Iraq War....

[DankNuggs 305]

Very simple concept: LIBERAL MEDIA

 

 

The democratic party is running solely on "Iraq bad, elect me"..... they have no concept of the economy, of resolving domestic issues. They are tree hugging self loathers who bankrupt this country within the next century, and hand it over to every degenerate who refuses to get a job.

 

 

$5/ga. gas prices is making the avg person more aware of the impact of middle east turmoil .

[FeelingMN 273]

Here's a simpler concept: the Bush administration's inept handling of the war. Even before the first wave of the war, there was skepticism concerning an effective exit strategy. During the war, you had Rummy and Cheney downplaying problems and stating we would only be in Iraq for 6 months. During the war, you had high ranking military personnel question the number of troops deployed, stating we needed more ground troops to be effective in quelling the insurgency. During the war there were reports of our troops being inadequately equipped.

 

And yes, the surge has been effective in limiting the amount of casualties suffered by our forces. But taken to the logical conclusion, this will only hold while we are there. It's possible that once we leave, the country disintegrates under sectarian violence. Success cannot be measured by casualties, but by implementing a functioning Iraqi government; all indications are this is a long way off.

 

A year or two ago, the same people were touting success as the building of schools in Iraq, and the Iraqis in general returning to a more normal way of life. All this while we've had bridges collapse and metropolises flooded.

 

Everyone is happy we're suffering less casualties than a year ago, but this cannot be taken as success. Only after Iraq becomes a soveriegn nation, standing on its own two feet, can we as Americans feel proud of what we help accomplish.

[AirRam 3]

Jets24 is happy that 21 Americans died. They have names doochebag:

 

Cpl. Christian S. Cotner, 20, of Waterbury, Conn.

Staff Sgt. Frank J. Gasper, 25, of Merced, Calif

Sgt. Blake W. Evans, 24, of Rockford, Ill.

Sgt. 1st Class Jason F. Dene, 37, of Castleton, Vt

Pfc. Kyle P. Norris, 22, of Zanesville, Ohio

Pvt. Branden P. Haunert, 21, of Cincinnati, Ohio

Sgt. John K. Daggett, 21, of Phoenix, Ariz.

Staff Sgt. Victor M. Cota, 33, of Tucson, Ariz.

Cpl. Jessica A. Ellis, 24, of Bend, Ore.

Sgt. Joseph A. Ford, 23, of Knox, Ind

Spc. Mary J. Jaenichen, 20, of Temecula, Calif.

Pfc. Aaron J. Ward, 19, of San Jacinto, Calif.

Spc. Alex D. Gonzalez, 21, of Mission, Texas

Pfc. Corey L. Hicks, 22, of Glendale, Ariz

Lance Cpl. Casey L. Casanova, 22, of McComb, Miss.

Cpl. Miguel A. Guzman, 21, of Norwalk, Calif.

Lance Cpl. James F. Kimple, 21, of Carroll, Ohio

Sgt. Glen E. Martinez, 31, of Boulder, Colo.

Spc. Jeffrey F. Nichols, 21, of Granite Shoals, Texas

 

Thank you.

[kilroy69 1,009]

It's possible that once we leave, the country disintegrates under sectarian violence.

Its way more than just possible. These people have been fighting among themselves for 2,000 years. Us coming in and "liberating" them is not going to stop this.

[Brad GLuckman 518]

Iraqi violence down and gov't confidence rising

 

The good news :

 

Signs are emerging that Iraq has reached a turning point. Violence is down, armed extremists are in disarray, government confidence is rising and sectarian communities are gearing up for a battle at the polls rather than slaughter in the streets.

 

Those positive signs are attracting little attention in the United States, where the war-weary public is focused on the American presidential contest and skeptical of talk of success after so many years of unfounded optimism by the war's supporters.

 

And possibility of more bad:

 

"This relative calm is the calm before the storm," said Mohammed al-Sheikhli, director of the Transitional Justice Research Center in Baghdad. "The worst violence is not over because the calm may collapse any moment."

 

That may prove true. Most of the root causes of the war — notably the power struggle between Sunnis and Shiites_ remain unresolved.

 

Still, Iraq is by almost any measure safer today than at any time in the past three years. Fears that the country will disintegrate have receded — though they have not disappeared.

 

The wave of sectarian massacres that pushed the country to the brink of all-out civil war in 2006 has calmed.

 

Link

[Voice_Of_Reason 0]

You know what is pissing me off right now?

 

It's the fact that democrats (simple minded morons) screamed no war for oil. And the republicans (simple minded morons) didn't want the democrats to be right about the war for oil, so we didn't take any.

 

I say take all the oil NOW!

 

Also, I live in a heavy miltary area. 2 big bases. Just about every soldier I talk to has said that Iraq is a cake walk. But Afghanistan is were they worry about getting killed.

[jets24 6]

Jets24 is happy that 21 Americans died. They have names doochebag:

 

Cpl. Christian S. Cotner, 20, of Waterbury, Conn.

Staff Sgt. Frank J. Gasper, 25, of Merced, Calif

Sgt. Blake W. Evans, 24, of Rockford, Ill.

Sgt. 1st Class Jason F. Dene, 37, of Castleton, Vt

Pfc. Kyle P. Norris, 22, of Zanesville, Ohio

Pvt. Branden P. Haunert, 21, of Cincinnati, Ohio

Sgt. John K. Daggett, 21, of Phoenix, Ariz.

Staff Sgt. Victor M. Cota, 33, of Tucson, Ariz.

Cpl. Jessica A. Ellis, 24, of Bend, Ore.

Sgt. Joseph A. Ford, 23, of Knox, Ind

Spc. Mary J. Jaenichen, 20, of Temecula, Calif.

Pfc. Aaron J. Ward, 19, of San Jacinto, Calif.

Spc. Alex D. Gonzalez, 21, of Mission, Texas

Pfc. Corey L. Hicks, 22, of Glendale, Ariz

Lance Cpl. Casey L. Casanova, 22, of McComb, Miss.

Cpl. Miguel A. Guzman, 21, of Norwalk, Calif.

Lance Cpl. James F. Kimple, 21, of Carroll, Ohio

Sgt. Glen E. Martinez, 31, of Boulder, Colo.

Spc. Jeffrey F. Nichols, 21, of Granite Shoals, Texas

 

 

Next time, I'll list the hundreds of thousands who died just to give assmegs like yourself the ability to call me a dooshbag. Don't be an assmeg your whole life. Assmeg.

[jets24 6]

this is an exceedingly poor premise for a thread, even by jets24 standards

 

wonder what that says about the idiot who responds to such a poor thread.

[tikigods 76]

When I was in Iraq (in 1991) it was a cakewalk. Crushing Saddam's Army in wide open areas in the middle of the desert with no civilians around was easy and nearly painless. The bad guys were easily identified and with superior firepower, we could kill them before they got close to us. Although my unit was heavy armor on the front lines, I never got shot at personally because I was in maintenence support, so I was always 1-4 miles behind. It was an easy war.

 

Of course we didn't go into cities or conduct street to street/house to house fighting either. Or policing neighborhoods. That sh*t was hugely dangerous and we didn't have any training in it. I had none, as in zero, as in not eve one day addressing the issue in bootcamp.

 

Obviously, when this war started, we still didn't know a d@mn thing about urban warfare or have the proper equipment. It was clear to me from the beginning this would all happen. I personally knew the military wasn't prepared for occupying/patroling hostile urban territory. I knew from just a college class many years ago that Saddam and al Qaeda didn't get along. I knew that Saddam wouldn't use WMD on us... we were right there fighitng a war with him, then occupying southern Iraq, so even with huge provocation, he never pulled that sh*t out on us.

 

So I've opposed this war from the beginning and every point in between. My major issue in politics has always been fiscal managment and sound financing. I absolutly hate watching the national debt explode. So between this ridiculous pointless war and the financial irresponsibily it has caused, it makes me want to shove George W Bush and his whole inner circle into a wood chipper.

 

I realize now we have lots of experience and with General Petraus, looks like we have a really good leadership over there. Who knows what hind of horrors those guys had to endure to learn those things. But I still don't give a fock about the Iraqis, our troops are still dying and I still don't see any end to pulling out, I hate seeing extremely massive volumes of tax money flushed into that toilet, and my seething, blinding red-hot hatred of all things Bush means I'm not inclined at all to reconsider the war.

 

Amen, brother.

 

the only problem is the can of worms is open and now it's the sunni fearful that the shi'ites are going to seek revenge for all the years of the Baath party rule. I've been drkinng for the past three hours so i don't want to be a politcal troll tonight.

[FeelingMN 273]

Charlie Rose will be airing an interview with three dudes just returned from Iraq; one of whom is a NYT columnist, on Tuesday the 17th. Should be a good gauge of how things are over there, as well as what the immediate outlook is.

[Voltaire 4,570]

Next time, I'll list the hundreds of thousands who died just to give assmegs like yourself the ability to call me a dooshbag. Don't be an assmeg your whole life. Assmeg.

 

There's a big difference between a good war and a pointless one. It's certainly no fun to see brave American lives p*ssed away like this.

[Me_2006 14]

Charlie Rose will be airing an interview with three dudes just returned from Iraq; one of whom is a NYT columnist, on Tuesday the 17th. Should be a good gauge of how things are over there, as well as what the immediate outlook is.

I wouldn't count on that. I'd say we can all predict how that one is gonna go.

[jets24 6]

There's a big difference between a good war and a pointless one. It's certainly no fun to see brave American lives p*ssed away like this.

 

That's your opinion that this is a pointless war. I happen to disagree with that. But for you to say that these brave men and women died for a pointless war is a disservice to their death.