[traditionalist]

This sounds like the argument in WWII that Japan attacked us. There was no reason to get into a war with Hitler until we had conquered Japan.

False analogy. Japan and Germany had a formal alliance, so declaring war on Japan meant that we automatically were at War with Germany. True, we declared war on Germany seperately, but that was not strictly speaking necessary.

[ppaul]

Japan and Germany had a formal alliance, so declaring war on Japan meant that we automatically were at War with Germany.

So you are implying that the Islamic wackos are not allied with Iraq?

[CIB-173RDABN]

"False analogy. Japan and Germany had a formal alliance..."

The key word for you then is "formal", but how do we know what secret "formal" alliances Saddam and Osama may have had?

There is a group over in the area of the world that would like to see all of us dead.

Some were in control of govnernment such as in Afghanistan, and others only recieve support from governments such as Iraq.

I am in no mode for playing word games. Saddam and his administration is going to cease to exist. Now, if the people of Iraq are lucky, they may get a better government, but the truth is, I don't care. The only thing I care about is that they stop supporting those that wish to kill us.

Now, I have not refuted any of your point, but I don't care about that either.

[ChiMark]

Wrong, Germany declared war against us.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Japan and Germany had a formal alliance, so declaring war on Japan meant that we automatically were at War with Germany. True, we declared war on Germany seperately, but that was not strictly speaking necessary.

We never, to my knowledge, declared war on Germany; Hitler waited a week and then declared war on the U.S. According to The New Dealers' War by Thomas Fleming, the Axis Pact did not require Germany to declare war--and certainly it didn't bind Hitler any more than the pact between Germany and the USSR, in force up til the day (June 22, 1941) that Hitler invaded the USSR.

That date, BTW, seems to mark the time when FDR became determined to fight Germany. Just one of those funky cooincidences, like the fact that the wonderful slogan "unconditional surrender" meant that FDR was marrying Stalin because we didn't intend to take the casualties required to actually crush Germany without the USSR taking the brunt of the casualties (and without the USSR subsequently dominating the European powers).

[Polybius]

Japan and Germany had a formal alliance, so declaring war on Japan meant that we automatically were at War with Germany.

Not really.

The U.S. declared war on Japan on 8 DEC 1941.

Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. on 11 DEC 1941.

The U.S. declared war on Germany the same day only after Germany declared war on the U.S.

The "formal alliance" with Japan did not do Germany much good in it's war with the Soviet Union as Germany's so-called Japanese "ally" decided to sit the Nazi-Soviet War out.

Why Hitler was stupid enough to declare war on the U.S. instead following the Japanese example in the Nazi-Soviet War is a question that still puzzles historians. Maybe Hitler thought that Japan would return the favor and attack the Soviet Union's Asian flank? If so, Hitler lost that gamble.