These war cheerleaders don't seem to understand. Successful or unsuccessful this entire military adventure was based on a pack of deliberate lies, has caused the deaths of more than a million innocents, has gravely damaged the U.S. military and U.S. moral authority, and has become the second-most expensive war in all of U.S. history. For little more than spite George Bush Jr. turned Iraq into a Mad Max movie set. Even if small children were now throwing rose peal in U.S. soldiers' path (which they aren't) it would still be a damnable criminal enterprise.

That Saddam was such a gentleman too...

If you have ever served in the military it would have or will dawn on you what an idiotic reply you have just made. And if you have always just been a civilian, then let me remind you, Iraq's internal affairs were none of the USA's business.

Liberal Patriot seems to forget how common it is for invading soldiers to be guilty of literal rape, not to mention the figurative version. To the victor belongs the spoils, eh? Including the loser boys' women.

But I'm sorry...if we'd served in the military we'd be more sympathetic to soldiers and the stressful nature of their job. I'm sure Liberal would be just as sympathetic to foreign soldiers on US soil.

tmallen:

That Saddam was such a gentleman too...

Lots of people are not gentlemen, including for example, Vladimir Putin. But we don't invade the countries they live in or lead without another reason.

Putin did not extinguish whole populations of undesirable groups with weapons of mass distruction, nor use them in the Iran conflict, nor threaten to use said weapons against the United States.

There's your reason number 2.

The WMD pretext has been so widely discredited that responding to it is no longer necessary.

I would be careful which part of the pretext you're talking about. In terms of Saddam posessing said weapons just before the invation- perhaps. But the history of owning and utilizing those weapons- he most certainly has.

AlaskaBoy:

Putin did not extinguish whole populations of undesirable groups with weapons of mass distruction, nor use them in the Iran conflict, nor threaten to use said weapons against the United States.

There's your reason number 2.

The people of Chechnya and maybe Georgia might disagree with you.

Sadaam's actions in the Iraq-Iran war (when he was supported by the U.S.) were not offered as the justification for the invasion.

One could almost agree with you that it is "not our business-" until the part about a state bent on exterminating the United States with the same types of weaponry that was used to extinguish whole populations of undesirable groups, and the ones used in the Iran conflict.

As an Active Duty Officer, I am consistently amused by people who do not serve in the armed forces dictating what "we" feel about a given topic. The United States makes it its business to know the affairs- internal or otherwise- of any given country, especially those which are determined to fund, promote, and contribute to its demise.

If you are being consistent, and you are truly for the total and complete autonomy of a state to dictate their affairs without notice from others, then you are neither able to give your input on any given subject which concerns states outside the United States, nor share in the development- positive or negative- of our country's response to those issues.

Sure he had them in the past. But when Cheney and his puppet demanded he prove that he no longer had them, he complied. But all the administration said was (paraphrasing Ari Flischer at a press confrence) "by claiming to not have WMDs we know he is lying."

No how could you possibly show you had complied with any demand to disarm with logic like that. The White House gang wanted a war and they weren't about to let reason or truth get in the way.

Putin has never ethnically cleansed ethnic Georgians- no matter how you attempt to spin it- and Saddam's blatant history of using WMD's on his own people was most indeed one of the justifications for invading Iraq.

We are engaged in a War on Terror. That includes Terrorist States and the sponsorship they give to Terrorist groups and NGO's. You are not able to paint the entire conflict worldwide with the same brush you use for the initial invasion of Iraq.

"Sure he had them in the past."

Thank you. That is all I needed you to say. Now if only you could please explain away our conflict in Afghanistan like you did for Iraq, this should be a short conversation.

They removed 550 tons of yellow cake uranium from Iraq.

<link>

hmmm, if memory serves me correctly that's what Joseph Wilson was claiming Saddam never tried to buy. I assume you liberals believe he just wanted a peaceful nuclear power program... like Iran and North Korea of course. It's not easy to quickly move this stuff, it took us nearly 5 years to get it relocated to Canada. Saddam just couldn't get it done in time. I have little doubt that the remaining stockpiles (chemical and biological) were smuggled into Syria while France and Germany provided cover (delay, delay, delay) in the UN.

So for many of us, the WMD pretext has been quite credited and thus requires a response. So wake up and smell the yellow-cake. He did possess material to dirty bombs, etc...

AlaskaBoy:

One could almost agree with you that it is "not our business-" until the part about a state bent on exterminating the United States with the same types of weaponry that was used to extinguish whole populations of undesirable groups, and the ones used in the Iran conflict.

Alaskaboy- 1) What makes you say that Iraq was a state bent on exterminating the United States? 2) What makes you think that Iraq could'vve exterminated the United States if the answer to #1 was the truthful statements of its leader Sadaam Hussein.

I'd also point out that unlike Iran, the U.S. does not share a border with Iraq. I'd also point out that in between the time that Iraq used WMD's against Iran, and the current occupation of Iraq, we fought another war against Iraq, wherein they did not exterminate the U.S. and only used so-called WMD's against us sparingly, if at all.