Posted on Jan 27, 2015
Do you agree that the Bush administration created a fiasco in Iraq?
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Senior officials of the Bush Administration were at best criminally incompetent in their actions after the attacks on the World Trade Center.
"Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Tommy Franks spent most of their time and energy on the least demanding task - defeating Saddam's weakened conventional forces - and the least amount on the most demanding - rehabilitation of and security for the new Iraq. The result was a surprising contradiction. The United States did not have nearly enough troops to secure the hundreds of suspected WMD sites that had supposedly been identified in Iraq or to secure the nation's long, porous borders. Had the Iraqis possessed WMD and terrorist groups been prevalent in Iraq as the Bush administration so loudly asserted, U.S. forces might well have failed to prevent the WMD from being spirited out of the country and falling into the hands of the dark forces the administration had declared war against."
(Michael R. Gordon & Gen. Bernard Trainor, Cobra II, pp. 503-504)
http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB214/
Jim Webb, in September, 2002, wrote an Op-Ed in The Washington Post vehemently arguing against the invasion of Iraq. It is striking just how right Webb was about virtually everything he said, and it is worth quoting at length to underscore what "serious, responsible national security" viewpoints actually look like:
"Other than the flippant criticisms of our "failure" to take Baghdad during the Persian Gulf War, one sees little discussion of an occupation of Iraq, but it is the key element of the current debate. The issue before us is not simply whether the United States should end the regime of Saddam Hussein, but whether we as a nation are prepared to physically occupy territory in the Middle East for the next 30 to 50 years. Those who are pushing for a unilateral war in Iraq know full well that there is no exit strategy if we invade and stay. . . ."
http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/10/jim-webb-marty-peretz-and-our-serious.html
Jim Webb should be our next president.
To stay on point, anyone who makes even a cursory examination of the record will find that Bush 43 was the worst president in our history.
Walt
"Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Tommy Franks spent most of their time and energy on the least demanding task - defeating Saddam's weakened conventional forces - and the least amount on the most demanding - rehabilitation of and security for the new Iraq. The result was a surprising contradiction. The United States did not have nearly enough troops to secure the hundreds of suspected WMD sites that had supposedly been identified in Iraq or to secure the nation's long, porous borders. Had the Iraqis possessed WMD and terrorist groups been prevalent in Iraq as the Bush administration so loudly asserted, U.S. forces might well have failed to prevent the WMD from being spirited out of the country and falling into the hands of the dark forces the administration had declared war against."
(Michael R. Gordon & Gen. Bernard Trainor, Cobra II, pp. 503-504)
http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB214/
Jim Webb, in September, 2002, wrote an Op-Ed in The Washington Post vehemently arguing against the invasion of Iraq. It is striking just how right Webb was about virtually everything he said, and it is worth quoting at length to underscore what "serious, responsible national security" viewpoints actually look like:
"Other than the flippant criticisms of our "failure" to take Baghdad during the Persian Gulf War, one sees little discussion of an occupation of Iraq, but it is the key element of the current debate. The issue before us is not simply whether the United States should end the regime of Saddam Hussein, but whether we as a nation are prepared to physically occupy territory in the Middle East for the next 30 to 50 years. Those who are pushing for a unilateral war in Iraq know full well that there is no exit strategy if we invade and stay. . . ."
http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/10/jim-webb-marty-peretz-and-our-serious.html
Jim Webb should be our next president.
To stay on point, anyone who makes even a cursory examination of the record will find that Bush 43 was the worst president in our history.
Walt
Military science
Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)
Iraq
George W. Bush
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 103
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As a Vet from both campaigns, what annoys me is how the Bush administration didn't invest resources into Afghanistan like they did in Iraq. That's where I fault them from a strategic view. Their priorities were questionable.
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MAJ James Woods
Have to disagree. Afghanistan was in response to 9/11 targeting Al Qaeda and removing Taliban from power in the process. Changing priorities to Iraq without stabilizing Afghanistan was awful decision. I do agree Iraq was political if it was to please Israel but it also allowed Iran to assume more control in the region. Again a strategic blunder.
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MAJ James Woods
I don't agree with that and I definitely believe Israel would disagree with that. Iran isn't an ally. Just a Mid East power we have to negotiate with but not ally that would back us up in a fight.
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MAJ James Woods
I used Israel as an example of one of our allies in the Middle East and that U.S. And Israel work together on limiting Iran's influence in the region. And of course we didn't go to war in Iraq for Israel. If any MidEast country supported the Iraq invasion it would've been Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
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Yes, by invading it. Then we continued to make a mess by removing dictators friendly to Western interests in favor of democratically elected Islamic extremists.
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Capt Walter Miller
Maj Richard "Ernie" Rowlette - And no one should forget that the invasion of Iraq resulted in ignominious defeat for the United States.
Walt
Walt
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Of course he created a power vacuum. And his buddies Cheney and Rumsfeld created the "cicadas" (alqada) as bush called them. For decades the political system, left and right has betrayed us and the world. They suck.... All of them
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um, yes. But Exxon Mobil had 34 billion in profit that quarter so.... Justified?
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Thanks Capt Miller for proving at least to me that NOT everyone in the Military is part of a Giant RUBBER STAMP of the POTUS and Congress. Though the Institution will FOREVER remain so. Critical independent and objective thinking is a Very RARE virtue these days everywhere. And Conscience is a better guidance in life than fanaticism. In the words of Martin Luther: "Is not right neither safe to go against Conscience."
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Oh man, I'm out of decent words to describe the Iraq thing, and Fiasco doesn't even begin to be one of them. The man GWB has gotten away with a lot, he should be charge with something. Should not be a free man walking the street. His incredible Incompetency before 9-11 and the subsequent Lying about the WMD, Saddam's involvement and Al-quaida in Iraq are IMO Inexcusable.
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The war in Iraq was won until President Obama snatched defeat from the jaws of victory,
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"Criminally incompetent" is not language I could agree to. I think the record is pretty secure that intelligence information was cherry picked to give the administration cover for invading Iraq. Over and above that, geopolitically, it was probably the worst foreign policy decision we've made in a long, long time. Don't forget that Iran was, and is, the major bad guy in that region. While Saddam Hussein was in power Iran's power was muted because Iran & Iraq were in a life & death struggle with each other. They share a long, long border with each other. Also, prior to the invasion, Iran was the only Shi'ite power in the region. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, etc. - all Sunni. I think, without question, we destabilized the region for decades to come and created a situation that has allowed Iran (and consequentially Russia & China), to exert tremendous influence over the region in a manner they could not have done prior to the invasion. Probably not the best thing for us. And for any of you who say that Iraq was stable......at any point after the invasion, I think that's highly factually inaccurate and not borne out by the facts.
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Capt Walter Miller
Oh I couldn't let that Bloom County cartoon go by.
What happened in Iraq -- a devastating defeat for the United States -- that needs to be burned into everyone's memory.
Walt
What happened in Iraq -- a devastating defeat for the United States -- that needs to be burned into everyone's memory.
Walt
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