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The bottom line to me is that the reasons the American people were given for starting this war were bogus.
It has nothing to do with whether the Iraqi people are better off. It has nothing to do with whether the world is safer without Saddam. It has nothing to do with 9/11. Those weren't the reasons given then and are begging the question now.
Is hindsight 20/20? Sure it is -- and several reports by various commissions have helped us understand how wrong the reasons given us were. Even back then the UN Wepons Inspectors had found nothing except the very most circumstantial evidence that there was even a chance of a WMD program.
There was no substantial evidence of WMD's then and none has been found since. The speech that Colin Powell gave to the UN to try to garner support for the war was a joke -- tiny bottles of whatever and pictures of empty trucks.
If the real reason for conflict was to get rid of Saddam -- that was the argument that should have been at the forefront of the debate back then. Of course it might not have flown, so trumped up charges of scary WMD's were used instead.
This belief isn't something new on my part -- I believed it and was saying it before we invaded. Go back and check the posts.
Maybe a good argument could have been made for action against Iraq -- but the way the war was "sold" to us was absolutely wrong -- and I think cynical. Does anyone think that this could be the reason for the lack of real combat and financial support we got from almost anyone?
Now that we're in this mess, we need to stay in it until there is some kind of (hopefully) favorable resolution. It's not going to be a pretty effort, though. I can't help but wish we had finished the job the first time when we had a strong coalition -- and a strong and just reason for fighting.
Put politics aside -- if that's even possible these days -- and search your hearts. Be honest with yourselves. Look at the evidence both then and now. You are intelligent people. Somebody wasn't telling the real story. Whatever it is.
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Fraternally,
DeltAlum
DTD
The above is the opinion of the poster which may or may not be based in known facts and does not necessarily reflect the views of Delta Tau Delta or Greek Chat -- but it might.
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