Why are we still in Iraq?

There are always idiots, but the vast majority are sympathetic to the troops.

 

Especially this one. She rolled in at about two-and-a-half bills.

He was just an old, crusty coot who wanted to yell at someone.

 

3bags --
At the time Cheney mentioned the fictional Atta-Iraq meeting in Prague to Tim Russert, he knew from our own intel that the meeting never had happened. The policymakers in the WH Iraq Group knew that the Italian letter about Nigerien uranium was a clumsy forgery, and based policy on it anyway.
So, my answer is, yes, these people told lies as well as being stubborn and ignorant.

 

The war in Iraq was launched under greviously-false pretenses, which have been exhaustively documented.

Those pretenses and projections were largely conjured up by a close circle of individuals whose recent track records have taken an exhaustive beating
among the opinion classes -- with full justification.

Certain aspects of the fallout following the commencement of said war have turned out to be most-enriching for certain individuals associated with the war's broad conception.

Our commitment to the fantasy-scenario upon which much of this action's been based leaves the U. S. pot-commited for the forseeable.

Meanwhile, many of Cheney's inner-circle members wax fat, and worst of all . . .
they're going to get away with it.

 

Why are we still in Iraq?
How come nobody has bothered to ask even the moderate Arabs for their advice? You think Jordan or Egypt wants a foaming at the mouth Iraq next to a foaming at the mouth Iran and right next to the lying in your face while holding your hand Saudis?
So gas is 3 bucks a gallon. It's still cheaper than what the friggin Euros pay for it. Shit, what hasn't gotten more expensive over the years. We have — or somebody has — managed to keep the price of oil down for the last 30 years. The embargo of the mid 70s was 10 times worse, as far as the impact goes, than having to dig a little deeper into your pockets for gas (and I drive approximately 90-150 miles a day at the job).
Everybody — everybody — I talked to prior to the invasion thought Saddam had stockpiles of WMDs. That's folks with stars on the shoulders to guys right out of basic training. I was in Kuwait just prior to the invasion. Hell, he might have thought he had them. Since he is now dead, there's an answer we won't get. Even his troops, as they were getting cut in half by the Army and the Marines on the way to Baghdad, had gas masks and hypodermic needles for antitoxins. Why would they need those? Not because of any nerve agents or CWs in our arsenal.
Slowly, very slowly, we've gotten the Iraqis to come around to the ideas of self-governance. But there's still far too many self-serving and what's in it for me and my tribe types pissing in the soup. Hey, maybe they are catching on to our style of government. A friend of mine who was a top American commander in Iraq caught some Iraqi officials in out and out lies.
Friends who asked me in 2003 how long this would take I told them at least five years.
My guess is — summer of 2009. The winner of the presidential election will be brought in on the plans so they'll know what's going on. Whoever it is — Clinton, Obama, Pat Paulson — will probably take credit for the whole schmiel then.
And we do have all sorts of war plans in desk drawers in the Pentagon and Brussels, like the one we were going to use, rather than the NATO plan, once the Russkies came through the Fulda Gap.

 

I bought some jeans at the Fulda Gap once.

 

That's in the outlet mall right off Hwy. 73, on the Frontage Road, ain't it?

 

Jeez, weren't any of you guys paying attention 4 years ago? It's not about oil or democracy, it's about protecting americans from an enormous hidden stockpile of WMDs meant to one day kill us all. I'm sure dubya'll bring everyone home the day after we finally figure out where Saddam stashed those suckers away.

 

Clearly, it's about starving the beast. You blow all these billions in the middle east, and they can't be pissed away on social programs.

 

Mike will never know the joy of the Fulda Gap.

 

The former Secretary of Defense was asked that question, too.

His response:

"It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."

Complete administration malpractice in every way imaginable.

And what's staggering is that the Americans most affected by this incompetence --- the soldiers --- voted to re-elect this administration at an 80 percent clip.

 

Was the question on the initial military campaign itself or on the occupation that would follow? Even Rumsfeld couldn't have been that blind. Well ... on second thought ...
I've met Cheney (when he was SecDef). Never met Rumsfeld. Don't think I want to.