Of late it has become popular, almost fashionable, to criticize the Iraqi war. However; facts are facts, and if you look at the facts of the Iraqi war do point to the fact that it is a brilliant strategical decision, if only slightly unpopular.

So, let us look at the facts.

1. Saddam was both developing WMDs as well as storing WMDs from before the first gulf war. The United States cannot allow any of the axis of evil to aquire WMDs, and it is in our strategic interests to make a show of force and stop Saddam's defiance of UN regulations. By making an example out of Saddam, we show enemies of America that we mean business and there are consequences for defying the law.

2. Wars stimulate the economy. They mobilize the defense industry that employs millions of Americas. This is an industry that has resisted outsourcing, and injects funds into the economy. While the economy appears to be doing badly, it is a result of Clinton's policies, and the war has actually significantly lessened the severity of the recession.

3. Islam is now fractured. The sunni and shia sects are now warring, and countries now contain many different groups each vying for power. In Iran, many students inspired by the democracy in Iraq campaign for democracy.

4. The country has been unified. The war has brought Americans together. We are all unified in the war on terror, and petty issues like gay marriage don't matter much anymore. Americans now enjoy a level of security where terrorism isn't their greatest fear anymore.

Clever girl.

I will watch this topic.

I don't usually like replying in war related topics, but that aside...

There was a possiblity of WMDs in Iraq, but we didn't find any and the search for WMDs ended two years ago so people who used that to justify the reason for being at war don't have that crutch to lean on anymore.

I think it's fair to say that it's common knowledge that during wartime more people are needed for jobs. They fill in for the people in reserves who have been called to duty and also needed to help manufacture goods that support the war effort.

Personally, I agree with people who say that they are going to have their own civil war, regardless of if we're there or not. We had ours and it made us better (for the most part).

I also believe the Iraq War was a well-played move, however; out of all the reasons you listed only one will be remembered, the economic factor.

Here is why it was a tact decision made by the Bush Administration:
(1) By awarding no-bid contracts to US contractors to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure (damages in excess of $7 trillion dollars), the Bush Administration effectively pumped capital into the private sector which created jobs locally as well as internationally.

(2) The United States, in order to feed our massive energy hunger, had to preserve US hedgemony in the region. In the last two decades, the United States has preserved their hedgemony and soft power world-wide through economic means (veto power at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank). By imposing economic sanctions, rarely any country outside of the G8 would refuse the United States. However, despite the number of economic sanctions imposed on Hussein's regime, he simply would not crumble. Thus, in order to preserve hedgemony in the region, the United States had to exercise it's military might.

Thus, the Iraq War has secured our energy supply for the next decade or so, which is more than enough time to find alternate means to feed our energy needs.

It has become popular to criticie it due to the involvement of the media. I would also wager to say that it has not unified the country as you claim. If it had then the United States would be ignoring Al Gore's insensible rants.

The media used to back up wars and pain the enemy as an enemy, instead of painting our troups as the enemies. That, of course, started in Vietnam.

Anyways, I'm a supporter of the war. I think it could have been handled better, but I still think we should have gone in. Also I don't believe we should be trying to appease everyone and their dad and we shouldn't care if we embarass them. They take videos of them cutting off the heads of our troops, and our troops get courtmarshalled for putting womens underwear on them. wtf?

Anyways, more response later, class in 5 mins.

I am total noob at this war stuff, but looking at the stuff you listed .. cleverrrr.

What's a WMD?

But why are our troops still there?

So it's fashionable to question the decisions your country is making? It's more like being concerned.

Yeah, him and a bunch of other countries too. It's not like they were the only "evil" country who had them at the time. Why were these weapons never found? Before we entered the war, the UN held inspections... and before we even gave them time to freaking finish, we declared war. How does "making an example out of Saddam" justify the death of over 3500 soilders? And over 25000 being wounded? And what about the thousands of civilians? Cmon, making an example out of him is a crappy excuse.


Financial gain, no matter how much, isnt worth the sacrifice our soilders have made.

Unified? More like ripped in half. Here lately a majority of our country is AGAINST what's going on over there. Yeah, we all support the troops, but that doesnt mean we stand together on the issue. Who freaking cares about the petty issues? Having to listen to them isnt going to hurt you dear. And how have we protected ourselves from terrorism through Iraq? I think the added protection has been from things we've done at home, not over there.

Hahah. You know one of those companies was Halliburton, right? Cheney still has close ties with them, that's why there were no-bid contracts.

More like dangerous international jobs. Alot of the contractors who have gone over there never make it back home, or end up injured.

Weapons of Mass Destruction.



Because Iraq's violations of the UN? To liberate the innocent people that are dying everyday? To help Iraqis create/keep/run their own government? Because of Iraq's al qaeda links? -shrugs-

You know more than a hundred US companies were awarded no-bid contracts right?

Now, lets pick out the one with the most connections to the administration and pretend like it was all 'premeditated' war-profiteering.

^ But Haliburton was obviously one of the largest companies involved.

No - I'm not saying we went to war just for Haliburton or any other company. Just after getting involved, we just gave them the no-bid contract. Even without Haliburton in the picture, that still sounds a little suspicious. But with Cheney having such close ties with Haliburton, it should be obvious why we gave them the contract.

You've got to be kidding me. If anything, our country has been split and over something that was none of our business to begin with. I don't believe we should've gone to war with Iraq and I know several people who agree and several who disagree. Unity my ass.

And since when was gay marriage a petty issue? And since when has it not mattered much anymore? It would matter just the same as it does now with or without the war in Iraq. If anything, the putting aside of the issue would be a negative impact of the conflict in Iraq.

AL-QUAEDA BOMBED US. IRAQ DID NOT BOMB US, SO WHY ARE WE THERE?

George W. Bush's acceptance rate has been plummeting and those supporting the "war on terror" are slowly backing down from their positions because we aren't preventing terror; we're creating terror. And only after the damage is done do those who supported Bush realise it. We've created the civil wars in Iraq and we've created a hatred of Americans in their country.

A brilliant strategical decision? There's a reason why you said 'a mental exercise' because that's all this is. People having to try hard to make reason of this prolonged war.

Nice topic though. I was just discussing this in my World Geography class today. It got pretty heated.

Ahahahaha this thread delivers.

I thought this was a satire. Forgive me if I was wrong.

When you have a multi-billion dollar task at hand, such as rebuilding a country, there are not many options.

Most construction companies are quite small, and cannot handle the logistics of rebuilding an entire country

Haliburton is one of the only construction companies that possesses the sort of capital (meaning things such as bulldozers and backhoes) and the labor in order to quickly mobilize to Iraq.

If the contracts were put through bidding, Haliburton would have won. Sure, it may have shaved a few billion dollars off of the cost of rebuilding, but it would have come at the cost of having to wait for bids to be drawn up, evaluated, and selected. And that would not be in the best interests of our country.

As far as your assertation that the country has not be unified, I believe I was mistaken. I meant to say that true Americans have been unified. Those that truly love American have come together to support the president and this war.

^ What the Hell? So if a person doesnt support their Presidents decisions, then they arent a true American? YOU'RE SICK.

And this is how it works.

We're at war. It's our duty to support our president, no matter what he does.

apparently, you're not a true American.

Apparently you're sick if you have a strong political opinion too.

I support Bush, but that doesn't mean I don't think things could have been handled better.

Look, ordinarily, criticism is all good. But we're at war. The president has to do what he has to do so the terrorists won't win. And Americans shouldn't criticism him for that. Because the terrorists will win.

^I think I agree with what you're saying lol..

If America pulls out of Iraq and just runs away from it, then the Terrorist will see that as a sign of weakness and won't be nearly as afraid of America anymore..

Okay, picture this scenario. Gore wins the election in 2000. 9/11 still happens, but Gore does nothing. How would you react? I'm guessing you'd probably disagree with his decision to not do something (which is how I feel about Bush). So that would make you not a "true American" too, huh? No, it wouldnt. Just because you disagree with the president doesnt mean you're any less of an American than someone who supports him.

Was it wrong for German citizens during WW2 to disagree with Hitler? I'm not trying to compare him to anyone, but think about it.

^ Eeek sorry for the double post. I forgot that it wouldnt automatically continue from my last one.


Thats true. But if we do stay, its not like this war is going to be over anytime soon. These people are never going to stop fighting - they've been fighting over religion for hundreds of years. I still cant believe we think we can just run in and make them kiss and make up. And as far as the terrorists go, we've just opened up a can of worms. Chances are, things are never going to get better. So whether we get out now or ten years from now, we're still going to lose. And the longer we stay, the more money wasted... and the more lives that are going to be lost, which is and will be our biggest loss.

Wth, they were never afraid of America to begin with.

1. Please source the idea that Suddam was developing WMD. The fact is, we sold them those WMD and Bush used those old WMD as a reason to go into Iraq and forget all about Bin Laden. I forgot to mention that Bin Laden was a CIA Tactician.

2. Can you show me proof that this war in fact overall boosted the economy for all classes in American? The only people getting rich here are the politicians and the people who invest money in stocks... definitely not the workers.

3. Islam isn't fractured, if you knew your history about Islam, both "sects" have always disliked each other, because of differences in their view of Islam.
What students are inspired by the imperialism? I mean Democracy? Anyone with half a brain would realize what exactly is going on in the Middle East. If you want to call Imperialism Democracy, that's fine... just make it clear that our democracy doesn't work for all nations. I'm sure you've heard/read, "what works for you, may not work for me".

4. The U.S. has been unified?! LOL Are you kidding? What through racism/hatred? Ok you're right there... but politically and patriotically speaking, I call bullshit... x10000000. There is no terror, there never was any foreign terror against the U.S. The War On Terror is as laughable as The War On Drugs. It's all a facade... it's all a false sense of security. Like I said anyone with half of a brain would realize this.

Gay marriage is still some-what serious, thus is why many states are against it to begin with. But who cares about that anyways? It's their souls, right?

I highly advise you to do some of your own research, learn where all these politicians come from, all the government officials, what "Home Land Security" has been up to. Hell Home Land Security is so pathetic and so easy to figure out it's just sickening that anyone could honestly believe that it does anything other than infringe upon our freedoms/privacy.

The director (I believe is his position) of Home Land Security is so crooked that he put 3 border patrols in federal prison for God sakes just because they did their jobs. Because the little card that the mexican drug dealer had (which was given to him by the director of home land security) which would basically give him a free pass to go in and back out of the U.S. as he freely desires, whenever he wantet, didn't fly with the border patrols... especially when the Mexican drug dealer had a multitude of pounds of marijuana in his truck.


Poor little girly, your false sense of security, the one you claim is so great that we don't have nothing to worry about is gonna give you one hell of a brutal awakening.

LOL You... nevermind. May God open your eyes child, you're one lost human being.