War in Iraq

[forensic]

Interested in seeing members' opinions on the war in Iraq - do you guys think there will be spill over to something like Iran or Syria?

Additionally, how politicized do you think Bush and the GOP will make this war in 2004? A while back, the Boston Globe ran a nice article on this topic of elections and brought some interesting moral and ethical questions into play. Any opinions?

~jason

[testtest]

Something so large as a war cannot begin to be discussed in a single post, but here are some thoughts.

1) "This war is for oil."
I don't agree. The economic incentive simply isn't there. Even if the US was to seize and develop all of the potential oil in Iraq, it still would not benefit us very much economically. It's often said that Bush may have launced this war to appease oil companies to whom he is close. This statement must be false, since cheap supplies of oil aren't in the interest of oil companies. The less available oil there is, the higher the price, therefore oil companies want to keep available supplies to a minimum.

2) "The US had to disarm WMD"
Saddam Hussein most likely did not have anywhere near the level of WMD that the US sometimes implied that he did. He once tried to develop nuclear weapons, to be sure, but the need for disarmament was most likely the justification for war that the US provided for the world.

3) "Saddam Hussein is evil."
I agree with this one. He instigated a war with Iran, which turned out to be one of the most devastating wars of the twentieth century. He then attacked Kuwait in a power grab. Feeling threatened, he molested minority groups in Iraq. I agree with John Stoessinger's statement that Saddam Hussein is a "war lover."

Then why did the US initiate this war? I believe, though I have never heard this idea openly discussed, that the central reason is the Bush administration's fear that Saddam Hussein intended to make war on Israel. If he struck first, the two might have a nuclear exchange, and World War III could truly have started. That famous statue of Saddam in Paradise Square, the one they tore down, had an arm outstretched toward Israel.

[DBrennan]

I don't think this war was necessary yet. More could have been done to prevent it. But now that's it has been going on lets just hope for a safe return.

[forensic]

interesting comments - i go to school at berkeley and here the war was protested with a vegenance...

just curious to hear the perspective of people that agree with the impluses for the war. do you guys feel sanctions could have worked? or were those becoming trite and symbolic?

~jason

[chrispac]

i think theyd still be mad at each other.

[DCdisco]

I could spew on and on and.........on still.......about this complex issue of the War in Iraq.

BUT....

i will limit myself to simply, "i am so sick and tied of 'war in iraq' this and that too!" :evil:

The sooner its over, the sooner i can get back to watching the news again, WITHOUT WAR STUFF ON CONSTANTLY.

Anyways, yeah, i'm done :roll:

[rain_on_me]

to me it's really strange to be in a country that basically widely supports the war. the whole thing had so much propaganda involved it made me sick. if you heard people arguing about war, you heard the same euphemic phrases you heard on tv (along with the patriotic music and the heartbreaking stories of POWs - if you'd pick ONE iraqi out of the many many then you'd have a more heartbreaking story than any of our few POWs)
the whole thing was biased from the beginning on. i am glad that it works towards its end now, and that iraqi people actually seem happy about american intervention (sort of), but i am not.

[Misledyouth]

Like i have said many many more times before This war is not justified because we invaded to find sadams wmd's and look we didn't find any so then bush had to find another reason to pick on the small mentally challange contry of the world so he decides to kick sadam out of his own contry fighting iraq is like me beating up the smallest most retarded freshman in my school i think its hourse ****

__________________________
-Steve-o

[RR_Shiri]

Ah, my favorite topic... The way I view this mess, is that it was one of those 'lesser of two evils' things...see, I'd rather have Bush get rid of Saddam then just leave him there. Yes, it was his country, but think back to the Holocaust. That was pretty much Hitler's country, but it doesn't mean he was right in what he did to his people. I wish that it would've been handled in a peaceful fashion and it prolly could have been done if Bush had been willing to take the time, but...aw whatever. We already knew how I felt about all this.

[Marxist]

1. War was for oil. Notice how Bush, in making his pre war address to the nation, his instructions for the Iraqi's are first: don't burn the oil, then don't use weapons of mass destruction.

2. The US is a very hypocritical country. The US claims that it is going in to stop weapons of mass destruction. First, the united states has a large number of weapons of mass destruction, so why don't we disarm ourselves? Second, we havevn't found any weapons of mass destruction. We went from claiming that they had biological and chemical weapons to "the have a remote controlled airplane, and therefore we must attack"

3. Regime change starts at home.

[rain_on_me]

word

[CA800]

No, this is NOT a war for oil. I think that has been clearly explained already. The reason he is telling them not to burn oil fields is because if there is going to be a stable government in Iraq, it is going to have to have a resource to generate money. Oil without trade barriers or sanctions would accomplish just that.

[Marxist]

In other words, there needs to be oil so that they can keep us as allies, after all it will be our government in there. Once again proving that our only intrest in that country is, guess what, OIL!

[Misledyouth]

all i have to say about the war can be sumed up in 3 little words "Its Horse ****"

______________
-Steve-o

[chrispac]

come on man you can say it :lol:

[Misledyouth]

i did say it. it that **** cencorship problem we have

[gehngis]

Fuk Bush's military machine. This war is the kind of impact we've been talking about in debates for years. How much longer will it be before the US openly enforces its hegemonic rule over other countries?

[gehngis]

Ha! Can't edit that, can you?!

[Xtemper]

Psst Genghis, please don't curse. Carry yourself with the dignity that befits an extemper. I doubt you would say what you just did openly if General Franks was in the room. So don't say it here.

In reply to the criticism of Marxist, Bush would like to secure the oil fields in part to prevent ecological disaster. When Saddam retreated during Gulf War I, he burned the oil fields behind him, a terribly barbarous thing to do. Bush doesn't want that to happen again.

[Marxist]

Why because the poor Saudies would have to rebuild costing them money and in effect us money. The major point that I was trying to put out there is that Bush cared more about the oil fields then lose of US soldiers or use of chemical and biological weapons.

And by the way I think that Wiley would indeed say it...

Buck Fush!!!!!!