How well are things going in Iraq?

[Professor Go]

This poll is specifically to gage how well people think the fight is going in Iraq - and also to differentiate what type of people think what - let's try to keep this civilized.

I personally think things are going abysmally in Iraq, whereas Bush would have you think otherwise - our kids are dying everyday, sometimes 10's at a time, and are NOT as welcome to the country as everyone might believe.

I believe the whole plan was not very well-thought-out and now we are paying for it by rushing to put the Iraqi's back in power and by not receiving help from the UN and other countries after INSULTING THEM because they didn't want to go in the first place.

What do you think? -

[Boondock Saint]

wow, i'm the only one that's voted. i rock. well, IRAQ, you might say! hahahaha.

it's shite. there was no planning, and it was sold on a blatant pack of lies. bottom line.

[Jog DMC]

I don't necessarily think it was worthless, but I don't really think it was the right thing to do. Actually, I'm kind of uncertain. I mean, it's right to rescue Iraqis from Saddam, but I don't know if invading the place was the right plan. I think the real terrorists (not Saddam's regiem) wanted us to invade so they could try and initiate an unwinnable (for us) guerilla war, eventually getting control of the country. Yeah, there are Iraqis who want to stop the terrorists and make Iraq a democratic republic. I hope it'll work, but I really don't know. Can really take out every last terrorist comming into Iraq? Will they ever stop comming? What about the rest of the terrorists in the Middle East and around the world?

All in all, we know that intervention in the Middle East was what made the terrorists want to attack us. It seems a little counter-productive to intervene more. Unfortunately, there are few (if any) possible alternatives.

But I'd have to suggest pumping money into developing alternative fuels as a matter of defense (that's an excellent way to spend the huge military budget :) ). Then we share it with everyone and they don't buy oil from Saddam and OPEC. The regiems run outta money, and collapse, with the people of the Middle East creating a better government in its place. Also, the best offense is a good defense, we should make sure to defend against terrorists at home and keep them from attacking.

[Roguematt7]

Blatant and proven lies are a good point, but I would have been a little bit more “on board” if they had been honest about it from the start. “Hey, we don’t like Saddam, he’s a really bad guy and I know we put him there and everything but we’re going to clean up the mess we started and who knows, maybe it’ll help our efforts over there! After all, if he’s a jerk they’ll like us there now, right?” Alas, such things were not said, so I can’t really think too highly of it after being lied to. Maybe that's just me?

[Professor Go]

It's easier to forget the lies when you have PR stunts like the Thanksgiving visit, raising the terror warning gauge from green to yellow to orange whenever you feel like it, keep people scared out of their wits by insinuating a biological threat is imminent which causes families to DUCT TAPE their houses out of total fear, and by keeping alive the theory that Saddam and Osama were good buddies.

Who knows what to believe anymore. I guess all we can do is hope that somehow the new Iraqi government gets instated soon so we can get the hell out of there and pretend we "won" something.

[Idol Australian]

the coalition of the willing... whose willing? we (i'm an aussie) are lead by an idiot who went in with george, even though thousands of people went to protests againt the war. and a couple of guys wrote 'no war' on one of the sails of the opera house. this should not have been a war that was fought. jr. wanted to finish off what his dad started. this war is not a success. they lost suddam AND osama. how are good are the americans?

[Professor Go]

So now after Saddam's capture i wonder if anyone would vote differently? As for me, I think this was a failed mission so my opinion hasn't changed a bit.

[GBA]

They didn't find any nuclear weapons or weapons of mass distruction. I say Saddam hid it in Russia maybe o_o

[Boondock Saint]

i say he destroyed them or didn't have them at all...like he said he did.

[MoN]

Why make such a big deal out of this? Is it directly affecting you? I mean, you can say taxes and all, but the government, regardless of who is running it, will steal your money anyway. So why do you guys (ones who love to always talk about it) care? Do you have a loved one over in "battle"? That's understandable if so, but if not...

[Lovebird]

i agree, mon, but unfortunately, this war has affected my family directly. but the way i see it, weapons of mass destruction or not...bush is gonna make a lot of people angry...which may put america in more damger then if bush left iraq alone...

[Lovebird]

but i've said it once...and i'll say it again....NADER FOR PREZ 2004!!!!!!

[Wh|tE gUy]

Democrat- Awful planning, will get better

[Professor Go]

Yes you can say taxes because I pay up the ass in taxes. And yes you can say I've lost people close to me personally to Bush agendas. And even if I didn't pay for this war, and even if I didn't lose family and friends to Bush's death machine, I feel it's my moral obligation both as a humanitarian and a patriot - and if you feel like you shouldn't speak up against government policies you disagree with, you should have your right to vote revoked and be escorted out of the country.

Originally posted by MoN
Why make such a big deal out of this? Is it directly affecting you? I mean, you can say taxes and all, but the government, regardless of who is running it, will steal your money anyway. So why do you guys (ones who love to always talk about it) care? Do you have a loved one over in "battle"? That's understandable if so, but if not...

[MoN]

Don't talk about moral issues. :)

[Professor Go]

Uh.. what?

[MoN]

Well, your concern was more about money from what I read in your post. ;)

Well, you brought it up first, although probably because I mentioned it in my post. Regardless, you truly won't be paying more for the war because if there was no war, our government would find some other way to filch our (I'll have a job in the future ;)) money.

On a side note, did you lose someone close to you? If I may ask, who? Sorry for your loss.

[Boondock Saint]

Originally posted by MoN
Why make such a big deal out of this? Is it directly affecting you? I mean, you can say taxes and all, but the government, regardless of who is running it, will steal your money anyway. So why do you guys (ones who love to always talk about it) care? Do you have a loved one over in "battle"? That's understandable if so, but if not...

it's a big deal because we have things called laws, many of which bush ignored. no war was declared by congress, in violation of our constitution. people always bring up how we haven't declared war since korea, but ever since then it's been UN actions, meaning the UN declared the action, not unilateral warfare...

we're also part of the geneva convention, which means any country attacking in aggression against another is eligible to be tried for war crimes. this is also in our constitution, stated to the effect of, and i'm loosely quoting, 'the united states shall uphold any treaties it is party to'...

also, without the justification that we had to go in there - of which none has been proven at all - we are in violation of several UN sanctions ourselves, you know, the ones we claim to have been defending.

so that's why it's a big deal. it's a big deal in international politics, and bush fucked us up big there. if anyone goes on trial, it should be him, since he's broken just as many laws as saddam.

as for filching our money from us, MoN, bush is a republican. by being republican he's supposed to cut spending and lower taxes, essentially underfunding public programs like medicare and social security, which most republicans view as unnecessary expenditures. by waging a war that is costing billions and then issuing billions of dollars of tax cuts (of which the majority of americans only saw a few hundred bucks) he is proving himself to not be fiscally conservative, something that many republicans should have a problem with....

[MoN]

*yawn* I didn't even read that. :)

[Professor Go]

Did you need someone to read it to you ;) Watch out for the big words.

[Wh|tE gUy]

Time to play devil's advocate

Here's the main reason I think UN is such a piece of crap:

We are the primary member of the UN. We send the most troops and provide the most aid to countries through these UN actions. We do by far the most in this organization and still give all the credit to the UN. So where is the UN when we want action taken? They don't back us. Is it really so wrong that we feel above the UN if it is us that does most of its work?

Just a thought.

[Robert-AMN]

Not at all. With all the help the US gives out every year to countries with UN involvement or not. we get nothing back from it. The US is giving giving giving money out to countries and we still have billions in a defcit ans such. The US gets no credit for its work most of the time and it is really sad.

[Idol Australian]

but wen ur president has connections iwth oil companies, his staff have connections with oil conmpanies and go into the second largest oil reserves in the world and the two main reasons for going to war turn out to be fake, then questions have to be asked about why they went into iraq. and also bush shouldn't be president. he stole the rpesidency from a legally elected man. AND WHEN YOU'VE GOT THE DIXIE CHICKS AND THE POPE AGAINST YOU, YOU'RE NOT LONG FOR THE WHITE HOUSE!

[Wh|tE gUy]

ok, answer this all you "no blood for oil people"

We are going to end up spending 100 billion dollars on Iraq. Do you believe we will be making 100,000,000,001$ back in oil? Not any time soon we aint.

By the way the Dixie Chicks are bitches and the Pope during WW2(was it this one?) took a non positional stance on the holocaust, maybe you shouldn't rely on them to be right

[Professor Go]

Imagine what 100 billion dollars could do to help our school systems. Wow.