Why The Iraqi war will be remembered as a brilliant strategical decision., A mental exercise. Options

[sadolakced acid]

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.

[sadolakced acid]

^ 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.

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.