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The Iraq War: 20 Years Later - Was It the Right Decision?
PJ Media ^ | 03/20/2023 | Stephen Green

Posted on 03/20/2023 8:46:55 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

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To: SeekAndFind

Good article.

Iraq is definitely better off now than they were in 2003 and I hope things continue to improve.

But yes, it remains to be seen whether the billions of our tax dollars that were pumped into establishing a somewhat stable democracy in a historically troubled region were worth it. I believe that if their democracy strengthens and they continue to upgrade their infrastructure, this could be a positive thing.

Time will tell.


21 posted on 03/20/2023 9:26:12 PM PDT by Allegra
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To: miserare

For anyone who is interested here is the FR thread on day one of the war:

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/869771/posts

Pretty much everyone here was for it back then.


22 posted on 03/20/2023 9:29:21 PM PDT by Renfrew (Muscovia delenda est)
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To: miserare
Anyone who doesn’t believe this should watch “All Quiet on the Western Front,” to see how really useless this war was.

Watch the original version first.

23 posted on 03/20/2023 9:31:16 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: SeekAndFind
So the author’s conclusion is based on how much better off Iraq is.

The author should be answering how much better off America is.

24 posted on 03/20/2023 9:31:55 PM PDT by ConservativeInPA ("How did you go bankrupt?" Bill asked. "Two ways," Mike said. "Gradually and then suddenly." )
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To: SeekAndFind
"If it comes down to a choice between cutting off the weapons flow to Ukraine or sending a single American soldier to fight there...then sayonara, Kyiv."

Well, Stephen Green, there won't be a choice between cutting off aid and sending American soldiers. Cut off military aid, or send troops. That's a moronic choice you posed, there. It doesn't make sense. It's a fallacy.

And if we've generally lost the will to fight regardless of the kind of threat,...well, we'll mess around and find out.

25 posted on 03/20/2023 9:35:12 PM PDT by familyop ("For they that sleep with dogs, shall rise with fleas" (John Webster, "The White Devil" 1612).)
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To: SeekAndFind

The real question is, “What if Saddam and Co. had been allowed to continue with their plans during the consolidation of the Middle East against the West back then?” He repeatedly threatened to destroy the U.S.A., and he wasn’t planning to continue hostilities between Iraq and Iran. And Russia was very much against the rescue of Kuwait and war in Iraq. And Syria received many of Saddam’s troops for safekeeping. And both of those nations were beginning efforts to acquire nukes.

Many people fail to think about real consequences of inaction.


26 posted on 03/20/2023 9:40:41 PM PDT by familyop ("For they that sleep with dogs, shall rise with fleas" (John Webster, "The White Devil" 1612).)
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To: dfwgator

I did. And I read the original book, decades ago.

WWI History is one of my hobbies.

My Dad served in that war in 1918.


27 posted on 03/20/2023 9:47:26 PM PDT by miserare ( Free Jacob Chansley!)
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To: SeekAndFind
I've come to believe that many of these wars were all set ups for the rich...

the govt is evil and has been evil for some time....

they run these wars when they want to boost their rich friends and/or want to gain drug routes, oil, minerals, etc....

in doing so, they conveniently killed off so many worthy young men that should have had many children....

repeated wars in ONE CENTURY alone can diminish the best gene pool ....

and here we are.....7million American men between the ages of 22 and 50 are not working nor looking for work....

28 posted on 03/20/2023 10:00:46 PM PDT by cherry
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To: SeekAndFind

Oh please


29 posted on 03/20/2023 10:02:04 PM PDT by wardaddy (Truth is treason in the Empire of lies)
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To: SeekAndFind

No


30 posted on 03/20/2023 10:06:47 PM PDT by frithguild (The warmth and goodness of Gaia is a nuclear reactor in the Earth's core that burns Thorium)
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To: cherry
the govt is evil and has been evil for some time....

they run these wars when they want to boost their rich friends and/or want to gain drug routes, oil, minerals, etc....


As someone who did time in Iraq, I must say I have come to the conclusion that both Iraq and Afghanistan were a sham. I had my doubts back then, but after all we've seen and learned over the last few years I have zero faith in any of our elites to have done anything for any reason other than their own power and enrichment. I believe that Saddam Hussein was taken out as a favor by the Bushes to the Saudis.
31 posted on 03/20/2023 10:16:11 PM PDT by fr_freak
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To: Renfrew

Very true. Don’t forget that a large bipartisan majority of Congress voted for that war. At the time, there was strong support.

I know that now we hate George W. Bush, but at one time, he was very popular on Free Republic.

Opinions change as time goes by. With just about any event, one can point to what people thought at the time, and what people think of the results years later.


32 posted on 03/20/2023 10:21:03 PM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: SeekAndFind

Was George W. Bush the right person, is the real question.


33 posted on 03/20/2023 10:21:58 PM PDT by SpaceBar
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To: SeekAndFind

Iraq was eventually goes to be one leg of the trans-Arab “nuclear triad of death” and they would destroyed Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Saudi Arab in one massive surprise attack, despite any threats from nuclear retaliation by the remaining Israel military.

Israel crippled Iran’s plan by destroying the Osirik nuclear facility, Iran’s other facility by use of a computer worm and Syria’s secret nuclear facility. Taking out Saddam eliminated that one leg of the future Nuclear Triad of Death.

Imagine what would have happened if Israel and the US hadn’t done all this!!!

Imagine where we would be today if that had not happened.


34 posted on 03/20/2023 10:24:53 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper (Figures )
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To: SeekAndFind

No, No, No

Bush is a war criminal. Don’t care if that offends people, its true.

As a bonus the dummy help give us Obama.


35 posted on 03/20/2023 10:48:53 PM PDT by desertfreedom765
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To: SeekAndFind
I don’t waste my time reading this sh!t.

The invasion of Iraq was an unmitigated disaster — and some of us predicted it would be so at the time.

36 posted on 03/21/2023 2:38:12 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I've just pissed in my pants and nobody can do anything about it." -- Major Fambrough)
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To: SeekAndFind

The War of Northern Aggression should definitely not have been fought. If 7 states wanted to go their own way, if they no longer consented to be ruled over by the federal government in Washington DC, so be it. Let them go in peace.

As for the 2nd world war....there would have been no 2nd world war had America not gotten involved in the 1st world war. Both sides in WW1 were exhausted. They couldn’t have carried on much longer. Without America getting involved they would have had to reach a reasonable negotiated settlement that would have left the constitutional monarchies in Germany in place. The Hapsburg Empire would not have been destroyed creating an enormous power vacuum in Eastern Europe that would be filled first by the Nazis and then by the Commies. The monstrosity of Yugoslavia would not have been created slapping 7 different ethnic groups who hated each other together in one entity paving the way for future bloodbaths.

With no Versailles Treaty, and the constitutional monarchy still in place in Germany, Hitler would have remained a corporal in the army after having failed as a painter. No political career for him would have been possible.


37 posted on 03/21/2023 2:56:08 AM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: Renfrew

Yes we were. I will Mo say that I was duped. Ok I was foolish. GWB was one of the worse presidents in a string of idiots.


38 posted on 03/21/2023 2:57:30 AM PDT by wgmalabama (Censored!)
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To: Renfrew

Lots of the FR names that posted to that thread are not around here anymore.


39 posted on 03/21/2023 3:08:16 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$
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To: SeekAndFind

Ask Iran.


40 posted on 03/21/2023 3:54:32 AM PDT by daniel1212 (Turn to the Lord Jesus as a damned+destitute sinner, trust Him who saves, be baptized + follow Him!)
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