He was well contained and would have gotten the shite kicked out of him if he tried to invade anyone else.

He didn't.

But hey, I guess 4000 American lives and countless non-combatant Iraqi lives were well worth it so W could thump his chest and say he kicked someone's arse.

There was no justification whatsoever to invade. None. Further, it took us off mission to deal with those people who actually had a hand in 9/11 and likely delayed us catching and kill OBL for years.

You are a smart guy Ace, you well know this.

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Posted by Champagne

Already Conquered USA.

Member since Oct 2007

48640 posts

Posted on 9/12/14 at 11:48 am to asurob1

I look at facts and derive logical conclusions therefrom.

The notion that Saddam Hussein would NEVER develop WMDs and NEVER help an AQ like organization is quite naive and not supported by the pattern of his prior behavior.

BUT, we can agree that the costs/benefits of invading Iraq demonstrate that it was no worth it. The costs were always going to be way more than what the US electorate was willing to spend.

As I have said previously, it would take a 20 to 30 year US military presence in Iraq to stabilize it. That is WAY more than what Bush and his planners calculated.

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Posted by Ace Midnight

Between sanity and madness

Member since Dec 2006

89715 posts

Posted on 9/12/14 at 12:06 pm to asurob1

quote:
But hey, I guess 4000 American lives and countless non-combatant Iraqi lives were well worth it so W could thump his chest and say he kicked someone's arse.

War is never worth it, unless you win.

quote:
There was no justification whatsoever to invade.

We just disagree. Any outlaw in charge of an agressive, large military force is subject to removal at international discretion.

quote:
Further, it took us off mission to deal with those people who actually had a hand in 9/11 and likely delayed us catching and kill OBL for years.

Again, I agree with the way we prosecuted both wars - I'm not defending the generals and the "nation building" that somehow crept into our mission package during the 1990s and eventually replace warfighting as our primary function. I bitched about then (nobody listens to lieutenants/captains), during the Balkans and I continued to bitch about it until the present (nobody listens to majors/lieutenant colonels).