What part of the whole Iraq War situation made it "WRONG" for you?

[neoteric lefty]

READ FIRST FOR CLARIFICATION:I DO NOT KNOW if the title is clear enough for my meaning. I am NOT asking which part is the worst in your opinion. I would think most people would say civilian and American casualties. What I am asking is what part of the war made it wrong in the first place in your eyes. For example, if we could guarantee no civilian deaths, would the war then be justified in some way? Or, if we could guarantee a stable Iraq in the end, then would the war be OK? I hope you all understand what I am asking. What criteria put the war OVER THE TOP for you?

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. Other.

All of the above. It opened Pandora's Box...as I said more than a year ago.

[neoteric lefty]

2. I agree but

something had to be first for you to say to yourself, "What a crock of shit!"

[greatauntoftriplets]

5. The whole damn idea!

What else did it take? I lived through Vietnam, saw the entire picture.

[neoteric lefty]

7. ok, ok... don't yell

:)

I was still only a gleam in my parents eyes back in those days.

edit: spelling

[Carolina]

24. I totally agree

The Whole Damn Thing from the Get Go!!!!

[JohnLocke]

3. Diversion of attention away from REAL TERRORISTS.

[neoteric lefty]

4. Hey John

yeah, I think that was a big one but the idea of attacking a country before they had done anything is what first got me upset about Iraq. That and the fact the W would be "leading" our troops. I can see Patton rolling in his grave.

[FreakinDJ]

6. Lied before the War even started

The Administration lied their way into the war in Iraq

[TexasProgresive]

8. All that and more-

it never made any sense to me to go to war in Iraq. I don't believe in war but setting that aside, I couldn't make sense out of any of the Du(m)bya camp's arguements. That's why I find it so amazing that people as smart as Powell appears to be could be so stoopid.

[neoteric lefty]

10. I do not know if was stupidity,

gullibility or blimd ambition that made him do such a dishonest thing. I truly believe that he knows what he did was wrong and it eats inside of him, unlike Bush or Cheney.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

9. The first thing(s)

that got my radar up were these:

1. We were in Afghanistan and trying to find OBL and then all this talk of Iraq??? Smelled very fishy.

2. I NEVER believed Iraq posed a threat to us. That means all the talk of mushroom clouds and here in 45 minutes got me VERY suspicious of what the heck bush and co were doing....

3. It was preemptive. You only carry out preemptive attacks on another country if you have incontrovertible evidence of an imminent attack they are about to carry out on you. I didn't feel in any way this met that criteria. In fact, once we had our troops amassed on the Iraq borders and our weapons pointed at THEM, THEY were justified in carrying out a preemptive attack on US, but we know how THAT would have gone.....they were a fourth-rate military power.

My bullshit radar was going off SO HARD on the Iraq thing.

[acmavm]

11. All of these events are intimately connected. Each and every one of them

were foretold before the bush*s shock and awegasm. They are all part of the whole package.

Other: all of the above.

[KeepItReal]

12. The part where Bush & Co. made Iraq sound like the old USSR

...in terms of military power and projection capabilities...and the intent to use that mythical Iraqi military might against us.

- USA had planes flying and bombing sh*t in Iraq ever since Guf War I.

- Iraq's army was already decimated and weren't much of an offensive threat.

- I don't remember Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Turkey or Iran cowering in fear from Saddam and asking for help

- CIA said that if Saddam even had nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, he would only use them if and only if we *INVADED* Iraq.

Those acts of misinformation and deception by Bush & Co. on Iraq's "strength" should warrant prosecution of Bush & Co. as Iraq was a relatively weak state.

And if you think they could have gotten away with funding and supporting terrorists, just look at Libya. They tried it and got nailed to the wall. Experts have said that state-sponsored terrorism is not something you can do and just get away with. It is traceable.

[Swamp Rat]

13. Preemptive war doctrine

This is not in our Constitution.

[Sirveri]

14. It did not serve the people.

If we went in, killed everyone, stole all the oil and turned it into a colony. I MIGHT not have minded it so much.

Even though containment was working and working quite we went in anyways. That's a waste of money right there. Then we get there and BushCo just uses it as a excuse to make more of his corporate contacts richer. YAY.

[merh]

15. I mean call me naive, but who in the world ever heard of let's start a war

to prevent a war? Call me stupid, but what threat could SH have if he is in a continent so far away and an ocean separates us from him? I had never heard about his navy and I didn't think his troops could make that swim if they were well armed.

It was the lies on top of the lies, on top of the lies, on top of the lies and it was taking advantage of tragedy, a tragedy so great that our nation had trouble comprehending it and was told not to mourn, but get over it.

The bastards.

Oh yeah, they have not been protecting the homeland, there have been no extra precautions taken at home and they are closing military bases and VA hospitals. Hypocrits!

[Blue_Tires]

16. taxpayer-funded mercs at $1000 per day

with ZERO accountability is still my biggest shock about this whole charade...these cowboys playing shoot 'em up wild-west style will invite a lot of hatred of regular americans for years to come

[Trajan]

17. Other ....

The threshold for justification was lowered to dirt ...

It is one thing to fight a war against REAL enemies based on REAL factually based justification ... in this case: the justification was based on known lies ... knowingly promoted ...

This was no just war: everything else afterwards is the proverbial icing in the fucked up cake ...

EVERYTHING is wrong: since there was no real justification ...

Getting rid of Saddam, or the fact that Saddam is now our of power, isnt enough to overcome the WH's fraud of justification ....

[FloridaPat]

18. Gulf War Syndrom - 150,00 our on disability and 50,000 have

applied. It's criminal to send our soldiers back in without any idea what the cause of the problem was. Which leads us to depleted uranium which is turning into a nightmare for the Iraqi people and probably the troops when they come home.

[David__77]

19. Invasion of sovereign nation.

This was a gross violation of sovereignty of nations, which is the foundation for international peace. Wars must only be waged against expansionist forces that themselves are attacking the sovereignty of others. This was a beacon of a new colonialism.

[hansolsen]

20. lies and pre-emptive war doctrine

It was obvious at the time that Iraq had no serious WMD -- the evidence presented was "thing gruel, about two peas to the gallon." That's what i called it at the time.

And just exactly where is it that we get the right to decide who in this world can have WMD and who can't? Look up the word "arrogance" in the dictionary, and you will find Shrub's picture and his doctrine.

[Warpy]

21. Bulling ahead with it when Blix and Ritter,

two guys who had actually been inspectors on the ground, said Iraq had nothing in the way of weapons, was no threat to anyone, didn't have the means of becoming a threat to anyone, and had no way to gain the means to be a threat to anyone.

Add to that the very prudent decision of the French to veto any resolution at the UN calling for war, plus the millions of people worldwide (especially in countries that still have a free press) demonstrating against Bush and his stupid plan to invade.

Add to that the fact that this gang of idiots had no contingency plans for when the Iraqis didn't greet the troops with chhers and flowers and accept whatever they were handed in the terms of a government, and the way the rebuilding has only been an excuse for coproate profiteering and his built only US military bases without employing any Iraqis and while leaving their country in shambles.

This is why this whole exercise in Pentagon hubris is wrong.

[Delano]

22. The utter fraudulence of the reasons for war itself.

As well as the gotesque farce of watching Bush during the buildup to war demand that Saddam "disarm" and act as though there was something within Saddam's power to avoid a US invasion.

It was sickening.

Watching "Shock and Awe" was also utterly revolting. I've nevver felt so ashamed of this country than at that moment.

[Eloriel]

23. Can't sort 'em out -- all of the above

There was NEVER any justification. All these and many more, including the fact that the U.N. obviously didn't WANT us "enforcing" their resolution, and our allies (other than Britain) weren't seeing the danger either.

And what I call "the common sense test": Were any of Saddam's neighbors afraid of him? NO!

[Sugarbleus]

25. The bald faced Lyinggggggg to the American People!!

I and all or most of you and the world KNEW it was a bad idea to go there. Millions marched all over the globe. Some were anti war some were like me: THIS IS A DUMB IDEA. They didn't attack us and doing this thing while it's not only illegal, it will also stir up a hornet's nest like the world has not seen. voile', so it has......

Most importantly, we DIDN'T FINISH IN AFGHANISTAN...we turned our back on those people.

[Tamiati]

26. In the first place,

I never agreed with Bush's policies or how the election was won in the first place....justice?? fair?? WHERE??? Hence most any action he took I saw as being selfish & greedy from the very inaguration of this man.......

In addition to this hell, I knew (ok, researched conspiracy theories) about the Bush Family legacy & their ties to the Nazi money laudering scheme way before this happened.....
As the old saying goes the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!!

Oil Man!! From Texas no less.......
(sorry no offense to most Texans, but just the powerful rich ones, yes that includes LBJ too)!
It WAS all about OIL,OIL,OIL,MONEY,MONEY,MONEY,POWER,POWER,POWER!!!

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[jsummers]

27. kick

[Oddman]

28. Every single thing down to the last "detail" was wrong

of course this stupid, inept administration did not have any details - they just had a vision of the general picture with people showering us with flowers and candy. HOW OBSCENE!!!!!


Cheney the Clown and Sideshow bush

[starroute]

29. Other: Fall of the US into blatant imperialism

Invading Iraq was a bad idea from the gitgo. It didn't suddenly became a bad idea because it ran into unexpected problems.

Living through the recent history of the United States has been like watching a Shakespearian tragedy. You can see exactly what's coming, but there's no way to stop it. Does anyone go to see Macbeth and say, "Gee, if he could have just brought off the murder of Duncan without killing all those other people, he would have been a really swell king"?

Murdering Duncan was obviously a bad idea because it was a step in Macbeth's ultimate downfall. And invading Iraq was a bad idea for exactly the same reason. People in this country are having a hard time recognizing how far gone we really are, but the US as we've known it is doomed. The only question is how hard the fall will be.