Iraq War

Miscellaneous Iraq War

27 days ago

abichara reviewed The people of Iraq believe they are better off now than before the war... in Iraq, Weapons of Mass Destruction and the War (Updated):

Yes, I'm sure the people of Iraq believe that. . .

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23531834

Their nation was destroyed; water, electricity, health care networks rendered useless, oil contracts privatized, an upsurge in ethnic and religious violence. And now Islamist terrorists are being funded and armed by Qatar with the purpose of destabilizing Iraq even further, all with the purpose of stopping the construction of a pipeline linking Syria to Iran via. Iraq.

Geopolitical maneuvering and pipeline politics has a lot to do with the recent upsurge in violence, and Iraq, already weakened by years of war, is caught in between. The country of Qatar (backed by British and French money and a supporter of Wahhabi causes) wants exclusive access to new natural gas fields in the Persian Gulf; their goal is to sell that fuel to energy-starved Western European markets. Iran, which has access to their own new energy finds, also wants to sell fuel to those markets; accordingly, they want to build a pipeline through Iraq & Syria to the Mediterranean. The Qatari's figure that destabilizing Syria and Iraq (with NATO's help) will yield a more acquiescent government that will block the pipeline from being built, thus allowing Qatar to become a major regional power.

The US and Western European nations are allied with Sunni Qatar, while Russia and China are backing the Iranian/Iraqi/Syrian Shi'ite governments. Money makes for interesting bedfellows.

Add your Vote:

2 comments

Votes on this review: 1 Helpful / 0 Funny / 0 Agree / 0 Disagree

162 days ago

FranksWildYears reviewed No, the war itself was illegal and unjustifiable in Do you believe the war in Iraq was justified?:

It settle for consensus that it was just a bad idea.

And maybe an apology to the loved ones of those who died.

Add your Vote:

0 comments

Votes on this review: 0 Helpful / 0 Funny / 0 Agree / 0 Disagree

162 days ago

FranksWildYears reviewed Yes, it had to be done in Do you believe the war in Iraq was justified?:

That's what my teen-aged daughter said about getting a tattoo, but she ultimately thought the better of it.

Add your Vote:

0 comments

Votes on this review: 0 Helpful / 1 Funny / 0 Agree / 0 Disagree

162 days ago

abichara reviewed Yes, it had to be done in Do you believe the war in Iraq was justified?:

It's telling that 10 years after the war, there are still people who defend the decision to invade Iraq. It doesn't matter that we lost 4500+ soldiers, many thousands more permanently maimed and injured, plus well over a million Iraqis dead or displaced, their economy left in shambles, or that it adversely impacted the balance of power in the region, or that it has cost nearly $2 trillion, the same neoconservatives still try to justify it, and worse yet, their political allies continue to get elected to office.

Something's wrong in this country when people with such huge credibility gaps can still manage to wield a degree of political power and even influence events.

The key question is, who benefits?

Add your Vote:

0 comments

Votes on this review: 1 Helpful / 0 Funny / 2 Agree / 0 Disagree

191 days ago

GaiasAlphaChild reviewed Weapons of Mass Destruction intelligence was phony (planted) in Why War with Iraq was Wrong:

Yes, fake intel was planted into the ranks of our govt by Israel
so that they could trick US into fighting one of their biggest enemy.

Add your Vote:

0 comments

Votes on this review: 0 Helpful / 1 Funny / 0 Agree / 3 Disagree

192 days ago

abichara reviewed Weapons of Mass Destruction intelligence was phony (planted) in Why War with Iraq was Wrong:

I wouldn't define it as "planted", but certainly the issue of politicizing intelligence is a major one, and it has only gotten worse since the Iraq War. The Bush Administration set up parallel intelligence bureaucracies like the National Intelligence Department to ensure that intelligence gathering operations would become the domain of the political staff, who already have pre-set ideas and are looking to propagandize, or spin intelligence to make a political leader look good, or to exaggerate threats rather than it being a more impartial process geared towards gathering actionable information.

The claims about aluminum tubes, yellowcake uranium from Niger, etc. were all discredited claims that were used nevertheless to justify and sell the war.

Add your Vote:

0 comments

Votes on this review: 2 Helpful / 0 Funny / 0 Agree / 0 Disagree

192 days ago

abichara reviewed Since other countries have W.M.D. it was hypocritical to single out Iraq in Why War with Iraq was Wrong:

Heck, the U.S. gave Saddam Hussein his cache of biological and chemical weapons back during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980's. Meanwhile, we were arming the Iranians using laundered drug funds contrived from the Nicaraguan Contras. We were funding both sides of the war to pit the Persians and the Arabs against each other. It was only when Saddam turned against British oil interests in Kuwait that he became a mortal enemy.

As for what happened to the weapons, much of it was destroyed during the Gulf War, and the rest was dismantled during the 1990's. The neocons core contention regarding the WMD's had to do more with the notion that Saddam would re-arm if UN sanctions were lifted. Reality is, the only way they would have procured more weapons is if either the US or another NATO power had given them the arms.

This was a case, writ large, of threat inflation, where they built up and sold the threat to the public as a means of getting support for the war. It happens far too often.

Add your Vote:

0 comments

Votes on this review: 4 Helpful / 0 Funny / 0 Agree / 0 Disagree

192 days ago

GaiasAlphaChild reviewed We killed over 100,000 Iraqi cilivians, and for what! in Why War with Iraq was Wrong:

Actually, the number is much higher.
The Israelis were behind the scene orchestrating
the "suicide bombings" of those men standing in line to apply to be police.

And, the death squads and sectarian
violence was inspired by MOSSAD.

It's a shame when others can't see the obvious reality
of the wars and how Zionism is instigating them.

The people go out of their way to become sheeple.

Add your Vote:

0 comments

Votes on this review: 0 Helpful / 1 Funny / 0 Agree / 2 Disagree

193 days ago

abichara reviewed War with Iraq is a waste of money in Why War with Iraq was Wrong:

With the money we could have saved going to war with Iraq, we could have implemented a full scale infrastructure program and a health care system that would have fully covered all Americans. Instead, money was put into the pockets of military contractors, weapons manufacturers, international energy consortium's and the banks who fund them. Those are the only ones who typically benefit from resource wars.

Add your Vote:

0 comments

Votes on this review: 1 Helpful / 0 Funny / 1 Agree / 0 Disagree