Did al-Qaida Win the Iraq War?

Townhall.com ^ | June 11, 2014 | Terry Jeffrey

[ex-snook]

"In his second inaugural address in 2005, Bush described the broader utopian vision motivating his foreign policy. "So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world," Bush said. "

Maybe Bush is getting what the majority wants??

[Uncle Miltie]

Better yet, bomb them to smithereens at every opportunity. And may they kill one another in greater quantities in the name of Allah until Allah reaps what he has sown: Genocidal Annihilation.

[RetiredArmy]

As with Vietnam, the troops won the fighting and the stinking US government gave the war and country away to the enemy. Since WWII, our record ain’t very good and 99.9% of that is because of the fools sitting in Sodom on the Potomac. The creatures of Satan rule there now.

[Darksheare]

Yup.

[EQAndyBuzz]

Problem is Al Quaida won the war, got its generals back from Gitmo and is pissed off and looking for revenge.

And we are preparing by purging the military of Staff officers, training women for combat and deciding whether the mess hall should have curtains or drapes.

Hopefully they will attack blue states. This way when the rats start drafting boys, my son can tell them to piss off it isn’t his war.

[cripplecreek]

There is never a shortage of moron “conservatives” hot for another war to watch on TV as long as the home team is able to play. If they want to subsidize another foreign war maybe it should be included on their cable bill as a premium channel.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3166301/posts

[cripplecreek]

We haven’t fought to win since the end of WWII. Today we fight to a standstill then offer to negotiate.

[Kaslin]

Don’t forget Walter Cronkite

[SpeakerToAnimals]

I stand corrected.

[Monitor]

I got no further than this misrepresentation: "A dozen years ago, Congress authorized President George W. Bush to invade Iraq to prevent the regime of then-dictator Saddam Hussein from posing a threat to this country with weapons of mass destruction we later discovered he did not have."

Congress authorized President George W. Bush to invade Iraq for a whole host of reasons:

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday, the twenty-third day of January, two thousand and two Joint Resolution

To authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq.

Whereas in 1990 in response to Iraq's war of aggression against and illegal occupation of Kuwait, the United States forged a coalition of nations to liberate Kuwait and its people in order to defend the national security of the United States and enforce United Nations Security Council resolutions relating to Iraq;

Whereas after the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, Iraq entered into a United Nations sponsored cease-fire agreement pursuant to which Iraq unequivocally agreed, among other things, to eliminate its nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons programs and the means to deliver and develop them, and to end its support for international terrorism;

Whereas the efforts of international weapons inspectors, United States intelligence agencies, and Iraqi defectors led to the discovery that Iraq had large stockpiles of chemical weapons and a large scale biological weapons program, and that Iraq had an advanced nuclear weapons development program that was much closer to producing a nuclear weapon than intelligence reporting had previously indicated;

Whereas Iraq, in direct and flagrant violation of the cease-fire, attempted to thwart the efforts of weapons inspectors to identify and destroy Iraq's weapons of mass destruction stockpiles and development capabilities, which finally resulted in the withdrawal of inspectors from Iraq on October 31, 1998;

Whereas in Public Law 105-235 (August 14, 1998), Congress concluded that Iraq's continuing weapons of mass destruction programs threatened vital United States interests and international peace and security, declared Iraq to be in `material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations' and urged the President `to take appropriate action, in accordance with the Constitution and relevant laws of the United States, to bring Iraq into compliance with its international obligations';

Whereas Iraq both poses a continuing threat to the national security of the United States and international peace and security in the Persian Gulf region and remains in material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations by, among other things, continuing to possess and develop a significant chemical and biological weapons capability, actively seeking a nuclear weapons capability, and supporting and harboring terrorist organizations;

Whereas Iraq persists in violating resolution of the United Nations Security Council by continuing to engage in brutal repression of its civilian population thereby threatening international peace and security in the region, by refusing to release, repatriate, or account for non-Iraqi citizens wrongfully detained by Iraq, including an American serviceman, and by failing to return property wrongfully seized by Iraq from Kuwait;

Whereas the current Iraqi regime has demonstrated its capability and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction against other nations and its own people;

Whereas the current Iraqi regime has demonstrated its continuing hostility toward, and willingness to attack, the United States, including by attempting in 1993 to assassinate former President Bush and by firing on many thousands of occasions on United States and Coalition Armed Forces engaged in enforcing the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council;

Whereas members of al Qaida, an organization bearing responsibility for attacks on the United States, its citizens, and interests, including the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, are known to be in Iraq;

Whereas Iraq continues to aid and harbor other international terrorist organizations, including organizations that threaten the lives and safety of United States citizens;

Whereas the attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001, underscored the gravity of the threat posed by the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction by international terrorist organizations;

Whereas Iraq's demonstrated capability and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction, the risk that the current Iraqi regime will either employ those weapons to launch a surprise attack against the United States or its Armed Forces or provide them to international terrorists who would do so, and the extreme magnitude of harm that would result to the United States and its citizens from such an attack, combine to justify action by the United States to defend itself;

Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 (1990) authorizes the use of all necessary means to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 660 (1990) and subsequent relevant resolutions and to compel Iraq to cease certain activities that threaten international peace and security, including the development of weapons of mass destruction and refusal or obstruction of United Nations weapons inspections in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 (1991), repression of its civilian population in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 (1991), and threatening its neighbors or United Nations operations in Iraq in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 949 (1994);

Whereas in the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution (Public Law 102-1), Congress has authorized the President `to use United States Armed Forces pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 (1990) in order to achieve implementation of Security Council Resolution 660, 661, 662, 664, 665, 666, 667, 669, 670, 674, and 677';

Whereas in December 1991, Congress expressed its sense that it `supports the use of all necessary means to achieve the goals of United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 as being consistent with the Authorization of Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution (Public Law 102-1),' that Iraq's repression of its civilian population violates United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 and `constitutes a continuing threat to the peace, security, and stability of the Persian Gulf region,' and that Congress, `supports the use of all necessary means to achieve the goals of United Nations Security Council Resolution 688';

Whereas the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-338) expressed the sense of Congress that it should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove from power the current Iraqi regime and promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime;

Whereas on September 12, 2002, President Bush committed the United States to `work with the United Nations Security Council to meet our common challenge' posed by Iraq and to `work for the necessary resolutions,' while also making clear that `the Security Council resolutions will be enforced, and the just demands of peace and security will be met, or action will be unavoidable';

Whereas the United States is determined to prosecute the war on terrorism and Iraq's ongoing support for international terrorist groups combined with its development of weapons of mass destruction in direct violation of its obligations under the 1991 cease-fire and other United Nations Security Council resolutions make clear that it is in the national security interests of the United States and in furtherance of the war on terrorism that all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions be enforced, including through the use of force if necessary;

Whereas Congress has taken steps to pursue vigorously the war on terrorism through the provision of authorities and funding requested by the President to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such persons or organizations;

Whereas the President and Congress are determined to continue to take all appropriate actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such persons or organizations;

Whereas the President has authority under the Constitution to take action in order to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States, as Congress recognized in the joint resolution on Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40); and

Whereas it is in the national security interests of the United States to restore international peace and security to the Persian Gulf region: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

[a fool in paradise]

We’ll be drawn into war with the Islamic Imperialists someday again. The war has waged for a thousand years.

It’s the death cult politic of a dead conquering warlord.

[Billthedrill]

It doesn't appear to me that it's even close to over. Al Qaeda certainly has benefited from a swing from U.S. opposition to U.S. indifference or active support in Syria, and ISIS has made a tremendous splash with their latest occupation of Mosul. Those I ascribe to U.S. foreign policy that has been not only stunningly incompetent but in active pursuit of aims that are not in U.S. interest, but rather in the interest of some imaginary Greater Good in the minds of the anti-imperialist amateur wonks who are in seats of power in the current administration.

The U.S. victory in Iraq - for that's what it really was - has been squandered by people too stupid and focused on domestic political advantage to do the minimal to defend it. The emphasis on diplomacy and drone warfare and withdrawal of ground troops has resulted in a neglect of the basics of the military aspect and for ISIS it was like leaving a raw steak unattended on the porch with wolves in the area.

What we got for 4500 lives and what has been estimated up to a trillion dollars was a check on the momentum of Islamic terrorism. I had hoped that the check would buy us 20 years, and later 10, time to build alliances and better understand the enemy. The policies of the current administration have served to increase that momentum back to nearly what it was in 2001. What we got for that sacrifice was, apparently three years. I don't think I can defend that anymore as worth it.

[Uncle Miltie]

Agreed.

But if they winnow their own ranks for a few generations, it’ll be easier in the long run.

[Uncle Miltie]

WHO LOST IRAQ?

[onedoug]

islamists took victory like the NVA did. When the asskickers were gone the commies overran the set-up props.

Numba 10, same-same.

[onedoug]

soetoro has more murders to yet commit.

[bert]

No.... AQ was not really a combatant.

George Bush , the conqueror of Baghdad won the Iraq war. Saddam Hussein lost it.

AQ is filling a power vacuum resulting from centuries long feuds between the Shia and Sunni political factions in Irq.

[Leaning Right]

I believe that was a noble vision...

I agree.

...and worth the effort to see if it could take root in Arabia

I strongly disagree. Bush II was gambling here. He had to have known that the odds were against him; there are NO true liberal muslim democracies, and there is a reason for that.

But Bush foolishly rolled the dice anyway. History will show that he lost that roll. And the effects are now coming faster and faster.

America and the West will pay dearly for Bush's foolish, long-shot gamble.

[Uncle Miltie]

After 9/11, it was hard to argue that things could get worse. There was a reasonable guess that things could get better. Added with all the other attributes of the situation, The U.S. Senate and the American polity agreed to invade Iraq. Bush led, and America wanted it too. So, we were in it together. Including Clinton and Kerry.

“Foolish” is easy to identify retroactively. A few thought it foolish at the time, but they lost politically. That’s the way the ball bounces.

Bush didn’t lose the roll of the dice. 0bama walked away and lost the game that Bush had either won or drawn to a tie.

America and the West will pay dearly for 0bama’s continuous support of Islam against Western Civilization.

Let’s put the blame squarely where it belongs: The President who sells us out to our enemies each and every day.

[BarbM]

We should nuked the bastards and left. What a waste of blood AMERICAN BLOOD!
___________________________________________________

and a waste of limbs. Many Americans lived, but lost limbs and suffered horrible head injuries. Everyday their lives are a struggle.

and the little p.u.s.s. just pulled out and walked away.
FUBO. FU