What the hell did you think was going to happen?  Compared to Vietnam, Korea, and especially WWII, this war is very tame.  \n\nI was anti-war in 2003 but I'm against pulling out of Iraq now.  Saddam wasn't the enemy, but the terrorists we are fighting now come from Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and others.  This is a different war than we were fighting in 2003.  We were wrong for going in against the UN's vote, but we will be just as wrong for pulling out now and leading these poor people into a civil war.
773990
yes look at Iraq under Saddam and the lawlessness caused by the American invasion
217824
Sorry, no newspapers or statistics.\n\nThe US destroyed Iraq, made the situation so bad that a civil war is gonna happen, in which some neighbour countries will certainly interfere.\n\nSo -even if I was against the war- YES, I think the US or even better a bigger coalition (UN, including Germany, France and Russia- by the way they're already doing it) should stay for a long time, and reconstruct the country. Anything else would be "we came, we bombed, we staid long enough to make a mess, an then left because we didn't plan anything and the situation was too complicated for us".
979663
Not much different ... Iraq is a tough call though ...I think that the collection of advisors and administration personnel who were in this Whitehouse in 2002-2003 sent us to war there.  In a Quale administration it would be a safe bet to say that most of those folks would be in his administration as well.  What the outcome would have been is a different story.
788431
Before we invaded, Saddam kept things prettry well locked down.  But the idiot neo-cons who run our foreign policy just had to take him out.  Since we invaded, it has become a training ground for terrorists from all over the world.  And, the government is equivalent to a house of cards as far as maintaining order, which could spread to neighboring countries.
989058
That sounds about right. You all know we are still in Afganistan right? We are also still in Kosovo. Did you know that? I don't hear any news from that any more. Except through our military chanells.\nIt takes time to do it right, train their soldiers and police. We have built power plants and water facilities. These facilities were not bombed by us. We made darn sure we kept the infrastructure intact. We gave back what Saddam took away with his 30+ palaces and grand life style for his people the Sunnis (who aren't too happy they don't have a friend running the country anymore). I'm not talking about all the Sunnis though.\nThe big thing is we have to make sure the Government of Iraq has a good enough security force to make Iraq safe and secure. Then we'll leave.\nThe war WITH Iraq was over in spring of 2003. We are fighting insurgants and terrorists now.
358054
Its happened ..really as recently as first gulf war...Iraqi American kid was visiting sick relative in Iraq and he was drafted and thown in the front lines.. I think he even had a Chicago T shirt on when he surrendered. He was REAL happy to make it to American lines ok and they were really surprised when they captured him.
817317
Currently, it's in Iraq.
50589
It started in 1990 with Iraqs invasion of Kuwait.  The original Gulf War really didnt end, so it's been one long war.
1039232
iraq was invaded for its gas...fuel
59675
During the Persian Gulf war in 1991, the first President Bush decided not to invade Iraq.  He later explained that overthrowing the Iraqi government would have "incurred incalculable human and political costs... We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq."  He also said if we did invade Iraq, "We're going to be an occupying power — America in an Arab land — with no allies at our side. It would have been disastrous."\n\nPresident George H.W. Bush was right.  That's why the Iraq policy has been a disaster.
960918
I don't know about Baghdad, but I was in Falluja in the winter of 2004/2005 and it was cold as a witches t1tie.  Brrrrr.  I don't know what state it would be compared to though.  Sorry.  Very little rain though.  Really dreary.
974553
This was a massive plunder operation under the guise of patriotism misplaced.  It is otherwise known as the big lie.  Iraq was ugly for many, but peaceful.  Now Iraq is a violent shambles,directly due to the intervention of GW Bush.  If there were no oil there, do you think we would be there?  Not a chance.
482254
I just got back from Kuwait and Baghdad i spent a year going between both places. I am active army, so i know the area well.  I do not know for sure about kuwait but I do know that in Baghdad there were vendors walking along the street with gas cans offering to fill your vehicle up for 25 cents a gallon.  Cigarettes are only 50 cents a pack, however, you can get them for 35 cents if you bargain.  Those dvds that you pay 15 bucks for here cost 75 cents to a dollar there.  The american dollar goes a long way over there............and by the way for your friend who responded; there are no car bombers in kuwait, I never heard of a single one going off when I was there.  They do not pay with their lives either, Kuwait is doing allright economically and peace thrives in most of the nation.  The few circumstance we encountered were insurgents from iran, syria, and iraq crossing over to start crap, but they only did drive by's and then sped like hell.  It was rare, but a few times over a year