Whether it was wise to invade Iraq or not is certainly a debatable point and some day historians, with 20/20 hindsight will be able to answer that question. As I recall even the Senior Mr. Bush had reservations about it, so I understand your questioning. But, we did it, we are in there and rightly or wrongly its very important we win this affair. To lose or withdraw would assist and inspire terrorists around the world.
That's just it......we can't win this affair. It seems that some people don't understand the characteristics of an insurgency. Insurgencies are like a bottomless pit.......for every insurgent taken out, there is one to replace him. If you still don't understand, then look at N. Ireland's IRA or Hamas in Palestine. The insurgents might not win either but they don't care. The US is the interloper that must be pushed out. They are fighting for THEIR homeland and for them, that makes it the good fight.
As to the planning of the war, like any war we plan the best we can with the information we have. Things went wrong right from the beginning when Turkey backed out of allowing us to enter Iraq from the North. Who could have foreseen that Saddam would disband his army into guerilla units without first a significant fight? We were told by the Iraqis themselves that they would flock to our side, if you recall in the first days they did, but as they realized they could get killed by the now terrorists they subsided into the shadows. Those are some of the negatives, but on a positive side, they voted, they are drafting a constitution, yes there is bickering over it, we ourselves bickered for 4 YEARS after the Revolutionary War, thats Democracy in action.
Had Bush not had a second agenda beyond containing al Qa'ida and getting bin Laden, Iraq would not have happened. Had Bush contained Saddam's army instead of letting them dissipate, a lot of the damage could have been prevented. Had they not left army depots full of weapons unattended, the insurgents would not have had the weaponry with which to fight.
But all that doesn't matter now.......inadvertently, the US has created a powerful and growing insurgency. The US is the invader, the interloper, the evil foreign power and evicting us from Iraq has become the cause celebre in the Muslim world. An entire culture has been turned against us. We can not fight 1.3 billion people in a war of insurgency. Because of Bush's games and mishandling, the US is in a very bad mess from which it must extricate itself asap.
There is absolutely no point in badmouthing President Bush for the past, remember this is his last term, we need to join together to complete this mission. The media and the far left are often more dangerous then the supposed enemy abroad. jdn
There is absolutely every reason for bad mouthing Bush. We must never let such a man be president again. Hopefully, someday, when historians lay this out to you in a very neutral voice, you will understand, but in the meantime, your POV can not prevail. It is seriously hurting my country and threatening our democracy. |
