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6. We left the radicals alone until they interfered with our country. I hate wars, but they ****** with us…. so we just need to… well, tell them to stop kinda. & now Iran might have nukes which could be verrrrrry bad.

I totally used to think what you are thinking now… srsly. I still dislike Bush & everything. but. until I read more about it & discovered how seriously ****** up radical islam is. & how they really do hate the western culture & would blow America up in a second if they could. Which is why nukes are REALLY scary. Also, we kinda do need to control the oil market. I know this sounds bad but I do not want what happened in the seventies to happen again. Call me selfish.

I feel Afghanistan was the right decision. Im for the conflict. However, Iraq was one of the biggest mistakes that has been made since Vietnam. But take into all the variables, America is in serious trouble with the entire conflict.

And i dont say this lightly. I find warfare strangely appealing, and to some degrees interesting and enthralling (please dont hold that against me).

But when you look at what the Americans are up against, the history of the conflict, and the motivation of their enemy, America must pull out now if it cares about its soldiers.

For one thing, this war did not start in 2001. It started in 1979, with the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. The Taliban, and another force led by Osama bin Laden, fought the Russian invaders out of the country with the help of the US, with promises of prosperity for their new Allies. This was false pretense. With this abandonment, they created a future enemy. For years, Bin Laden made it his personal ambition to fight back in revenge, with multiple attacks at home and abroad for a decade until the final, ultimate act in 2001. The enemy is so determined to achieve victory that they will stop at nothing, and fight to the last breathe. These radical beliefs are not helped by the fact they had victory over another super power at the time, Russia.

On to Iraq. ALmost an identical mistake was made in the 1990s. America invades Iraq, primarily for the Oil exports and to liberate Kuwait, but they also promised the Iraqi people protection from the Dictator, Saddam. The Americans left when Iraq withdraw. The promises were, again, forgotten by the US, but not the Iraqis. One event of the Iraq war that must be pointed out is the Highway of Death, in which US warplanes bombed a massive convoy of civilians and fleeing soldiers, trying to save their lives by running from the conflict only to be bombed.

In their wake, the US army left behind deep wounds and scarring in the trust and humanity of these people, causing a massive need for revenge.

What we are seeing now is the resulting aftermath of these decisions made decades ago. For the US, this is the second Gulf War. For the Iraqis, the first one never ended. And in that time the US wasnt there, millions of civilians were imprisoned, tortured and killed by Saddam, fueling the sense of betrayal and mistrust of America. Fueling the need for the release of anger and the urge for revenge

In Iraq, the Americans were never fighting just one force. They are fighting the entire country: the terrorists, the army, the people.

The same mistake was made in Vietnam. The people of Vietnam wanted to be an independant nation, not a french colony, not an American colony - Vietnamese. They wanted to be free. But this detail was overlooked with too much confidence and ignorance in technology, and the foolish belief of imminent victory. What we have learnt since is that the Vietnamese were prepared to do everything possible to liberate themselves, and fought for decades against the french, the US, and then the chinese.

We can only expect the same in Iraq. One question that i find curious in this war hasnt been asked yet. I always here, Iraq must become a Democratic nation. However, what if the American version of democracy that works in the Americas, what if this does not work the same way in the middle east? Everyone assumes it will, and it does. . . . . . .

Its been 6 years now. If not now, then when?

If the US truly cares about its soldiers and sovereignty, they will pull out now before its too late.

We must remember something when we say the word terrorist: A terrorist is a civilian with a gun. To its enemy, they are a Terrorist, to their followers, they are freedom fighters and revolutionaries.

The best way to combat terrorism is to not give the people a reason to hate you.

i think i fall in under the “Other” vote option, lol

inaboxbythestep: i see where you are coming from, what happened was terrible. But you must also see where these people, these terrorists are coming from. To some degree, both forces have interfered with each other, not one over the other.

2

There is no war…it was an occupation and still is an occupation.

It’s been a colossal waste of time, money, and lives on both sides. There were no good reasons to get into the occupation in Iraq and there still aren’t; Bush & Co. just used the political and social fervor from 9/11 to whipcrack us into a frenzy over revenge, all action and no forethought (which has been proven time and time again).

Bush & Co. were just trying to push forward their plans drawn up in their PNAC doctrine, attempting to secure Iraq and the Middle East for resource control, and thankfully people are just now waking up and realizing that they’ve been duped into.

There were warnings prior to 9/11, plus there was a plan already drawn up to Properly take care of the radicals that wanted to commit acts of revenge terrorism on our country, but all of that was ignored.