[chr|s sedition]

I usually only respond to (inane) comments other people make in these threads, but I'll be a bit more proactive with this post.

The biggest problem with Iraq is that we have fostered and created exactlly what we were trying to avoid in the form of either / both; (a) a breeding ground for terrorism, or (b) the uneeded deaths of thousands of people.

(1) Osama and crew were responsible for 9/11.

(2) Sadam had nothing to do with it.

(3) Bush claimed Sadam had WMD's and was part of the anti-USA terror network. Sadam was no nice guy, but IRAQ posed *no threat* to the US.

(meanwhile, Osama is still running around, and we never even bothered to check-out Saudi Arabia, where 15 of the 9/11 highjackers were from)

(4) We invade IRAQ. The US thinks it is going to be a "quick war", a HUGE mistake.

(5) All hell breaks loose in IRAQ.

(5)(a) If we *do* fail to "nation build" in IRAQ, we are in *big trouble*. IRAQ will become what it was not, but what we thought that it actually was; a tremendous breeding ground and training camp for Al Quieda and their ilk. Moreover, Iraq will have made that transformation only from our actions. Sadam's government was in place, and we took it out. As bad as that government was, it will be a far better and less hostile government than the one that replaces it if we fail to "nation build". Thus, by our actions, we will have enabled a terrorist country to come into existence that would not have been there provided that we did not invade Iraq in the first place. Meanwhile, the main person behind 9/11 (Osama) is still running around free, and thousands of people are dead with NOTHING to show for it. This is the worst possible outcome.

(5)(b) If we do *not* fail to nation build in Iraq, what will the net gain be? Prolly some other fucked-up government that is not an active threat to the USA (hmm...sounds like Sadam's government), yet we will have lost thousands of US lives, thousands of Iraqi civillans lives, and caused greater animosity than that which was previouslly there (applies to both middle eastern countries, and the rest of th world). Meanwhile, the main person behind 9/11 is still running around free, and thousands of people are dead, and we end up in about the same posistion as we were when we went into Iraq (arguably worse, b/c now more the middle east and the rest of the world hates us more than before). As sad as this sounds, it is most likely the best possibile out come.

(6) Clinton: if you are going to attribute the fault of 9/11 and current war to the previous administration's policies, please follow that line of reasoning to its bitter end: Republican abministrations put both Sadam and Osama into power. Logic hurts.

-sedition