Was It Worth Going into Iraq?

I was one of the Few People against the War from the Start (and if you are familiar with my Posts, that will come as no Surprise) America has had no Patriotic War Since World War II, they have all been Political and poorly Received both at Home and Abroad. This has been no Different. I will not get into the Moral aspects of why War is bad. If we are honest, then we know those Already. I think that what really happened was that Bush and Co. were busy playing Stratego with these Countries. They saw Iraq, conquered and set up a Puppet Government, they did not or could not have seen the Blowback from that. We are still stuck in this quagmire, and will be for a Long time. There original plan, it Seems to me, was to crush Iraq in a matter of months (which happened), Conquer Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc. and then close in on Korea. I think it actually may have worked too, had not the Insurgents decided to rise up against the Invading Hordes. Again, this all would have made for a good game... Read more

I think Busch just liked to see bombs explode. It wasn't really worth it. They have spent so much time in Iraq, and progress as been so slow, meanwhile thosands of US soldiers are getting killed. Was it really worth it??

Bush couldn’t afford to let Saddam stay in power in Iraq. Weapons of mass destruction wasn’t an idea, he had them, and could not prove he didn’t. Saddam was always kicking out the inspectors, or saying, you can look here…but not over here…or there either. He conducted himself as if he still had WMD’s. The big mistake for Saddam was that he never believed Bush would actually pull the trigger. The big mistake for Bush was not the action to remove him, but that we didn’t have a plan to handle the insurgency once he was gone.

The haters of Bush like to pretend that Saddam Hussein was no threat to the US in a post 9/11 world, a post 9/11 middle east. That is simply not true. The question is this...could Saddam have been dealt with, contained, without boots on the ground? We will never know for sure. What we do know is that there have been no more attacks on US soil since.

Reviews in favor of the unprovoked invasion and occupation of Iraq are proof of the fact that Bush administration propagandists did an amazing job of selling this disaster... even to the so-called opposition. Most importantly, the war against Iraq has undermined our armed forces, drained the treasury, maimed and killed thousands of our youth, turned Iraq into a much worse Hellhole than it was under the crazed fascist regime of Saddam Hussein, and helped Islamist fundamentalist wackos recruit untold numbers of new adherents to their insane jihad.

No, it wasn't a justifiable war in my opinion. Don't blame Bush/Republicans, the Democrats were just as responsible. I do support the troops regardless at any time and under any circumstance.

It's pretty hard to put a price on the opportunity to test all of that millitary hardware under live combat conditions for an extended period of time and give the vendors an opportunity to make adjustments based on the results and then re-test the results.

Yes it was. Many things are changing in Iraq and as proxy, in other nations in the area.

How many different ways can you say disaster?

If you believe it was worth it, then you must be cashin' in in some way.....or you are just ill informed.

First off people, everyone's moaning and groaning that they were lied to. Did George w. Bush not ask for permission to inspect Iraq for illegal WMD????? Yes I recall him doing so. Is he supposed to say ok they won't let me I guess I'll go back and figure out what to read to some kindegartners Was he supposed to ASSUME there were no WMD????? What about all the counterfeit money we uncovered over there, what about the fact that IRAQ is a small but very wealthy nation yet the people living there were poverty stricken? Saddam was hoarding all the money for himself. Living in palaces, if an Iraqi even looked at his palace, they would be shot on sight. Remember that little fairy tale? I still believe that they had wmd. Why else would saddam do what he did? To me certain people who like to say we believe everything we read or hear wants to believe everything people all over the world are accusing us of. Not to mention is the death of all those civilians really 100% OUR FAULT??? I seem to reca... Read more

Absolutely not. I might have supported the war, had there been any evidence whatsoever that Hussein posed a threat to us on our soil, but since there isn't...no, I don't. I don't believe any country has the right to a pre-emptive war, for any reason, but that's exactly what we're fighting now. We THOUGHT he might have weapons that could reach us, so we attacked him. (I'm sorry, but I don't believe that his atrocities against his own civilians played much of a part in this, since other rulers have done just as much, if not worse, and we haven't done ANYTHING to them) However, we've since learned that, no only did he NOT possess these weapons, he wasn't even on track to DEVELOPE these weapons. Now, I support our military. I'm grateful that these people are willing to put their lives on the line and die because I'm to big a coward to, and I have nothing but respect for them. However, for the C-in-C, I have a LOT of disrespect. How has the death of the 1600+ soldiers or so so far... Read more

Why don't you ask the +10,000 civilians that are dead? Sure, we'll give 'em democracy no matter how many of them we have to kill. (March update- the U.S. media is still trying to put a happy face on the war. Nobody is talking about the civilian deaths. Nobody outside of America is fooled.) When did America become such sheep so eager to believe what the TV tells them?

What a joke. Not worth it in the least. In Iraq, thousands of troops and Iraqi civillians are being killed in bombings and shootings, things are more violent then ever before, and while the war is going on, the terrorist network is growing larger. The number of suicide bombers has dramatically increased. Children with their parents killed are living on the streets. And at the very same time, in America, millions of Bush supporters are sitting back, relaxing and dismissing everything as the cost of this so-called freedom. Face it--the situation in Iraq was far better before the war than it is now. And with all the violence caused by the war, you could hardly call Iraqi people and their famillies free. Oh, by the way--the Iraqis killed were not all terrorists. Studies show that at least 70% of them were civillians.

UPDATE: Ok Eschew, well besides restating the question as a statement with an added implication that it should be obvious, please give me some actual examples of leftist reporting on the BBC. As to the Economist- They supported Bush in the first election, Kerry in the second, and that pretty much indicates centrism. The only thing that it is telling of is your perception of what determines someone as Left-wing is merely not being right-wing ALL THE TIME. ORIGINAL COMMENT: Lets us deconstruct the idea a bit shall we? What would be sufficient condition for it to have been worth it? I would say 1.) There was a serious concern for national security because Iraq both possessed weapons of mass destruction and high-level links to Al-Qeada 2.) The resources spent, lives lost, and damage done were within reason considering the nature of the threat 3.) The military action yielded a removal of the existing threat 4.) By removing the threat we did not leave ourselves vulnerble to greater dangers 5... Read more

UPDATE: Anyone who does not detect a leftist slant in the BBC is drunk on lefty kool-aid. It has such a leftist slant that at times it is positively un-readable. You used to be able to make the case that the Economist (to which I subscribe) is centrist, until the idiotic (and exposing) endorsement of Kerry for US President. ORIGINAL COMMENT 2/17/05: Anyone who does not deem the emancipation of the Iraqi people as worth it is either 1) a dyed-in-the-wool liberal/peacenik (who stretches every possible negative ad infinitum, minimizes every positive to beyond miniscule proportion and obscures their analysis of the pre-conflict conditions) exaggerating the benevolence and stupidity of Saddam Hussein, 2) has lost a dear loved one OR 3) has no idea what is going on in the world. I don't see a middle ground on this one. Western Europeans are in such lockstep with their leftist media, they can't imagine anything Bush does having a positive outcome on the world stage. Take a breath, have ... Read more

Not today, not tomorrow, not never.

yes, without question. the iraqi people are no longer ruled by an evil dictator and the terrorists who hate america have one less country in the middle east where they can get support and take refuge when our troops hunt them down and kill them.

yes, if you get the real story from real people there they are full of hope and love america.

Absolutely not. As Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11 as Bush continues to campaign for this joke thats the war on terror... spare me. Of course Saddam Hussein is evil, but he didn't pose a threat or was responsible for the atrocities of 9/11 (I think Bush forgot to mention to the american public that himself and Blair were the major supporters of Saddam Hussein whilst he was killing his people) Saddam has nothing to do with Al Qaeda whats been done to capture Bin Laden the main culprit of 9/11...NOTHING, instead Saddam is being used as the scapegoat for Bush to settle past family differences. Not only have innocent civilians been killed over there, but we now see that soldiers and their families from around the world have perished by the thousands and other countries getting involved (Madrid's bombing March 11th) for an unjust illegal war. More and more people are dying, for what cause? There were no weapons of mass destruction and what has Bush done to liberate Iraq? Ho... Read more

When the war was going on, I actually supported it. I thought, Well, if they say there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, then it must be so. Then the true facts were released and my heart broke. Sure, we liberated all those people but they are showing their appreciation by killing more of our soldiers every day. It's pure and utter chaos over there and we just keep pumping more and more money into a lost cause. There are a few improvements, like how the children in schools no longer have to read the Hussein propaganda materials, but it seems like the President's friends are profiting off of the rebuilding of Iraq. Maybe this was all just a personal thing between Bush and Hussein; maybe we'll never know. But while I am glad that Hussein is gone from power, I still see our men and women in uniform being killed and thousands of Iraqi citizens yelling at us to go home.

Twinmom101 says it more succinctly than I could have. Guess I'll just click that helpful button.

I sure hope so because the integrity of this country now depends on the outcome of Iraq. Even if you didn't support this war before it began, you have to support it now because failure in Iraq is not an option. However, we won't know the true answer to this question until Iraq is a thriving democracy, which may take years.

The Iraqis don't appreciate what we have done for them. It seems like every day an american solidier is killed over there. America is going to pay a large sum of money to rebuild a nation occupied by a people that don't want us there. I had a different opinion of the war when it first started but that was before all of the evidence was proven to be a hoax. After we liberated these poor people we are still viewed as bullies.

Yes. An estimated 40,000 terrorists were killed. 25 million people have freedom. Repressive rule has been destroyed. No one will have to be afraid of Iraq anymore.

Yes. It is only the first step toward taking back to free peoples land that is being controlled by tyrannical throwbacks to medievel backwards ideologies. The only reason terror and Islamic hatespeak has survived into the 21st century is due to unearned oil moneys stolen by murderous dictators. Iraq is step one. Iran is next, and since Saudi Arabia contributed 15 of the WTC terrorists, they must be held accountable as well. If not, the next strike against the US will be nuclear. Those complaining about the US protecting our interests can buy a bus ticket to ground zero when that happens, and see firsthand the results of their pacifistic hand-wringing.

Yes, we liberated thousands of oppressed citizens from violent dictatorial rule.

Oh, PBeavr, I think the world of you my friend, but spending 87 billion dollars just to have the satisfaction of kicking Saddam to the curb seems so wasteful, shortsighted and downright wrong. Just think what we culd have done with 87 billion here at home. Our public schools are in shambles around the nation and cash strapped states are helpless to do anything. And if you don't care about schools, then what about security here at home? We have heard time and time again since 9/11 from emergency personnel, the Coast Guard, the Dept. of Homeland Security and Immigrations officials how woefully unprepared we are for preventing or responding to another terrorist attack. The Coast Guard says they are understaffed and underfunded to protect our shores and cargo coming into ports goes unchecked. Immigrations officials have found illegal immigrants from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt roaming around Texas after being smuggled in by Mexican smuggling rings. Immigrations too say they are... Read more