so i have always been anti-war, and at the start of the war on Iraq, i was totally against it. It wasn't until i got a letter back from my representative telling me about what he saw when he went to iraq. It changed my mind when he told me that he saw the progress of our country helping out a country that had been treated so poorly. He said that most of the fighting is over, and now they are busy training their government officials and military. I just don't understand if that's what Iraq wanted. I am sure they didn't want Saddam Hussein and that the Kurds are feeling better now that he is gone, but I just don't know what to think about the war anymore. I just want peace, and I now i think that we are actually helping, but innocent people keep dying. Why wouldn't the Iraqi people start a revolution. That is what all the other countries did when they wanted freedom and change (like the US). Why did we have to come and tell them that they wanted a revolution? -peace
PeaceBucket, It can be confusing. I was watching CNN the other day talk about the military base that I am located on. The things mentioned were so out of date that I thought, "WOW REALLY?" and I am THERE. The news has become our entertainment, and the more sensational it sounds the better ratings they get. It is all about winning their next journalist award. I can tell you what I know from being here and from attempting to educate myself on the matters of the local people. I won't suggest that I am an expert on foreign policy or matters of the Middle East. Both are very delicate situations, and deserve the attention of a better mind than mine. Iraq is represented by three religious groups. The one in power in 2003 was 20% of the country and repressing the other two groups (the 80%). So those 80% are much happier, and the 20% not as happy now. The 20% is just now realizing that if they want to be represented in the new government they have to participate and accept the fact that they no longer have control. A democracy is often a compromise, and it will be no different in Iraq. In the USA, only 50% of the people agree with the current party in office, and arguably, we are said to have the best political system in the world. The American's dieing in Iraq is about 2 a day (on average). It has been said that we loose that many military personal in the states during peace time, due to car accidents and training incidents. That does not make those losses any less painful for their families, but when compared to Vietnam and previous wars, we are way ahead of the body count. I see the other posts against the war, and against our country for being at war, and rarely do I see anyone protesting the insurgency that has invaded Iraq. Many of the car bombs are made by people from countries other than Iraq. Some Extremist hate Americans with such a passion, they will come to the battle wherever it is. Maybe we are just making it easier, and Baghdad is better than NYC. I think people from New York would agree. It is not all that fair to the people of Baghdad. I would be happy to share any other thoughts on this, here or if you wish to PM me. James
Why wouldn't the Iraqi people start a revolution. That is what all the other countries did when they wanted freedom and change (like the US). Why did we have to come and tell them that they wanted a revolution? -peace[/QUOTE] The Iraqi people did try to assassinate their leader once at least. He had just finished a visit and was driving away. The attempt was from a few young people who had more guts than sense, and all they did was stir up a hornets nest. Saddam took the opportunity to set an example for the rest of the country. He had 240 people in the village killed, hoping that he got at least a couple of the family members who were responsible. I do not know the details of how they were tortured, but the story is not one that Hollywood will ever wish to produce.
One needs to look at Iraq with realistic perspective. Things have not been going very well for the past three years. The same stuff just continues. Why? Because there's an unresolved political conflict going on. You're not going to solve a political conflict with military forces. Well yes one can militarily suppress political forces if one has enough manpower. But we only have 150k troops in Iraq. About two or three times the number of a typical crowd at a weekend football game. Not enough to acomplish much in a country the size of Iraq. Especially when you're pretty much just holed up. It's not safe to do anything in Iraq because of the quantitative (the relative numbers of people) and qualitative (the intensity of their motivations) dynamics of the situation. The balance of forces isn't really favorable to us. Short of just killing people off even if one manages to suppress political forces for a time when one lets off they just come boiling back to the surface. Iraq is a magnet for insurgents to be sure. But our being there is probably making it more of a magnet than it would be otherwise. This is not doing the Iraqi people any good. And look at the big picture. What direction are we headed anyway? The two alternatives basically seem to be 1) handing over Iraq (or part of Iraq) to Iran on a silver platter or 2) handing over Iraq (or part of Iraq) to Iran in a shambles. We've not done much to help ourselves and we've not done much to help the Iraqi people. We could go in with overwhelming force like they say we should have done in Vietnam kill everbody off build a wall around the place and send in colonists. It's nice and warm there make it a giant golden ager community for military retirees and wealthy Americans. Plenty of oil to go around for SUVs. Call it "Sunni City." Besides being morally revolting this also no doubt would not really take us where we want to go in the long term. People in that part of the world really don't want us running their show any more than we want them running our show. And our stature abroad is even worse than it was before Bush became president. People need to think things through. It's not really that complicated or hard to understand. Better late than never.
I think there's a lot of poking-noses-where-noses-don't-belong. If Iraqi's really wanted out, there are ways of getting out, tough as it may be. The only people who really have a problem with countries not being completely democratic is the US, and think that invading and killing is somehow doing everyone a favour.
