Posted on 06/18/2021 6:14:08 PM PDT by RandFan
It is easier to start a war than end one. That argument alone should deter us from war and yet . . .time and time again man’s bellicosity combined often with imbecility entices us to war.
The Iraq war was no exception. Sold as a response to 9/11 with propaganda so irresponsible that it convinced some of our guys to graffiti our missiles with words like: “this is payback for 9/11.” Only it wasn’t. Not only did Saddam Hussein have nothing to do with 9/11, deposing him led to chaos and a breeding ground for more terrorism.
Regime change led to an Iraq more aligned with Iran than the US. Regime change required the lives of roughly 4,000 young men and women and the injuries, often severe, of over 31,000.
On Thursday, Congress finally voted to end the war in Iraq, nearly 20 years after it began. Intermittent combat and even renewed wars were fought using the 2002 Iraq authorization. So, the vote to repeal the 2002 AUMF (Authorization for Use of Military Force) has real life implications.
Some from the pro-interventionist side wanted to replace the 2002 AUMF with a new one to continue to authorize war. I say enough war. If you want to send our best and brightest to fight again in Iraq, come to Congress with a specific declaration of why we should return to war. Otherwise, give peace a chance.
Shortly after I was sworn in as a US senator in 2011, I forced a vote on repealing the Iraq AUMF. I lost 30-67. I introduced a repeal again in 2013 and 2016 and in 2017 I got another vote to repeal. I lost again this time 36-61.
But sometimes persistence pays off.
Today peace, or at least finality to another chapter of war begins as the House voted overwhelmingly to repeal the Iraq War authorization.
Next week the Senate will vote likewise to close at least one aspect of the perpetual war debacle.
Hopefully, the public will reward and encourage the next step to less war, a repeal of 2001 Authorization that has been used to justify war in dozens of countries around the world.
Just remember that the rallying cry for those who choose peace needs to be repeal not replace.
Rand Paul is a U.S. Senator from Kentucky.
Well looks like all the shenanigans the MIC helped pull to get Biden elected might not have done any good.
Right on...
thx Sen Paul.
I remember at the time there was evidence of Saddam letting terrorists train in a few hidden areas of Iraq. Wish I had downloaded a copy of those articles.
Saddam was a SOB. I don’t think anyone is going to shed tears over him. What if Saddam was still alive today? Let’s say nothing happened the past 20 years. Fast forward to 2021. Joe Biden is the President of USA. Saddam dies of a heart attack. Uday Hussein takes over as dictator of Iraq (after killing his brother Qusay Hussein). The Kurds and the Shi’ites decided to rebel. This time Joe Biden intervenes. We get involved in the Civil War in Iraq.
It isn’t a “mistake” when the plan is made years before and unclouded 911.
I guess this is Congress telling Biden to GTFO of Iraq.
If the Republicans controlled the House, would such a bill have ever passed?
Up until Trump, the party seemed to have a penchant for getting this country into Stupid Wars; while the interventionist wing of the party had to keep its mouth shut for the four years of Trump, I don't know that it's disappeared completely.
They knew he didn’t have any WMDs. I supported the war.
At the time they also waited about 3 weeks before invading, which some thought gave too much opportunity for weapons to be moved to Syria before the Americans arrived.
Do we have to get on this argument and straighten things out for the 900th time?
Iraq was a terrible country. The Israelis had to destroy Iraq’s nuclear reactor way back in 1981 because it was obviously meant for you know who. Saddam Hussein was more paranoid than the Nazis and executed those close to him who he felt were planning to depose him, regularly. Iraq was giving $25,000 to the family of anyone who killed an Israeli. Saddam was using weapons of mass destruction against the Iranians and against his own people.
We won that war and Obama cheerfully brought all the troops home in 2011 because of a foolish campaign promise so he could win again in 2012, after all those brave men lost their lives for Iraqi freedom.
Senator Rand Paul is great in some ways but not this one.
It did damage to Republicans.
Yep....I explained a little in my reply #5. If President Bush did not go to war in Iraq in 2003, he would had kicked the can down the road. Eventually someone would had to deal with it and we’ll end up breaking the vase and owning all the pieces (quote from Colin Powell).
True. The pictures were terrible of dead people that died from Saddam’s chemical warfare on his own people.
I said back then, he needs to be stopped just as Hitler needed to be stopped. Of course, Hitler was even more the horrific madman.
Biden must be celebrated. Trump would have just sent out a bunch of mean tweets
Nothing wrong with starting it. That wasn’t a mistake.
How it was run after the first month or less became the problem.
Same with Afghanistan.
As a Desert Shield/Desert Storm Vet, you all don’t even WANT to know my thoughts on this subject...
The Awakening in late 2007 was pretty cool.
Remember the leftist propaganda against the Iraq war, making us the bad guys was huge. Almost as bad as what they did with Trump.
Remember Abu Grahb was front page of New York Times every day for like 100 days all to make the U.S. Look bad.
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