End of the Iraq war

[pontooner]

With the Iraq war ending what are some of you guys thoughts about it?

Such as do you feel like we won, what did we accomplish, just you overall thoughts on the whole thing.......


My take on it:

First I would like to say thanks to all the brave men and women who put their lives on the line fighting for our country and trying to help the Iraqi people have a better way of life.


When I try to think about whether we won the war or not I have a hard time coming up with a answer. Only time will tell us how Iraq turns out so up to this point in time I don't think we won in the real sense of the word but I also don't think we really lost. If I had to pick one I'd say we came up on the short end of the stick when thinking about what it cost this country in lives, money.......

While taking out Saddam was a very good thing you now have to worry about who will be taking over power in Iraq in the near future and the claims that Iraq has become a hotbed for terrorist. Plus Saddam kept Iran in check for the most part and with him gone Iran is now a serious threat to us.

One last thing is that I felt like we took our eye off the ball (Afghanistan and Bin Laden) when we decide to invade Iraq and that's why were still there.

[kygorski]

What did we win?

[Hlleonard]

I don't know why we persist in thinking we can change the world with these kinds of actions in foreign lands... I do believe we have to be the " worlds police force" so to speak in that we can't let a cancer like Sadam spread as was his intentions in Kuwait and George Bush senior had the wisdom to know when the job was done... You can not let an attack like 911 go unpunished either, the world has to know that if you bite us we will bite back and the job in Afghanistan was done fairly quickly, only problem we seemed to have was knowing when that job was finished and having the wisdom to come home.. I don't believe we can ever win the "war on terrorism" any more than we can win the "war on drugs" both of these so called wars are doing us more damage than good... There are lots of countries on the planet like Sadam's Iraq and we need to leave those alone too the same as we should have left Iraq alone... Every time we stick our noses in that part of the world we make more enemies... We need to maintain the strongest military the world has but we also need to make wiser choices when to use it.

[C-Marshall]

What did we win?

You won your freedom,don't anaylize plain and simple.Our military did what they were asked to and done it well.Just appreciate what you have.

[GeoFisher]

You won your freedom,don't anaylize plain and simple.Our military did what they were asked to and done it well.Just appreciate what you have.

AGREE......

[jcb]

You won your freedom,don't anaylize plain and simple.Our military did what they were asked to and done it well.Just appreciate what you have.

C-Marshall, I appreciate your service but I have to respectfully disagree. I can fully support our military while doing what I think is the most patriotic thing an American can do--question, analyze, and evaluate how they are used by our political leaders. If our politicians had a record of honesty in this area that would be one thing; but they don't.

[bassin_bug]

What did we win?

....and at what price? It cost the life of my brother. He didn't get to come home to open arms and shouts of joy at his return. He came home in a flag draped coffin, carried by somber Airmen and met by his grieving family.

[greenriverman1]

Sorry about your brother Bug. I wish all were home and guarding our borders here.

[C-Marshall]

....and at what price? It cost the life of my brother. He didn't get to come home to open arms and shouts of joy at his return. He came home in a flag draped coffin, carried by somber Airmen and met by his grieving family.

Sorry for the loss of your brother.Im a veteran of the gulf war myself served with the 82nd Airborne,8 years in the Army.All soldiers know what may be asked of them when they join and al know it might put them in harms way serving the country they love and serve.Its sad that it takes bloodshed to be free but that is the way the world is and without our brave soldiers we would be like all the middle east countries.Your brother is a Hero to all and all Americans owe great gratitude for those who have served past to the present.

All Gave Some Some Gave All!!!

[DJD]

Sorry for the loss of your brother.Im a veteran of the gulf war myself served with the 82nd Airborne,8 years in the Army.All soldiers know what may be asked of them when they join and al know it might put them in harms way serving the country they love and serve.Its sad that it takes bloodshed to be free but that is the way the world is and without our brave soldiers we would be like all the middle east countries.Your brother is a Hero to all and all Americans owe great gratitude for those who have served past to the present.

All Gave Some Some Gave All!!!

Amen to this!!!

[Devils Horse]

My thanks to all members of our armed services also. Sincere condolences to you for your brother bassinbug, and to anyone else who lost family in the military.

Something must be done about the middle east. Their hate and violence cloaked in religion has worsened to the point where it has to be dealt with.

IMO there are only 2 ways to deal with them. 1. Nuke them till they glow. 2. Change their culture. ( No, Mr. Obama, there is not a third way, we've been talking to them for the last 50 years.)

If Iraq can manage to remain a democracy and keep radical religion out of government, it could seed true change in the region. This is a dim possibility, middle eastern religious factions have been killing people for thousands of years, but we had to try something different than just fighting with them. I won't try to judge whether it was worth so many American lives.

Did we win? History will decide.

At least America was committed to establishing a viable democracy in Iraq and then getting out. Our President, who felt the surge that turned the tide in Iraq was stupid, is now prosecuting a Viet Nam style political war in Afghanistan. Our guys are dying there, and the current administration has no stated overall goal except to withdraw by a certain date.

[pontooner]

At least America was committed to establishing a viable democracy in Iraq and then getting out. Our President, who felt the surge that turned the tide in Iraq was stupid, is now prosecuting a Viet Nam style political war in Afghanistan. Our guys are dying there, and the current administration has no stated overall goal except to withdraw by a certain date.

You are aware of the fact that the reason we are getting out of Iraq now is because of a "withdraw by a certain date" agreement negotiated by the Bush administration in 2008 with the Iraqi government and not because we set up a fully functioning democracy over there?