Posted on 08/19/2014 3:50:49 AM PDT by Kaslin
We have been at war with Iraq for 24 years, starting with Operations Desert Shield and Storm in 1990. Shortly after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait that year, the propaganda machine began agitating for a US attack on Iraq. We all remember the appearance before Congress of a young Kuwaiti woman claiming that the Iraqis were ripping Kuwaiti babies from incubators. The woman turned out to be the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the US and the story was false, but it was enough to turn US opposition in favor of an attack.
This month, yet another US president - the fifth in a row - began bombing Iraq. He is also placing in US troops on the ground despite promising not to do so.
The second Iraq war in 2003 cost the US some two trillion dollars. According to estimates, more than one million deaths have occurred as a result of that war. Millions of tons of US bombs have fallen in Iraq almost steadily since 1991.
What have we accomplished? Where are we now, 24 years later? We are back where we started, at war in Iraq!
The US overthrew Saddam Hussein in the second Iraq war and put into place a puppet, Nouri al-Maliki. But after eight years, last week the US engineered a coup against Maliki to put in place yet another puppet. The US accused Maliki of misrule and divisiveness, but what really irritated the US government was his 2011 refusal to grant immunity to the thousands of US troops that Obama wanted to keep in the country.
Early this year, a radical Islamist group, ISIS, began taking over territory in Iraq, starting with Fallujah. The organization had been operating in Syria, strengthened by US support for the overthrow of the Syrian government. ISIS obtained a broad array of sophisticated US weapons in Syria, very often capturing them from other US-approved opposition groups. Some claim that lax screening criteria allowed some ISIS fighters to even participate in secret CIA training camps in Jordan and Turkey.
This month, ISIS became the target of a new US bombing campaign in Iraq. The pretext for the latest US attack was the plight of a religious minority in the Kurdish region currently under ISIS attack. The US government and media warned that up to 100,000 from this group, including some 40,000 stranded on a mountain, could be slaughtered if the US did not intervene at once. Americans unfortunately once again fell for this propaganda and US bombs began to fall. Last week, however, it was determined that only about 2,000 were on the mountain and many of them had been living there for years! They didn't want to be rescued!
This is not to say that the plight of many of these people is not tragic, but why is it that the US government did not say a word when three out of four Christians were forced out of Iraq during the ten year US occupation? Why has the US said nothing about the Christians slaughtered by its allies in Syria? What about all the Palestinians killed in Gaza or the ethnic Russians killed in east Ukraine?
The humanitarian situation was cynically manipulated by the Obama administration -- and echoed by the US media -- to provide a reason for the president to attack Iraq again. This time it was about yet another regime change, breaking Kurdistan away from Iraq and protection of the rich oil reserves there, and acceptance of a new US military presence on the ground in the country.
President Obama has started another war in Iraq and Congress is completely silent. No declaration, no authorization, not even a debate. After 24 years we are back where we started. Isn't it about time to re-think this failed interventionist policy? Isn't it time to stop trusting the government and its war propaganda? Isn't it time to leave Iraq alone?
“Shortly after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait that year, the propaganda machine began agitating for a US attack on Iraq”
LOST ME RIGHT THERE
I was in the middle of that one and the world and even the vaunted UN was pretty much in unanimous conclusion that Saddam needed to be booted, by force if necessary
I also recall Bush41 giving Saddam a 5 month deadline (FIVE MONTHS- D’OH! August 2 to January 16) to comply with UN resolutions to withdraw and starting the bombing within 24 hours of Saddam’s 5 MONTHS of thumbing his nose at the UN and the world
We all supported W at the time, but in hindsight, the support or love one has of the man should not neutralize the rational questions and observations RP makes. Who hasn't doubted the decision to waste blood and resources on that desert hell hole?
That’s right. I don’t know why the “Barf Alert” was included here, when most of the points he raises here are absolutely on target.
And most of that occupation took place under that "compassionate conservative" George W. Bush, who enjoyed a lot of support from Christian voters.
Some people go through life just begging to be conned, don't they?
Last week, however, it was determined that only about 2,000 were on the mountain and many of them had been living there for years! They didn’t want to be rescued!
First I’ve heard this, where did Loon Paul get this?
I always wished they have never said a damn thing about WMD’s in the first place... From the day it was said and questioned, not a hindsight sort of thing, Just thought it was un-needed, as I supported going and taking Saddam out purely because of multiple UN violations and continually shooting at US planes and pilots daily flying UN missions... I think they found enough banned stuff including plans to restart programs plus Chemical weapons that are fairly commonly thought to have gone to Syria to Justify it anyway, but I just wish they would have taken the opportunity and forced the spineless UN to finally have some teeth!
This is why I added the barf alert. Ron Paul forgets or ignores that Kuwait asked President George H.W. Bush for help
See post# 9 in my reply to silverleaf
What have we accomplished in Missouri? For that matter, what have we accomplished in the US or DC for the last 6 years?
I supported it initially, to wipe out the Islamofascists. But we didn't; there's more now than there ever were, and they are on the threshold of re-constituting their Caliphate.
So, really, what was accomplished? We lost so many precious lives in vain.
Kuwait is just another Arab Muslim country.....They’ve sent money to terrorists too.
Not all of us. Some of us even warned about the unConstitutional Patriot Act, the creation of Homeland Security and the TSA. We had Sadame in a box, he was going no where. W's war in Iraq was a bad idea. Pulling US Forces after the surge was a horrible idea. Saving the Kurds from ISIS is a very good idea. As usual Ron Paul get's it half right and half horribly wrong.
The first Gulf war was to protect the petrol dollar, the petrol dollar is vital to American interests. HW just should have let Swarcoff (sp) finish the job (battle of annihilation) on the highway to hell.
The problem is we aren’t going to “save” the Kurds either we’re going to do to them what we’ve done before, we’ll stop support to early and leave them in the lurch. Especially with this president in charge.
You were right in saying we pulled out if Iraq too early and that’s my point here. That wasn’t Bush’s idea though as far as I know. Bush said near the end if his presidency that a status of forces agreement was vital for keeping Iraq stable. He left office before the negotiations for it and Obummer screwed that up too.
Again, this is the basic problem with our foreign policy: we aren’t consistent because we elect hawks one time (or two) then doves then hawks again etc. what does this do? It makes us half committed at best to wars we involve ourselves in. It’s been this way since WWII.
This is the problem. We need to decide as a nation once and for all if we are going to listen to Ron Paul and his isolationist ilk or not, and stick with the same policy for decades at least. There is no being “half-right” when it comes to foreign policy.
Sorry. But, is it safe to say most?
Re the Kurds, I certainly hope the US does all it reasonably can to help them survive the Islamic awaking taking place in the Middle East. I am not optimistic.
Neither am I.
If we’d only taken the hint after the ‘73 Embargo, we wouldn’t have needed to get involved in intra-Arab squabbles like that.
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