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Posted on 10/05/2015 7:26:07 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, when asked if he believes the Middle East would be better today if Moammar Gadhafi of Libya and Saddam Hussein of Iraq were still in power, responded, "It's not even a contest."
He related the situations in both of those countries with what is currently happening in Syria and seemed to endorse a stronger President Bashar Assad, even while admitting that he is "probably a bad guy."
"You can make the case, if you look at Libya, look at what we did there — it's a mess — if you look at Saddam Hussein with Iraq, look what we did there — it's a mess — it's [Syria] going to be same thing," the real estate mogul said.
This is a sentiment that Trump took with him on Saturday to a rally in Franklin, Tennessee where he recalled our strategy with arming rebels during the days of Qaddafi's reign. Trump told about 1,500 in an event hall: "Then the rebels killed our ambassador in the worst way, what happened to him. And three other people, and many other people by the way. Okay? Remember that."
In regards to Iraq, Trump echoed a familiar line from his campaign: "Don't forget, ISIS came out of Iraq," Trump recalled, calling the terror organization "the leftovers that didn't get taken care of."
He also told the Franklin audience that during the time of Saddam Hussein's "vicious" rule in Iraq "there were no terrorists in Iraq." "You know what he used to do to terrorists?" Trump polled the crowd. "A one day trial and shoot him…and the one day trial usually lasted five minutes, right? There was no terrorism then."
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Absolutely true. The Christians there would also still be alive and we wouldn’t have the migration invasion.
George W. was delusional to think that with Saddam gone the Iraqis would embrace freedom. Their Muslim ideology is anti-democratic. The choice is secular dictator or religious dictator. Take your pick.
I’d prefer the secular dictators.
Yes. And this really must be ticking off the Bush family, so that is a pleasure.
He’s correct - but Donald, don’t say what “WE” did there. Always say - what OBAMA and CLINTON did there.
They assassinated Khaddafi and turned Libya into a failed, violent, Jihadi state — for what reason???
In 2003, there was HUGE support for Bush and Operation Iraqi Freedom here at FR.
In fact, there was HUGE support here at FR for THE SURGE as well.
My, how things have changed after a decade...
It’s not as simple as that....though some of what you said is valid. Like most issues in the Middle East, there is no good answer. These dictators were friends of terrorists and enablers too.
The only solid Middle East policy is to have our own oil and to protect Israel. Everything else is a mixed bag......there are often NO GOOD GUYS in any Middle Eastern spat.
Trump is wrong on this. Hussein was responsible for the deaths of 1.3 million innocents. He used chemical weapons. He invaded Kuwait and burned the oil fields as he was forced out. He wanted a nuke and would have gotten it before Iran had he been just left alone.
The reason that the Middle East is in its current condition is that a Muslim community organizer came to power in Jan 2009 and continues in power because American screwed up again in Nov 2012.
re: Yes. And this really must be ticking off the Bush family, so that is a pleasure.
_____________________________________
In 2003, there was HUGE support for Bush and Operation Iraqi Freedom here at FR.
In fact, there was HUGE support here at FR for THE SURGE as well.
My, how things have changed after a decade...
Both met a painful demise.
Look at Iran pre and post revolution. Can anyone deny that Iran functioned better under the Shah? That Iran was a better neighbor and a productive state under the Shah? Even Assad in Syria is preferable to the caliphate! At least under Saddam and Assad Christians were free to worship as they pleased and participate in the general society.
re: He’s correct - but Donald, don’t say what “WE” did there. Always say - what OBAMA and CLINTON did there.
Trump was referring to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 to take out Saddam Hussein.
So, if people are now regretting the deposing of Saddam Hussein, then to be fair, Obama had nothing to do with it. Hillary VOTED FOR IT as Senator.
Obama however has EVERY RESPONSIBILITY for what happened after 2008 after the successful surge and the Anbar Awakening. But that had nothing to do with what Trump was referring to.
I think we sadly have discovered the reason for/purpose of brutal Middle Eastern dictators, as unsavory as they are.
At the time, Saddam appeared to be a loose cannon that could not be allowed to flourish in a post-9/11 world. However, Bush apparently had no plan for the post-Saddam Iraq. "Let democracy taker its course" was not the way to go over there. If the removal of Saddam was done to make the world safer, it failed. Then to make matters worse, Obama and Hillary followed the same course in Libya.
I guess we at FR assumed Bush/Cheney et al knew what they were doing.
Crickets. He will go biking with them in Crawford--but he could have used his pulpit for them. He chose not to. But do you know what policies he did speak out on?
Amnesty. Getting his lazy women a lot of semi-slaves and destroying our economy and ruining our social safety net.
RE: . But who can deny that this region of the world will never accept Western style democracy? These countries need a strong secular leader to keep the islamists under control. It may not be pretty but it’s necessary.
OK, here’s hindsight. Iraq was quite stable between 2008 and 2011 after the surge.
They did not have a good, strong, incorruptible leader and that was the problem. BUT .... LEAVING IRAQ WAS A HUGE PROBLEM.
WE SHOULD NOT HAVE LEFT.
We are still in Japan, Germany and South Korea over 5 decades now. What makes people think that we can simply end the war by retreating in Iraq?
Let’s see...
Iraq under Saddam Hussein:
1) Invaded two neighboring countries.
2) Fired SCUD missiles at Israel.
3) Plotted to assassinate a US president.
4) Not only had WMD but used chemical weapons.
5) Engaged in ethnic cleansing and mass genocide.
6) Harbored international terrorists including Abu Nidal.
7) Financed suicide bombers operating Israel.
8) Wiped out the Marsh Arabs living in Iraq’s south.
9) Tried to acquire uranium to produce nuclear weapons.
10) Allowed terrorists to practice hijacking skills in Iraq.
The causus belli were numerous. The case against Saddam is solid. He received his just reward in the end. He deserved what he got. He was a mini-Hitler operating in the region who tried to get away with as much as possible.
Please, let’s not re-write history like the Left always does.
Momentous events always look different when given time. I was hugely in support of the war. I truly believed that if Saddam didn't have a nuke he was working on one and the he had chemical weapons (he did) and that given a chance he'd supply them to terrorists.
I now believe that overthrowing Saddam was a huge mistake. The vaccuum his absence created has created chaos. even before barry obama screwed things up royally. The old sectarian strifes came to the surface and islam proved again to be the bloody chaos it's always been.
I supported the Surge because it was obvious that what we were doing wasn't working but since we were there we needed to win. I still support the idea. Who knew that obama would be so reckless and just throw away everything we achieved?
“Hussein was responsible for the deaths of 1.3 million innocents”
1- They were far from innocent. They were the islamists we now know as Isis.
2- Kwait is a wealthy country that should be able to provide for its own defence.
3- Iraq had no nuclear reactors in operation. They were far behind Iran and were mostly bluffing about their weapons program.
Trump is right, fk the muslims. Saddam killed them and kept them in check, and Iran as well. All we had to do was enforce our no fly zone, and bomb if need be. Democracy everywhere does not work. Muslims need a dictator/strong man to murder enough of them to keep their barbarity quelled and in line. Sad but true.
Its called Hindsight. It was a huge strategic blunder.
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