What is your view of the Iraq war? 2003 and 2006 (Keep it friendly)

[Joe Biden 2020]

What is your view?  Post a message with your vote.  Try not to step on anyone's toes here, just explain your view of the Iraq War.

[Joe Biden 2020]

At first I was all for it in 2003, but now as time moves on, I am in the middle of becoming restless and regretting my support.  So, I opted for 3.

[Nym90]

I've opposed it from the beginning. I support the overall goal, but I have opposed it on the grounds that the benefits aren't worth the massive costs, and in fact so far it may not have even been any net benefit at all even leaving aside the direct costs anyway.

[Middle-aged Europe]

No way/In the middle

[Platypus]

nota

diswsaprove but support australian involvement if it was going to happen anyway/think the US should stay in Iraq, as they have to finish what they stated. For the same reason Australia should theoretically stay, but there are so few soldiers anyway that I would like them to be withdrawn

[MODU]

Support/Support.  It should have been done back in 1993.  A lot of good is being done within the country which the news agencies fail to support, and if they did, I'm sure more people would change their tunes.

[minionofmidas]

No way / you've dug your own grave and you'll have to lie in it

That is to say: I'm against an immediate withdrawal as that would make things even worse. Of course, staying any longer also makes things worse, but leaving would make them worse even quicker.
That this was always the most likely outcome was apparent at the time of the invasion, at least to me.
This doesn't change the fact that I condemn the Iraq War as much as any of your American anti-war crowd, and always have... but I'm not sure if I'm supposed to vote "no way / not a chance" here as I suppose that means people who want an immediate withdrawal.

[J. J.]

In general, support and support.

At the start, we did not have enough troops to secure Iraq and basically capture the Iraqi Army intact (which would have made policing after the war easier).

Even knowing what we know now, there was legitimate intelligence that Hussein had chemical (but not bio or nuclear) weapons.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11927856/

After 9/11, I am stuck with old Mideast adage, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."  There was the real possibility that Hussein would start aiding al Qaeda, increasing their resources.  That potential was enough, coupled with Hussein's long standing refusal to permit inspections for WMD's, for me to say that it was necessary.

I'm also against immediate withdrawl.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I opposed it on several grounds from the beginning.

- Strategic (a secular buffer between the two hot hotbeds of fundamentalism)
- It sets a dangerous precedent - showed Iran and North Korea that in order for the US to take you seriously get WMDs and get them fast
- I didn't want Australian involvement since I don't believe that Australia should invade other countries and start wars - it certainly was NOT the values that my great-grandfather took when he landed at Gallipoli.
- In all likelihoods a massive power vaccum would happen.
- It would create a focal point, and a rallying cry to islamists all over the world.

No one was suggesting that Hussein was a nice guy... but it's all very well and good to have selective memories, and more importantly, selective outrage.

To say... ok he didn't have the link to 9/11 and no evidence for WMD's can be found in more than 3 1/2 years... but since we was bad... the invasion was ok.

It's like suspecting your neighbour is making drugs in his back garden, you hate drugs, so you go over and shoot him. Turns out he didn't have a meth lab... but he was stealing lemons off your tree... so it was ok.

I said the night of the 2004 election, if there is one reason I want Bush to be reelected it is to see the Iraq policy out. If it fails miserably (which in spite of some bitter pro-War people - most do NOT want this to fail) then Bush will get the blame... if it succeeds then he gets the credit.

I agree that good is being done in Iraq, the soldiers and engineers are doing a fine job and all those of us who have troops there should be proud of their service. However, the power vaccum is real, and the deep hostilities between Sunni, Shi'ia and Kurds are real, and will not be fixed in a couple of years. If the US decides to pull out, a civil war (which frankly I think is happening to a degree already) is a distinct possiblity.

In summation, lol.

Saddam was monster, but I never believed the allegations of either 9/11 connection (the Baathists and AlQaeda are so INCOMPATIBLE it's not funny) - or functioning WMDs. Make the case of humanitarian grounds from the start... not as a backup when your first reasons fall away. Is the world better without him in power? Yes But is that a strong enough reason to leave Iraq in a possibly MORE unstable position - which could have region-wide repercussions.... I can't say Yes to that.

[nlm]

Big mistake, giant waste of money, wrong country at the wrong time, and poorly managed to boot. A failure at every level.

[DanielX]

Option 2.

I think it was the right idea but that it wasn't executed quite how it should have.

[MasterJedi]

Support/Support

[DownWithTheLeft]

Support/Support

Big believer in "fight the terrorists over there so we don't have to fight them over here".  I still don't believe that we haven't done great damage to al-Qaeda in Iraq. 

Here is a simple question:
How is more equipped to fight terrorism?
Soldiers or people in an office building w/a plane coming at them

The simple fact is that people take it lightly when a threat is diverted, President Bush has done an amazing job of fighting global terror and should be up there is one of the greatest presidents in American history.

[NewFederalist]

There was no adequate response for me. I am retired military (33 years total) so one must expect I am not against war if it is justified. I do not believe we should ever commit troops to overseas battle without a congressional declaration of war. I opposed the "war" in Iraq from the outset. I believe we should have declared war on the Taliban and taken care of business in Afganistan first. Iraq could have waited or potentially pulled a Libya and not have been done at all. I firmly believe that you never go to war unless you intend to win. When you commit the forces you tolerate no dissent at home; you censor the press (media); you accept nothing less than unconditional surrender from the enemy. Ugly? You bet! I just described World War II. The last war we actually won. Like I said, don't go to war unless you intend to win.

[Boris]

Support/What was I thinking?. It's just been mismanaged too badly to have any sort of favorable outcome. Regardless of when we do withdraw, it's gonna be a mess.

[Josh/Devilman88]

#2

[MODU]

There was no adequate response for me. I am retired military (33 years total) so one must expect I am not against war if it is justified. I do not believe we should ever commit troops to overseas battle without a congressional declaration of war. I opposed the "war" in Iraq from the outset. I believe we should have declared war on the Taliban and taken care of business in Afganistan first. Iraq could have waited or potentially pulled a Libya and not have been done at all. I firmly believe that you never go to war unless you intend to win. When you commit the forces you tolerate no dissent at home; you censor the press (media); you accept nothing less than unconditional surrender from the enemy. Ugly? You bet! I just described World War II. The last war we actually won. Like I said, don't go to war unless you intend to win.

A good response.   

[Citizen James]

Opposed/Cracker barell (an analogy made by Colin Powell - you broke it, you bought it).

[Frodo]

This is from another thread, but this explains my position on the war best:
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I never supported going into Iraq in the first place, and had it been my choice, we would never have gone in there.  But since we are there and have invested blood and treasure in this enterprise, it would be irresponsible (an act of criminal negligence, actually) for us to call for an immediate pull-out, or a timetabled withdrawal.  Antiwar activists keep calling Iraq a failure, and a terrorist haven when its future is still in doubt -it would most certainly become that if we prematurely withdraw our military with our task still unfinished.  The government has just been elected, and it will need time to establish itself, and to gradually take over the security of the country -and even then we should withdraw the bulk of our force only at the behest of the Iraqi president and parliament, and on the recommendations of US commanders on the ground in Iraq.  We have already invested so much -we owe it to our servicemen and women who have fought and died there to leave behind a stable Iraq and not another failed state.

[YRABNNRM]

I supported it initially because I truely believed that Saddam had the ability to knock out the region. After three years, no WMDs (*Insert States' claim that there was here*), hundreds upon hundreds of American lives lost, and an Iraq that is unable to and isn't even remotely interested in supporting itself. "What was I thinking?".

However, despite the fact that I regret the decision, it's clear to me that we simply can't just get up and leave. One of my political heroes once said "You break it, you've bought it" and I tend to agree. We're stuck now.

[Dr. Cynic]

I never supported going to Iraq. I thought it was just another attempt to boost poll numbers a la Canadian Bacon, while there were far more dangerous threats out there, such as Osama Bin Laden, and Iran, and North Korea (Although there is now a much larger threat from Iran).

Even still, I am now convinced that Iraq hasn't been worth the effort, at least not at this stage. I am continually watching my old friends, headed to a place that if I were President, I would have never sent them. It wrenches me deeply to know that Josh and Ron and the others may never come home. And if they do by some coincidence not make it, then it will only drive me further from supporting the Iraq War.

[NewFederalist]

There was no adequate response for me. I am retired military (33 years total) so one must expect I am not against war if it is justified. I do not believe we should ever commit troops to overseas battle without a congressional declaration of war. I opposed the "war" in Iraq from the outset. I believe we should have declared war on the Taliban and taken care of business in Afganistan first. Iraq could have waited or potentially pulled a Libya and not have been done at all. I firmly believe that you never go to war unless you intend to win. When you commit the forces you tolerate no dissent at home; you censor the press (media); you accept nothing less than unconditional surrender from the enemy. Ugly? You bet! I just described World War II. The last war we actually won. Like I said, don't go to war unless you intend to win.

A good response.   

Thanks! I think we see things much the same. I suspect we are in the same business!

[MODU]

There was no adequate response for me. I am retired military (33 years total) so one must expect I am not against war if it is justified. I do not believe we should ever commit troops to overseas battle without a congressional declaration of war. I opposed the "war" in Iraq from the outset. I believe we should have declared war on the Taliban and taken care of business in Afganistan first. Iraq could have waited or potentially pulled a Libya and not have been done at all. I firmly believe that you never go to war unless you intend to win. When you commit the forces you tolerate no dissent at home; you censor the press (media); you accept nothing less than unconditional surrender from the enemy. Ugly? You bet! I just described World War II. The last war we actually won. Like I said, don't go to war unless you intend to win.

A good response.   

Thanks! I think we see things much the same. I suspect we are in the same business!

Yeah, for the most part. I still support/support it though.  The whole "declaration of war" is a bit hard to do with some of the modern "actions," but you're right, we should only commit if we think we can win . . . and we did.  I think the media has made this war much harder than it should have been, but at the end of the day, we'll have a "V" next to this war in our record book.

[Conan]

I supported it in 2003 and until I learned more about Iraq, like the ethnic structure, history, and conflict between those groups. Also based on what people in the intelligence community said about it long before we invaded and now that there theories have become truth.

[??????????]

Strongly Support/Strongly Support

Right war at the right time. Without a second thought in my mind.