If you are going to fight one, you need to be in it to win it.
Posted on 03/18/2013 10:32:44 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Ten years have passed since the United States and its allies invaded Iraq, and it appears the majority of Americans consider this a regrettable anniversary. Fifty-three percent of Americans believe their country "made a mistake sending troops to fight in Iraq" and 42% say it was not a mistake.
The March 7-10 results mark the first time Gallup has asked this question since the full withdrawal of American troops in December 2011. Although majorities or near-majorities have viewed the conflict as a mistake continuously since August 2005, the current 53% is down from the high point of 63% in April 2008.
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war. Though the engagement has now come to an end, this seminal event in recent American history still looms large in the national political consciousness. In his second inaugural address, President Barack Obama highlighted the end of the war, stating "a decade of war is now ending" and, more recently, Sen. John McCain confronted now-Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel as to whether the 2007 Iraq war "surge" was successful.
Americans initially supported the war, with substantial majorities in 2003 saying the U.S. decision to get involved in Iraq was not a mistake. However, attitudes changed relatively quickly, and by the summer of 2004, a majority of Americans called the war a mistake.
Opinions fluctuated somewhat thereafter but, with one exception, since August 2005, a majority has said the war was a mistake each time Gallup has asked the question -- and at several points, more than 60% said so. The last time Gallup asked this question, in August 2010, 55% called the war a mistake.
(Excerpt) Read more at gallup.com ...
There was a lot more involved in the Iraq War than just taking out Iraq. Most folks don’t understand that.
That said, when we won, we should have written their new charter, and replaced Saddam Hussein with “our bastard” - someone willing to kill Iraqis in job lots to keep the peace and save his skin.
Our young must have no understanding of history.
Young man, that is a very dangerous and very, very irresponsible thing to say. War isn’t ever something to be entered into lightly and the offensive detonation of nuclear weapons isn’t war. It’s the beginning of the end.
Re: The only mistake we made was to waste trillions of dollars rebuilding that rathole.
When I left Iraq in Nov of 2005 there was so much construction and building I thought there is no way we will ever pull out WRONG
If you are going to fight one, you need to be in it to win it.
“I Always said both Iraq and Afghanistan could have been solved with Two Thermonuclear Hydrogen Bombs”
Wouldn’t the world be a different place today if we had the resolve to attend matters as you suggest.
The big mistake was using weapons of mass destruction as the justification for taking out Saddam. The real danger was that he might acquire nuclear weapons. Ultimately we cannot know if he would have succeeded in doing so if we had left him alone, but he might have. If Gore had been President in 2003, we would not have invaded Iraq, Saddam would still be in power, and he might well have nukes.
That’s thanks to the restraint the liberal politicians ordered upon our troops. That and all the “embedded” journalists (like thorns in the skin) actively working to turn public opinion against the war.
“Those of you who think the Iraq war was a mistake, I’m curious how you would have handled Saddam Hussein’s violations of the cease-fire agreement that suspended fighting in Kuwait?”
The first Iraq war was a mistake too in my opinion. There was nothing sacred about Kuwait, yet we fought for an Arab King against a brutal dictator who had previously fought our enemies in Iran.
The GCC Arabs are our friends and allies. Super Christian bias is not a reason for shunning friends.
Brilliant quotes. They need to be shoved down the liberal politicians’ throats hourly.
“Super Christian bias is not a reason for shunning friends.”
It has nothing to do with a “Christian bias”, though you could go that route if you wanted.
It has to do with fighting for a king. American Soldiers should not fight for kings. Funny how we insisted on “democracy” for Iraq, but not for Kuwait, where we really could have made it a precondition for the monarchs return.
The kings and their subjects are our friends. We help friends.
“The kings and their subjects are our friends. We help friends.”
I think you place too much value in the friendship of an Arab king. They are Muslims and Arabs way before they are our “friends”.
We could have insisted on democracy in Kuwait, and succeeded.
The American soldier fights for no king. That should have been the case in Iraq I, and any other foreign excursion.
“The kings and their subjects are our friends. We help friends.”
And remind the Shah of Iran of how much we helped him. We wouldn’t have a nuclear Iran now if your ridiculous assertion were true.
Where are you getting this from?
The USA fought on behalf of kings many times. Monarchy as a concept is not the enemy of the USA, unless it is tyrannical absolute monarchy. There were many who wanted to make George Washington king of the USA! Besides that, the revolutionaries’ chant was “No King but King Jesus”. . . if any American fought on behalf of Jesus in a true sense, you would regard that as invalid?
Only leftists insisted on making this about “democracy”. The Communist Manifesto talks about “win(ning) the battle of democracy”, which ultimately means the end of representative rule.
You do know what Jimmy Carter was about, I hope?
“unless it is tyrannical absolute monarchy”
Ah, so Arab kings are simple benevolent monarchs are they?
The American Soldier fights for no king.
If you can prove that they’re all malevolent tyrant monarchs, go right ahead. And for the record, the Shah was not Arab, nor does Arab always equal Muslim.
The American soldier has indeed fought for kings, despite your bizarre insistence that they have not. They will most likely continue to do so.
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