Posted on 03/20/2013 8:25:22 PM PDT by neverdem
Except in a few neoconservative hideouts, the Iraq war is generally regarded as a mistake.
The war has cost over $800 billion so far, with more than 4,400 U.S. soldiers killed and around 32,000 wounded. Hard to argue that the United States has acquired security gains commensurate with that sacrifice.
So, why was the Iraq war a mistake and what lessons should be learned from it? The 10th anniversary of the initial invasion has occasioned considerable discussion of those questions. But most of the discussion is wide of the most important lesson to be learned.
--snip--
George W. Bush told Palestinians they had to elect new leadership, so they choose Hamas.
Sometimes the time fuse on our unintended consequences is long. In 1953, the U.S. helped depose a democratically elected government in Iran and install an autocrat, the Shah, to run the country. That meant that, when the Shah was deposed in 1979, the revolution was reflexively anti-American. And now the anti-American ruling elite that took over wants a nuke.
The United States favored Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran, then went to war against him twice.
It’s often said that the United States has no option but to be deeply engaged in the region’s geopolitics. Certainly that’s where the international terrorism that threatens us emanates. But effective counterterrorism can be selective and targeted. And Middle East oil, the other rationale usually cited, is far more important to Europe than the United States, particularly if we more aggressively developed domestic sources.
The larger U.S. role in attempting to micromanage the region’s geopolitics only even arguably makes sense if we can confidently intervene in ways that are productive rather than destructive. There’s a 60-year history that says we can’t, Iraq being just the most costly example.
(Excerpt) Read more at dyn.realclearpolitics.com ...
Unfortunately, the only thing WE got out of the Iraq War is Barack Obama.
Of course, there is a whole lot on Monday Morning Quarterbacking going on, but Pervert Clinton should have pancaked Iraq the first time they fired on our Jets in the No Fly Zone back in 1991.
I always make it a point to tell Liberals complaining about Iraq that Hitlery Voted for the War when she was in the Senate, along with Kerry and many other Rats.
Bush was trapped and should have seen that before he invaded. The proper course would have been a zoned military occupation under a military government. No rights, elections, etc. and a military court system with plenty of swift justice executions. You need to cow a conquered people, not coddle them. If you don’t break their will to fight, you get more fight.
A real Conservative would never have gone into Iraq because real conservatives would have recognized that GW Bush was a fraud and never to be trusted! A Real Con would have learned to never trust any Bush after what GWHBush did when he was mistakenly elected in 1988.
Is that true? $800 Billion in 10 years? Why don’t we hammer away at that? the D’s are always saying the debt crisis, adding 6 Trillion to our debt, was to pay for the wars of Bush. Over and over they say this and now we find out that 10 years of war did not add up to the one year stimulus bill which costs $100 billion more.
It was not a strategic mistake, because it was only one element: There should have been a push to take over Iran at the same time.
A real American warrior goes wherever and whenever he has to to hunt and kill the terrorist murderers of AMericans. And that was Baghdad where ABuAbbas, Abu Nidal and countless other mooks responsible for the murder of your fellow countrymen were living the life of RIley plotting even more deaths of your fellow citizens.
What has been gained for the loss of 5000 Real American warriors and the wounding of ~30,000? in what can only be considered failure in attempting to implant Democracy in Islamic Iraq? The mooks are STILL IN IRAQ but few Christians and no Jews are there and I think the mooks do have an increased ability to kill Americans since the US have helped Abu Nidal’s troops to take Libya and probably Syria. Whereas we US Citizens have lost $2-7TRILLION of our wealth and a hell of a lot of our freedoms for What?
You cannot actually be saying that the Bush Administration was worried about Civil Liberties in the US???
GWB after campaigning as a non-interventionist proceeded to lay a foundation for a Police State after 911, a short list:
1) tried to block investigation of 911, NO ONE FIRED!
2) released all of bin Laden’s family in US+ Saudi ass kissing.
3) created Dept of Homeland Security, left border wide open
4) destroyed housing market and thus the economy with the stupidity of a house for everyone.
5) No Child left Behind, Senior Drug benefits...
6) Trillions in deficit spending
7) Bailouts and other Destroy the Free Market crap
8) Opened the door for a quasi-muslim to gain the WH.
I did vote for the scumbag 2x’s but I now consider him as one of the worse Presidents. I also think he should be held responsible for the above by any honest Conservative!
You cannot actually be saying that the Bush Administration was worried about Civil Liberties in the US???
GWB after campaigning as a non-interventionist proceeded to lay a foundation for a Police State after 911, a short list:
1) tried to block investigation of 911, NO ONE FIRED!
2) released all of bin Laden’s family in US+ Saudi ass kissing.
3) created Dept of Homeland Security, left border wide open
4) destroyed housing market and thus the economy with the stupidity of a house for everyone.
5) No Child left Behind, Senior Drug benefits...
6) Trillions in deficit spending
7) Bailouts and other Destroy the Free Market crap
8) Opened the door for a quasi-muslim to gain the WH.
I did vote for the scumbag 2x’s but I now consider him as one of the worse Presidents. I also think he should be held responsible for the above by any honest Conservative!
Libya surrendered it’s WMD arsenal. Khadafi dead. Hussein dead. His sons dead. Abu Nidal dead. Abu Abbas dead. Iraq WMD gone to Syria. No fly zone dead. You think it’s a freaking coincidence that there have been no attacks in America for 12 years? You think you’ve lost your freedoms because of Iraq? I mean how damn stupid can you be? Iraq doesn’t get votes in Congress. And people wonder why their rights get abridged. It’s because of low info morons who think Iraq took their rights away rather than the leftists who are actually doing it.
Clinton wasn’t president in 91.
But Hussein supported terrorists. That was my red line. I would not have stopped with Afghanistan and Iraq, every where in the world where Muslim terrorist existed with the support of their governments would have been sent to the stone age. Our lack of action in Libya after 9/11 is a prime example of the wrong policy. Ghadaffi played nice, but to this day there are Muslim terrorists in Libya. Iran is still a problem that goes back the that jackwaggon, Carter. I wouldn't have stopped at Lybia and Iran. There are many other Islamic Republics that back terrorists that should have been sent back to the 8th century.
It takes a fundamental understanding Islam to rid the world of terrorists that threaten our interests. However, that fundamental understanding is simple to understand. We never focused on the core problem and how to deal with it without killing a billion Muslims. The word "Islam" means to "submit". That's how you beat these bastards, you make them submit to our will, not their death cult.
Rebuilding is absolutely the wrong strategy. Their terrorist actions are rewarded through rebuilding. In their minds, their religion works because they get to drain our resources and in the process they are enriched.
My mistake, 1993. The Cease Fire was in 1991. It should have been Unconditional Surrender, but kind of Black RINO Colin Powell talked RINO Bush 41 out of doing what was necessary to actually WIN the War.
It’s hell being an old White guy in Obamaville. The mind can’t take the stress.
I wouldn’t blame it on Powell. We followed precedent set by previous “police action” wars. You can trace it back to Korea, where the war was all but won before Chinese poured over the border. We didn’t want to expand the war into China, nor even admit we were at war with China. They hung MacArthur out to dry for thinking of it like a regular war. Which is a good reason not to fight a war at all, I’d think, if you aren’t fighting to win. Indeed we didn’t win the Korea.
Vietnam is the other big contained containment war. We couldn’t invade North Vietnam, mist likely for the exact same reason as last time, i.e. we didn’t want a war with China. We feebly fought against the supply train on the international Ho Chi Minh trail. Nixon couldn’t even bomb neighboring Cambodia without getting an earful about expanding the war. Not that the “mad bomber” strategy was worthwhile, but what is the point of fighting a war if the other side can expand it and you can’t? It’s like playing poker with a guy who has cards up his sleeve. Gentlemen would point it out and make an effort to stop the cheating or not play. We took the not play option by leaving South Vietnam for dead, which made the whole thing ultimately pointless.
Iraq, Part I was similar. We didn’t want wider conflict. We wanted to rebuke the outlaw and reverse the invasion, no more. There was no China, so I don’t know who it is we were afraid of. Maybe just afraid of the cost, in dollars and PR, and the responsibility. Whatever it was, we fought in line with our POST-WWII policy of limited war for limited gain. Powell was only one in a crowd of conventional wisdom.
By the way, I don’t believe in unconditional surrender. Almost not at all, but certainly not as a rule. Limited war for limited gains is an admirable way to fight. But only so long as the objective us worthwhile and the limited means are enough. If not, it’s useless. Which is not to say we should’ve gone all out and nuked China or Iraq, even if there weren’t other powers to discourage us.
I disagree with your low info reponse. Obviously the idiots on the right in collusion with the same on the left have managed to destroy this nation, $16T debt, 20-30M illegal aliens, a full blown Police State, destruction of all constitutional laws and all you can think about is supporting killing a bunch of Muslims.
You’ll never WTHU!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.