Posted on Oct 18, 2015
Did the recent public release of the Downing Street Memo change your view on the validity of the Iraq Invasion and Occupation?
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I'm not linking to the memo because I'm not 100% sure of the current classification; however, there are plenty of news outlets and other sites that give the gist.
Short version is that the memo claims that the Bush administration had already decided to invade Iraq up to a year before the actual invasion and built its justification around a foregone conclusion.
Does any of that change your perception of the war itself, your service in it, or the sacrifices made and lives lost? Did the ends justify the means or the motivation? What, if anything should be done to keep similar events from happening again? Should there be consequences for those directly involved who knew the issues? Were Servicemembers who refused to deploy justified in those actions and should their punishments be rescinded? Was it an illegal war and were the orders to deploy illegal orders?
So many questions!
Short version is that the memo claims that the Bush administration had already decided to invade Iraq up to a year before the actual invasion and built its justification around a foregone conclusion.
Does any of that change your perception of the war itself, your service in it, or the sacrifices made and lives lost? Did the ends justify the means or the motivation? What, if anything should be done to keep similar events from happening again? Should there be consequences for those directly involved who knew the issues? Were Servicemembers who refused to deploy justified in those actions and should their punishments be rescinded? Was it an illegal war and were the orders to deploy illegal orders?
So many questions!
Posted in these groups: 
Iraq
Warfare
Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)
Office of the President (POTUS)
George W. Bush
Iraq Warfare Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) Office of the President (POTUS) George W. Bush
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 19
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Democrats Hypocrisy Over The Iraq War
Listen to the Democrats mislead, distort, and otherwise lie about the Iraq War. The party of appeasement and defeat eschews democracy in favor of hypocrisy.
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Did you ever read this. I know for a fact this is true. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/14/world/middleeast/us-casualties-of-iraq-chemical-weapons.html?_r=1
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I have felt all along we should have stayed out of Iraq. We now know the intelligence was flawed. We should've concentrated our efforts on Afghanistan. This is the law of unintended consequences and we have destabilized Iraq.
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We are not politicians we don't make policy we merely enforce that we are military personnel.
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unfortunately it cannot be changed soldiers and military people sign up and give up their rights. There's an old saying that you sold your goals was gold it's all the sordid just tol unfortunately it cannot be changed soldiers and military people sign up and give up their rights. There's an old saying I used to Learned a soldier goes were he is told to go and a soldier fights who is told to fight.
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Tough question. Much like Vietnam, the war itself was drawn out for monetary gains by Chaney I believe. When we started limiting ourselves is where we took a left turn. We didn't follow the simple plan that was followed with Germany and Japan after WWII. Set up the Government to succeed and rebuild the Country. Provide them with the blueprint to be able to provide for the Country but that's just a view point from the Bottom. Would I do it all over again? In a heartbeat. Especially my last Deployment. Just NOT with the Idiot that I had for a Boss. Maj. Huwit was as dumb as a box of rocks. Our Convoy Commanders kept our Soldiers alive in spite of his dumb ass.
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I guess I would have to see what evidence they had that the Bush admin had already decided to invade Iraq up to a year before the actual invasion. And then I would want to know for what reason they planned to invade. After all, Sadam had been violating the cease fire agreement from the first gulf war for a decade, so there was plenty of reason to invade even before 9/11.
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Hindsight is pointless at this point. Just hope all future POTUSs and SECDEFs consider history among many other factors when making their decisions and recommendations. Bush administration isn't the first to use faulty intelligence to justify combat operations for political or economical goals.
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MAJ Bryan Zeski
I disagree that hindsight is pointless. The people, and the Servicemembers, should know the true motivations for the war in Iraq. And while the Bush administration isn't the first to use faulty information, it's also not the first to make a decision and then fit the "facts" to justify that decision. However, is that something we would accept from a Soldier as justification for what they did? Isn't that a complete affront to integrity? Or do we just overlook the importance of integrity because it's our leadership? At what level does holding people accountable for their actions become unimportant? At what level does integrity take a back seat to expediency?
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MAJ James Woods
MAJ Bryan Zeski - Hindsight isn't the same as studying history and learning from our mistakes. Just saying forget about the "what ifs" and as you say, study the facts. Bush and company will never be held accountable. Certain military leaders won't be held accountable. Integrity is an important trait but I won't tolerate deserters who didn't want to follow orders.
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MAJ Bryan Zeski
MAJ James Woods - I get what you're saying, but I still have some kind of problem with the idea that we let leadership slide and can just sweep under the rug that they won't be held accountable, and yet we have no issue bringing the hammer down on others who may have actually been doing the right thing.
At what level does it become ok to sweep it under the rug because they are "untouchable"? And if that is the case, what kind of government are we supporting and defending? Personally, I still have faith that we CAN hold the right people accountable at some point.
At what level does it become ok to sweep it under the rug because they are "untouchable"? And if that is the case, what kind of government are we supporting and defending? Personally, I still have faith that we CAN hold the right people accountable at some point.
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MAJ James Woods
MAJ Bryan Zeski - First of all, which leaders had the hammer dropped on them for doing the right thing? I must've missed that bit of info in our so called unbiased news media.
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