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Originally posted by DarthAmerica
reply to post by Ownification
Your post is so ignorant and full of hyperbole and errors that it's not worth responding to directly. If you want to discuss this, do it objectively and focus on a single coherent VERIFIABLE issue. Otherwise you are ideologically motivated and nothing I say will change you even though I have the benefit of seeing with my own eyes. If there was anything to suggest we were losing or unjustified in being here I would be the first to scream it at the top of my lungs.
-DA
In the build-up to the U.S. invasion in 2003, Bush and other administration leaders argued that Saddam should be removed from power because he had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and was actively seeking to build a nuclear weapon.
Subsequent investigations concluded that he did not have such weapons, and in an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Cheney acknowledged that, “clearly, the intelligence that said he did was wrong.”
The CIA had a hand in it. They had funded the Ba'ath Party - of which Saddam Hussein was a young member - when it was in opposition.
US diplomat James Akins served in the Baghdad Embassy at the time.
"I knew all the Ba'ath Party leaders and I liked them," he told me.
"The CIA were definitely involved in that coup. We saw the rise of the Ba'athists as a way of replacing a pro-Soviet government with a pro-American one and you don't get that chance very often.
"Sure, some people were rounded up and shot but these were mostly communists so that didn't bother us".
Originally posted by noangels
Yeahh lets ignore the vids above and take your word for it Things were a lot better there before your lot arrived there sunshine.
[edit on 4-8-2008 by MemoryShock]
If you take one thing from this with you take this. We went to some of those meetings in the town hall (government center) and these Iraqis aren't talking about the reasons for the invasion. People are focused on everyday life. I talked with the Iraqi Army soldiers whom I worked with and they were vary worried about this next election. We (the US soldiers) know the Iraqi army is not strong enough yet and they know it too. Before I left I told them that I would pray for them. I don't know how they are doing today but I hope for the best.
Umm expect it was the Democratic leadership that closed down Congress for the month of August. Why? Because she did not want a vote on opening up oil production in the US. Seems that about 70% of the US population want us to start getting our oil from here instead of there.
Who cares, the only winners are the profiteers. War is business plain and simple, always has been and soldiers are pawns for corporate profiteers.
Originally posted by audas
Soldiers - Iraqi workers here is the reality for you - YOU DO NOT WORK ALL OVER IRAQ. Pure and simple.
The British have recently admitted to being completely humiliated through the Accommodation - they (200 soldiers) were trapped in the airport and had to negotiate to retreat. How is this a step forward ? Further they had negotiated to no longer engage the enemy - the "Accommodation" - forcing the Iraqi Army to engage on there own without any U.S. or U.K support.
The REAL reason things have calmed down is because Iran has negotiated with the insurgents - this has been acknowledged by the U.S. and the U.K. and is the great humiliation in Iraq. The Shiite led government is working hand in hand with Iran -
You can work all you like in one small obscure part of the country - but you know nothing of the rest, and even if you see some improvement in one area this does not mean it is translated to the rest and it SURE AS SH!* does not mean it is because of the surge.
Why on earth would some medium to low level military - civil servant know the picture in Iraq, yet alone the middle east. The wouldn't. Simple. Those who spend their time collating information, reading, researching and investigating all possible sources from around the world are going to know more than some individual who is a low level cog in military machine.
Iraq is the greatest is one of the great tragedies in human history - that is a fact - and America is entirely responsible for it. The idea that this troop surge is in any way responsible for the quelling of Iraqi insurgency (sunni or shiite) is just ridiculous in the extreme. This war is ALL ABOUT POLITICS and has almost nothing to do with your efforts.
Originally posted by donwhite
reply to post by squiz
Who cares, the only winners are the profiteers. War is business plain and simple, always has been and soldiers are pawns for corporate profiteers.
It is ironic that the general who more than any other won our Revolutionary War, and the general who led the largest invasion force ever assembled into Normandy and saw it through to the end of the War in Europe, would BOTH warn us in their parting thoughts, to be wary of the military-industrial complex. And here we sit, dumbfounded but accepting that the US must spend MORE than 50% of all the world’s expenditures on the means of killing other humans, which we in an Orwellian twist, call DEFENSE.
Pentagon Prayer: "GOD, give us an enemy worthy of our weapons!"
Originally posted by solo1
Your puppet in Iraq made it clear ."get out of Iraq".
they don't want you there ,are tired of you murdering ,raping ,and torturing their people.
the war is lost !
just as was the case in Vietnam, if you do not get out ,you will leave with your tail between your legs.
this isn't a war it is a war crime
One that American males stand like peacocks beating their chest we have won.
what have you won a broken economy ?
while the bone heads in the military fight so that congress senate and president all line their pockets off the feast of tax dollars being stolen from the American people
bone head military people are breathing Depleted Uranium.
killing innocent people who defend against a preemptive force you use ww3 tactics and munitions against men in rags and call home to mommy for more armor.
all the while your freedoms are being stripped away at home
when you return you they will through away like a dirty rage.
while the Americans are losing their freedoms at home you want to bring your freedom to those that do not want it.
You not only have lost the war you have lost America in the process.
Originally posted by Styki
reply to post by Alxandro
Ghofer, victory in Iraq today is an Iraq where the population has a voice in who will lead their country. Victory in Iraq is when "freedom fighters" lay down their weapons and put away their IED's, not because they have nobody to fight against but because they realize that Iraq will be a better country if they do so.
Go ahead, take the Iraqi civilians word over a US soldiers. I just spent a good portion or my life over there. Do you really think I care about what your opinion on who to believe is? Want to know what I care about right now. There were Iraqi children who would give us bread when we were hungry because on the patrol base you get food two times a day, if conditions where good enough for the shipments get there. I stood on guard with, went on missions with, and ate with the Iraqi Army. I relied on interpreters from different parts of the country and all of them had different perspectives on the war. But all of them knew that the US needed to stay in Iraq. I care about these people infinitely more than I care about you opinion on US soldiers. And if this US leaves Iraq, I will worry for these peoples wellbeing.
[edit on 5-8-2008 by Styki]
Originally posted by DarthAmerica
You idealist are so amazing in how naive you are.
Originally posted by DarthAmerica
Killing other humans is a part of our nature and very necessary at times. It's common throughout most species to kill each other when interest are threatened. This is just the way life is.
Originally posted by DarthAmerica
I'm proud to have been a part of that.
Originally posted by DarthAmerica
The man is not perfect but he sure is a very capable wartime leader and that is not debatable if you have seen the progression of this war.