1. Islamist violence is down in Iraq, down in Europe, and hasn't materialized here.

2. Germans and Japanese were comfortable with us because we killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians, flattened every major city, and put hundreds of thousands of heavily armed combat soldiers all over the entire country and kept them under strict martial law for several years. An argument could be made that had we treated Iraq with the same military violence as we had the Germans and Japanese that the Iraqi's would have never dared the sectarian revolt and insurgents would have been annihilated at the borders. This is essentially the argument euphemistically offered by people who said we didn't have enough combat soldiers at the beginning of the war -- they wanted total subjugation through extreme violence.

3. Not long term, but they definitely want us short term. Every poll supports that. I agree with those Iraqis -- get done and get out.

4. That's what we call an opinion, not a fact.

I agree we didn't have enough troops there to begin with. There was basically no intelligent post-invasion plan.

Islamist violence is down because the Islamists have taken it too far and killed too many Muslims and lost their support. Ironically the only 2 places where terrorism is still up (compared to say 2003) is Iraq and Afghanistan. IMO we should have sent many more troops to stabilize Afghanistan and never invaded Iraq.

The Iraqis may want us there right now, but the majority want a withdrawal timetable. Only our administration and some republicans don't want a timetable because they have no intention of actually withdrawing.

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Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

we will be in Iraq for the next 40 to 50 years........

We must not lose our lead in Adobe Photoshop technology, that is certain!

On that, I disagree with both you & the administration -- I think we should have used far less military. We should have engaged in a clandestine war with Hussein and a covert war with Al Qaeda. Instead, the military geniuses and president reached for the big club. About as useful as a nuke.

Wrong tool for the job.

B

IMO even that would have been better than what the administration did with Iraq. I like the idea of a covert war with Al Qaeda, but IMO the Taliban had to be toppled as was done.

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Yep. No question.

In hindsight, we're all military and political geniuses.

B

I had the foresight to know that Iraq wouldn't go well. I knew the WMD claims were BS and I was actually surprised to see all the jubilation when Saddam's statue came down. I almost thought at the time that I'd been proven wrong, but then the chaos and insurgency started and my fears came true.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

It's not hindsight when it is predicted before hand.

When do you think the WMD's left Iraq and where?

How did you "know" this? You can't be trying to say the materials never went in, can you?

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
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03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
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Oh no, not again!!!

Signed,
Bill Murray

I knew it was BS when I heard Chenney say "there's no doubt that Saddam has WMD's". AFAIK, there was never any intelligence that removed all such doubt. At least I never saw it, including in Powell's UN presentation. This BS just kept getting reinforced as time went on, especially at the end as the inspectors were getting kicked out by us in the rush to invade. I also knew the Saddam-Al Qaeda connection claim was BS because why the hell would Saddam, a secular "socialist infidel" in the eyes of Bin Laden, want to cooperate with the group? It made no sense.

As to where the WMD's went, my belief is that they were all destroyed, some secretly. Saddam was walking a fine line between complying with the UN and not being seen by Iran and other adversaries as a weakling ready to be rolled over.

__________________
2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGzbwJG4jZw&feature=related

You do realize that OBL cooperated with some Christian Infidel at some point in the past, right?

Some were destroyed by the UN. Now whether it was done secretly for whatever reason or it was moved out of the country, we don't know. More to the point, how could we have known at the time?

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow