Posted on 07/17/2018 7:18:32 AM PDT by God luvs America
This is not an anti-Iraq war rant; i fought in the streets in 2003 with Freepers & groups like Protest Warrior counter protesting the "peace protestors". Nor is this a rant against law enforcement- my dad was NYPD for almost two decades. Rather this is a reminder with facts for those who believe we should just blindly follow our politicized "intelligence" agencies. The same intelligence operations telling us russia interfered in our elections:
1- told us Iraq possessed WMD 2- never connected the dots in the lead up to 9-11; the worst terrorist attack on US solid 3- dismissed evidence on hand about terrorist attacks and mass killings such as the tsarnaev brothers, the Pulse nightclub killer and the Stoneman Douglas killer.
So remember this when the same people who marched in the streets yelling "What do we want? DEAD COPS! When do we want them? NOW!!" while obama sat in the WH saying the protests must go on, try and lecture you about treason...
In 2003 I was in Iraq, all the way till summer 2004, right outside of Fallujah.
There were WMD, bio labs, long range missiles, etc. But the narrative changed from WMD to Nuclear weapons. His own scientists lied to Saddam about their capabilities and Saddam bragged about what he didn’t really have.
Not Bush’s fault, but their was a lot of culpability on the intelligence agencies.
Some of us were there. Some of us found stuff. Some of us cannot tell you anything more.
The politicians spin and weave what they need to IOT fit the narrative and protect the improbables.
None of that changes what was ID’d tracked and then lost track of by UN inspectors for a decade prior to OIF.
Why is it so hard to follow the facts on record but so easy to dismiss them when the narrative changes?
Was OIF worth it? Well, depends on who you are. If you invested blood and time there, seeing people liberated and excited about it, maybe. If you are just bloviating about things you don’t know nor ever can, then probably not.
The tragedy is that a free IRQ was handed over to ISIS by the follow-on administration ( along with most of SYR, Egypt, all of Libya and several other areas in that region-ad remains so to this day. That is the worlds greatest tragedy since WWII and the fall of the Iron curtain....
if you found mobile, launchable, nuclear war head missiles, then i’m all ears. yea or nay?
Splodyhead is the only cure for MAGAphobia.
Just sayin.
Yes, that’s true.
There were WMDs. We also know they moved some to Syria.
Where do folks think the gas being using in Syria now, came from?
It goes beyond this too.
Hussein had attacked a number of nations during his rule. He attacked Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. He had gassed his own people. He and his sons killed many other Iraqis, some just so they could lay with their beautiful wives. He had been defeated in Desert Storm. He had been given a set of limits on what he could do.
If he had honored the no fly zones, and kept his troops away from his borders with other nations, he would have been a lot less likely to have been taken out. He refused to live within those limits
If he had complied with U. N. weapons inspectors, they would have been able to assure international concerns that he was complying with anti-WMD regulations. He refused to do that.
If he had not popped off about supporting terrorists around the world, he would not have been targeted.
If he had not paid the families of suicide bombers in Israel $25,000 dollars a pop, he would not have been seen as the pariah he was.
This was an evil man. He had raised evil sons. He had surrounded himself with evil men. He had reached out to other evil men around the world.
You know folks, why do we bother having an army? Why do we consider ourselves decent people?
If we were going to allow a guy like Hussein to do what he wanted, why even have a military.
I read some wing-nut or another writing that we should simply bring our troops home from around the world. Never mind that other nations around the world rely on our troops to facilitate humanitarian efforts.
We are the top dog on the block. Thank God.
Yes we lose men on the battlefield, and yes we spend a fair amount of change doing what we do.
Listen up! World wars cost a whole lot more. We put out the hot spots and the world remains in relative peace compared to those world wars.
We have troops in Germany and Korea. Those acts achieved the desired results. We have had peace in Europe since the 1940s. We have had peace in Korea since the 1950s.
I’m not sure what these visionaries think will happen if we bring all our troops home and refrain from participating on the worlds stage.
After ten to twenty years of our troops remaining here on our soil, it would the rallying cry for us to disband our military because we didn’t use it, didn’t need it, and didn’t want it.
These arguments about bringing our troops home, are the arguments of the Left. They don’t like how we impact the world. They don’t like that we take our enemies on overseas. They don’t like that American ideals are ensconced around the world.
Well I do.
We’re a major player because we project our values outward.
The day we stop doing that, evil encroachment will take place.
Sooner rather than later, we will be fighting for our existence on our own soil, and every other nation will be against us because we are weak and others are strong because we backed into our hole and hoped for the best.
Hoping for the best and doing nothing, doesn’t bring about “the best”.
It results in the worst.
It defies intelligence why the Bush Administration chose to stay silent about it other than the Administration didn’t want to go to war with Syria too at that time.
An Iraqi airforce General now living in the U.S. has traveled around the country confirming there were such weapons that were moved during much of the lead up to the invasion. He said Saddam didn’t actually believe the US would attack him so he waited until the very last moment to transfer much of those materials. He has always wondered why the true story wasn’t ever told.
I believe much of that story might never be known to the US public, who certainly deserve to know that truth since we lost so many people and wasted so much money on suspect “intelligence” from our government.
Pakistan has nukes! Missed it by that much.
If you think that chemical and biological weapons do not qualify as weapons of mass destruction, you dont deserve to be posting here.
In short no./
Iraq did not pose an imminent danger to the US in terms of terrorism. We had him boxed in, and we could drop bombs on them whenever we wanted. Saddam had a big mouth, but he was impotent.
We never, ever should have gone in there.
The entire WOT was a ruse to encircle Iran.
I hate that so many of my peers have had to go there, two, three or four times. Each time they come back thinking less of the people in command.
The US is the modern Rome. We are not in full decline, but we are sure past our high water mark.
It defies intelligence why the Bush Administration chose to stay silent about it other than the Administration didn’t want to go to war with Syria too at that time.
An Iraqi airforce General now living in the U.S. has traveled around the country confirming there were such weapons that were moved during much of the lead up to the invasion. He said Saddam didn’t actually believe the US would attack him so he waited until the very last moment to transfer much of those materials. He has always wondered why the true story wasn’t ever told.
I believe much of that story might never be known to the US public, who certainly deserve to know that truth since we lost so many people and wasted so much money on suspect “intelligence” from our government.
India has nukes too? How could our Intel be so bad?
Imho, the invasion upto the point of capturing Saddam was correct. We should have left immediately after, left a note saying don’t tread on us again and marched straight into iran, with the same mission.
Even the Bush Hating NYT’s admitted there were wmd’s
BOMBSHELL: New York Times Reports WMDs WERE Found in Iraq!
https://thepoliticalinsider.com/bombshell-new-york-times-reports-wmds-found-iraq/
There were wmd’s- and besides that - Saddam had broken geneva convention rules several times, massacred his own people en mass- and was attacking US pilots flying over the region breaking further rules-
Iraqi’s came to Congress BEGGING the US to remove this madman from power- and everyone in congress agreed it had to be done after listening to horror story after horror story by the escapees testifying in congress- Even democrats supported removing him from power after that- So while WMD’s were present, and justified going to war- the fact remains that wmd’s were not the only reaSON we went to war- there were several other justifications for it
“”But the narrative changed from WMD to Nuclear weapons””
This should be directed to the one who posted here earlier that it was always about nuclear weapons. Not true....what we heard over and over was always chemical weapons (WMD) as used on his own people. No one ever said “nuclear weapons” were used on his own people...so that just doesn’t fly.
I love what Rumsfeld said and have never forgotten -
“the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”....
That’s what people refuse to understand. The knife (and person) that killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman was never found but it doesn’t mean that they weren’t murdered and butchered with a knife.
I don’t find my favorite Rumsfeld quote here as I recall it but they are all great..
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/936753.Donald_Rumsfeld
[[“the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”....]]
But the fact was that there was evidence present and known about-
Iraq had WMD’s
Uday
Qusay
Saddam
And enough “insecticide” to kill every bug on the planet at least 10x over.
https://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/30/world/nerve-gases-and-pesticides-links-are-close.html
They also found tons of Yellowcake.
An invasion was overkill. Could have easily taken out Saddam with an air strike, Cruise middle or some other standoff weapon.
A covert assassination would also have done the job. Once Saddam and his sons were assassinated, the line of men wanting the job would have been very short.
You know any direct answer is a breath of NDA’s.
The naysayers simple refer to published gov reports. All second person sources at best.
“I read some wing-nut or another writing that we should simply bring our troops home from around the world. Never mind that other nations around the world rely on our troops to facilitate humanitarian efforts.”
To add to your statement, our troops overseas such as 2nd ACR in Germany conduct training exercises with Poland, Lithuania, and other former “Soviet Bloc” countries to help improve their military readiness.
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