Oldguy12

NPR Iraq War Over

Comment on: Obama: 'War In Iraq Is Over'; All Troops Will Withdraw By Year's Endat 10/23/2011 2:33 PM EDT Michael Kegan (Hume) wrote: Tom, Tom, nonsense. Bush lied us into the war in Iraq with false claims about WMD and Obama inherited two wars one legitimate and one not. _____________ 1. To believe GWB 'lied us into the war' is to ascribe to him a level of intellectual depth, mastery of oratorical persuasion and Machiavellian leadership not seen since...well....WJC. I supported GWB and, let's be honest, the guy doesn't posses the skills to pull something like that off. 2. If President Obama inherited anything, it was a cakewalk to becoming POTUS after defeating HRC. The very issues that paved the way for a Democrat to become President are the ones some now complain about. Between the economy tanking and the titanic anchor of two prolonged wars, there was no way a Republican was going to win. To now complain that the President 'inherited' these issues is to deny that these issues ARE the reason he's President today. He ran on the very notion of fixing the problems...that's why we gave him the job - not to complain about them whenever the heat is turned up. To his credit, though (more likely Pluffe or Axlerod), President Obama has recently refrained from the "I inherited" excuse..his supporters would be wise to do the same.

Comment on: Obama: 'War In Iraq Is Over'; All Troops Will Withdraw By Year's Endat 10/23/2011 2:20 PM EDT Edward Burke (ConservativesRGone) wrote: After George "Torture Americans" Bush, who needs to worry about foreign dictators. _______________ Torture or kill with drones? With torture you might get some useful intel but then you have to deal with all the complaints about Human Rights and that crazy stuff. With drones you save yourself all the political issues of rendition, secret prisons, military tribunals, civilian trials, torture memos... I see your point.

Comment on: Obama: 'War In Iraq Is Over'; All Troops Will Withdraw By Year's Endat 10/23/2011 2:16 PM EDT Helane Carswell (Frangi) wrote: If this were a Republican president, you'd be shouting "VICTORY" from the rooftops! This is THE problem with those with right-wing views - you have no opinion on a matter, so your responses are always the opposite of the other party, even when you agree with the same actions if the party you support does...when you disagree just because you don't like the party that made the decision, that says more about your lack of critical thinking than it does about the judgment of those you criticize! ______________ Unfortunately "Republican" and "Democrat", "right-wing" and "left-wing" are interchangeable in this post....and many like them. A very loud minority of party supporters on both sides treat the other as their enemy, not their opponent. (Code Pink, MoveOn, Daily KOS, HuffPo...during GWB) If it's any comfort nearly all of my conservative friends give credit (yes we would be more vocal in support of an R) to President Obama on his FP execution. But, we see much of it as a clear departure from his campaign speeches, and I believe most other cons do, too. BHO has shown an ability to, as he put it, 'refine' his position and has done an excellent job as CINC. Rs should ackldge, then talk jobseconomy.

Comment on: Obama: 'War In Iraq Is Over'; All Troops Will Withdraw By Year's Endat 10/21/2011 6:03 PM EDT Eric P (EPZ) wrote: Poor no-bid contract winner Haliburton. Without a republican president, who is going to fabricate another war? ___________ You understand that Haliburton (KBR) is still the top contractor (LOGCAP) under the current President?

Comment on: Obama: 'War In Iraq Is Over'; All Troops Will Withdraw By Year's Endat 10/21/2011 5:12 PM EDT Justah Member (icastel) wrote: You think the sanctions didn't work? The no-fly zones? The constant bombings? That was the reason the U.S. didn't find much military muscle to oppose them. _____________ It doesn't matter what I think, the facts are the sanctions failed to achieve their goals of ensuring compliance with a series of UN resolutions, and they certainly didn't result in the overthrow of a dictator. We also know the no-fly zone was impotent in keeping SH from putting down the Kurdish uprising...he used rotary wing aircraft which weren't prohibited by the cease fire agreement. I'm a little unclear on the 'constant bombings' claim. On rare occasions coalition forces attacked ground units during the 12 year sanction period, usually for turning on their surface-to-air missile radar systems. I don't believe there was ever a bombing campaign during the sanction period designed to degrade Iraq's military capability, until the preparations for the invasion began. The lack of 'military muscle' you characterized had little to do with the sanctions and everything to do with classified (now public) activities of the CIA and the Joint Special Forces Command during the summer of 2002 and the aforementioned air campaign.

Comment on: Obama: 'War In Iraq Is Over'; All Troops Will Withdraw By Year's Endat 10/21/2011 4:43 PM EDT J K (UptonOrwell) wrote: Had we not intervened, Hussein, in all reality, probably would have been taken down by his own people in the Arab Spring or forced out of power by international outcry if he attacked enough protesters. ____________ If it were only so easy. We've already seen how SH 'beat down' his own people, both before and after the Gulf War. And we know how muted the 'international outcry' would have been, if at all audible, based on past experiences with SH's tyrannical behavior. Prior to the Iraq war SH controlled the worlds 4th largest military...much larger, better equipped and lethal than any Arab Spring state. Given that the only overt military support we provided was to Libya, it's unlikely we'd have given much support at all to an uprising in Iraq. Another indicator of our probable lack of willingness to intervene in Iraq can be seen in our nearly silent reaction to the massive protests emanating from rigged Iranian elections in 2009-2010. We complained and then moved on to easier challenges. Finally, Iraqis DID have an opportunity to develop peacefully starting on April 9, 2003 when Baghdad fell. Iraqis choose a different path than what we hope Libyans, Egyptians, Tunisians and others will make.

Comment on: Obama: 'War In Iraq Is Over'; All Troops Will Withdraw By Year's Endat 10/21/2011 3:41 PM EDT Congratulations to the US military and past and current administrations. Putting aside the causesjustification of the Iraq war, this has easily been the 'best' major war the US has ever fought by a number of objective metrics; ratio of USCoalition deaths to enemy deaths ratio of USC deaths to duration of war ratio of USC deaths to number liberated ratio of USC injuries to enemy injuries ratio of USC injuries to duration of war ratio of USC injuries to number liberated cost per liberated civilian cost per enemy KIA cost per day of combat democracy established Was it worth it? A recent poll of the US military seems to think so. A poll of those who didn't serve shows a more negative attitude, though. Were there other options? Of course, there are always other options....like 12 years of sanctions and UN (in)action, or 'stand off kinetic energy platforms'. We know how well those worked in the past. Our best 'other' option was during the post Gulf War rebellion but GHWB deferred to the UN, the Arab League and the international community, none of whom wanted to take SH down at that time. Would SH succumbed to the Arab Spring? How Iran handles rebels may be the best proxy...and I don't see Iran changing any time soon.