IRAQ war explained

[twizyours]

I knew of the 3 and 5 or 6 and 2. You might be rite though, I could check to be accurate, I just dont remember that, but is not that important.

 

[enry]

This is all really interesting... And I will not negate that Iraq has problems. I just don't think barging in guns blazing is the appropriate response at this time.

 

[DooMer_MP3]

My problem with the war on terror/probable war on Iraq is that it will never be won. In fact, these wars will likely cause more problems.

The war on terrorism is very similar to the US war on drugs. The war on drugs is pretty much a failure. One cannot expect to erradicate all, or even most of the drug traffic into the United States. You bring down one organization or druglord, another one just steps into place and continues their work.

As for the war on terror, I make my comparison with a good quote by an excellent author - Gore Vidal, author of "Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace":

"We have a war on terrorism, which is a war both on an unknown enemy and an abstract noun. Therefore, its a war with no end, and its a war that cannot be won, and it bears a resemblance to the war on drugs for the same reason. And the question then is in whose interest are these wars?"

Have we killed Osama Bin Laden? No. Will we ever? Most likely not. What happens if we do? Somebody else will step in his place. And what happens if we overthrow Saddam and put a democracy in place? Are we going to put all of our money into making sure it works? I seriously doubt it.

Look at Afghanistan... Although the Taliban was a rather terrible regime, that country is in more disarray than it was before - worsened poverty, extremely dangerous, and a president who is not likely to live another year. Sure our media shows happy little girls in school for the first time in years, but how safe are they?

Whether we like it or not, our great country depends so heavily on Mid-Eastern oil, our government will do anything to get it. I hear so many people complaining that gas is $1.59 a gallon. Wow, I'd be willing to pay $5 a gallon knowing that my dollars didn't get cycled into the hands of terrorists.

People need to realize that there are other options to defeat an enemy that do not include war.

P.S. Good debate, and its nice to see people are keeping it clean!
Chris

 

[PR5hokie]

I agree that there are other options to defeating an enemy, but what options do you believe will help in this case? Furthermore the war on terrorism is a tough one like you said. There isn't a clearly defined enemy, and it's a long and drawn out process but does that mean it's not worth our time? Would it be better to do nothing and just accept attacks? While you comparison to the "war on drugs" is a good one, hasn't the quantity of drugs entering the U.S. decreased over the years. I am not saying the policy that is in place regarding drugs is perfect, but given time it does work a bit. Don't you think given time that this "war" against terrorism will a have more positive than negative effect?

 

[deepcover6]

Just a little scholarly insight for those who listen.
http://stream.realimpact.net/rihurl.ram?file=webactive/demnow/dn20021024.ra&start=13:43.9

 

[DooMer_MP3]

I agree that there are other options to defeating an enemy, but what options do you believe will help in this case? Furthermore the war on terrorism is a tough one like you said. There isn't a clearly defined enemy, and it's a long and drawn out process but does that mean it's not worth our time? Would it be better to do nothing and just accept attacks? While you comparison to the "war on drugs" is a good one, hasn't the quantity of drugs entering the U.S. decreased over the years. I am not saying the policy that is in place regarding drugs is perfect, but given time it does work a bit. Don't you think given time that this "war" against terrorism will a have more positive than negative effect?

I'm not saying we do nothing. I'm saying we look into our foreign policies and try to understand what provoked such attacks. We need to realize that aiding a country in a war to further our own good and then turning our backs to them is going to piss people off. We need to realize that the money we spend on middle eastern oil will in some way end up in the hands of a terrorist network. And then there's Israel... Exactly why are we aiding them again!?

I think people are getting blinded by war as being an easy way out - especially when they are not directly involved. Yeah sure, go in there and oust Saddam. We're done right? Well, wrong. Now that we've completely disrupted a country (and pissed off A LOT of people while we're at it), we need to fix it. The United States does not have a very good track record in that department. I think war is only a temporary solution to a growing problem.

No, I'm not saying we bend over and take it up the ass. We don't have to. We tighten our little ass cheeks a bit and change our lives for our own good(consume less oil). But we don't need our ass torn to shreds by the increasing amount of hatred that will result in our Cowboy's (err... President's) decision to destroy Iraq .

Now for the hypocrisy. So how much extra fuel will I need to dump into my cylinders to successfully run my future turbo at 8psi?

Chris

 

[20ESGUY]

My personal opnion on the whole is issue is pretty plain and simple. Most people in america are not ready or willing for that matter to deal with soldiers coming home in body bags, which in war that happens; its a fact of the matter. We have become very lush in this nation as a population and tend to think that everything should be peachy keen and easy..fact is it isn't. A war with iraq is more than likely inevitable, the problem with that is the whole region is unstable. Truthfully if we did go in we would have to have long term presence in the entire region not just iraq to prevent uprisings and adjacent countries from attacking. The wars between those countries have been going on since biblical times and i dont think that they're going to stop fighting for "religous" grounds.

 

[big_ben]

I can break down our options with this war very easily.

The U.S is damned if we do, and we are damned if we don't.

If we don't go in and finally take him from power, the whole world will continue to say, "you destroyed their country and starved their people with sanctions, then did nothing to help them."

If we do go in and take him from power, the world will say, "you attacked them without UN approval and you are just like the reigning Nazi empire of the past. Now the whole Arab world hates you even more than before."

The way I see it is everyone is gong to be pissed at the U.S. no matter what we do. So we might as well do something that will benefit us if the world will be pissed at any rate.