Another soldier killed in Iraq

[janswizard]

When is this going to end?

[David]

When we get out of Iraq.

[Josephine96]

ask a smart question.. get a smart answer

[sunnyday]

Actually, the really smart question is what in the world are we doing over there in the first place?

[Josephine96]

True Sunny day.. you may be right lol

[janswizard]

I've always been taught that talking politics is a dangerous game but it's nice to be hanging out with a bunch of people who can agree to disagree rather than start a major battle with each other. With that said,...

I agree Sunnyday. After the WTC disaster, I supported our President and his decision to go to Afghanistan. And when it was announced that Saddam Hussein had nuclear capabilities and it was necessary to end his regime, I agreed with that. But all that has changed since we are now finding out that what we were fed was not the absolute truth.

I think all our service people over there should be brought home. The price they are paying is too high for the return investment.

[Miss Mary]

This really hits home with us - my nephew (niece's husband) is over there right now. Right in the thick of it, in Iraq, serving with the 101st. He said the Iraqi's keep shooting at them, they're lousy shots to begin with (a blessing he said), but the sad thing is now they sleep right thru it all (b/c they're so exhausted). He never thought he'd be able to sleep under such dire conditions. We are so worried about him and all our brave soldiers over there.

I think they need to come home. But then the poor innocent Iraqi people who want a better way of life will thrown to the wolves again.

Don't ask me to get into politics either. That's just something I don't feel that knowledgable about anyway, but if others want to debate all of this, I'm not offended.

I've worried about Kris from the very beginning and will continue to do so until he's really home for good. His wife always says - this is what he trained for.

Mary

[sunnyday]

I'm not one for a political discussion, either, but I do want to say that I pray that all of our people come home safely and soon.

[chadtm80]

I think all our service people over there should be brought home. The price they are paying is too high for the return investment.

Weather you agree or dis agree with us going over there in the first place, you HAVE to agree that pulling them out now, would make the whole war worthless.. We pull out now and the Iraqi people are right back to where they were before we came in.. being tortured and living each day poor and fearfull for there lives.. Pulling our troops now would be SO iresponsable. We owe it to the iraqi's to stick around and protect them now, and to re-build some kind of civiliztion. There is zero orginatation there right now.

[Stephanie]

I think all our service people over there should be brought home. The price they are paying is too high for the return investment.

Weather you agree or dis agree with us going over there in the first place, you HAVE to agree that pulling them out now, would make the whole war worthless.. We pull out now and the Iraqi people are right back to where they were before we came in.. being tortured and living each day poor and fearfull for there lives.. Pulling our troops now would be SO iresponsable. We owe it to the iraqi's to stick around and protect them now, and to re-build some kind of civiliztion. There is zero orginatation there right now.

I agree with that asessment Chad. We NEED outside help, $$$ and personnel.

[Guest]

From my point of view, the sad thing is that many places in the world are full of people suffering for tyranny, hunger, poverty but, unfortunately, they do not float on oil...
Let me make u all a question (the question I'm trying to ask to the world):
the program "food for oil" meant mr Saddam to be rolling in money on the shoulders of his own people.
Why not forget the oil? Why not stop buying oil, offering food and medicines under ONU supervision and control?
I'm still believing that teaching democracy by bombing, is not a good lesson.

Ciao
Paolo

[j]

Actually, the really smart question is what in the world are we doing over there in the first place?

Perhaps this will help you:


The "Don't touch Saddam" lobby has transformed into a hunting party to chase British Prime Minister Tony Blair out of office. The claim is that Blair (and President Bush) "lied" about the reasons for the war against Saddam. A few months before the war, Blair published a dossier on Saddam's weapons of mass destruction (WMD). At the time, some of us realized that the dossier contained many flaws. But that didn't mean that there was no justification for going to war against Saddam. His WMD program was only one of many issues between Saddam and the United Nations.

From August 1990 (when Saddam invaded Kuwait) to March 2003 (when the U.S.-led coalition attacked Iraq), the United Nations' Security Council passed 18 resolutions related to the Iraqi dictator's policies and behavior. Saddam's possession of WMD was one of those issues. Others included:

Saddam was asked to stop threatening Iraq's neighbors and fomenting instability in the region. He did not. Between 1990 and 2003, Iraq took threatening action against Kuwait on 61 separate occasions. Tehran, for its part, reported to the U.N. 218 instances in which Iraq violated the terms of its 1989 cease-fire with Iran. Any survey of Iraqi propaganda under Saddam would show it as a means of fomenting hatred against many Arab governments, thus acting against the region's peace and stability.


The various resolutions also demanded that Iraq abandon claims against Kuwait once and for all. The National Assembly, Saddam's rubber-stamp parliament, passed a draft bill to abandon such claims - but the Revolutionary Command Council, the regime's highest organ, never gave final approval. Senior officials missed no opportunity to promise an eventual "reunification" of Kuwait with Iraq.


Various resolutions also demanded that Saddam stop violating the human rights of the Iraqi people and put an end to three decades of brutal repression. We now know that his henchmen were executing real or imagined opponents until April 8, just hours before the first U.S. troops entered Baghdad. By some estimates, Saddam's death machine murdered more than 100,000 Iraqis between 1991 and 2003. (This includes those killed when he quelled the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq.)
The discovery of mass graves, the testimonies of thousands of former political prisoners and other evidence now available show that Saddam violated all the relevant U.N. resolutions.

Several resolutions demanded Saddam account for what happened to foreign nationals who vanished in Iraq in 1990-91. These included more than 600 Kuwaitis, kidnapped by the Iraqis in August 1990. For over a decade Saddam prevaricated, refusing to provide information, and dismissed the issue as irrelevant.


Saddam also violated the resolutions and agreements related to the oil-for-food program. In some cases, he and his entourage embarked on criminal operations such as hoarding, smuggling food and medicine out of Iraq, and creating a black market. Many items imported by Iraq under the program were subsequently smuggled and sold in Jordan and Iran.
It is important to recall all this to show that the case of taking action against Saddam was not exclusively based on the issue of WMD. Finding and getting rid of such weapons in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and South Africa took 18 to 30 months, even though those governments all actively cooperated with the U.N. It is fanciful that similar results could be achieved in Iraq in a few weeks.

Not finding the WMDs in a fixed timeframe does not mean they never existed. British and Spanish governments have been looking for weapons caches of Basque and Irish terrorist groups for 35 years and have found little. But everyone knows those groups have arms.

On the other hand, the Philippines government still finds weapons caches left by the Japanese over half a century ago.

[Guest]

...On the other hand, the Philippines government still finds weapons caches left by the Japanese over half a century ago.

History is a double-edged blade, someone might remember how many people have been killed so far around the world, without US/UK intervention, and maybe with US/UK approval...

[TexasStooge]

WHEN WILL THIS WAR COME TO A COMPLETE STOP?????????!!!!!!!!!!!

[janswizard]

I don't think the Iraqui's are doing enough to help themselves. If they really wanted the United States and the rest of the coalition there, they would be making more of an effort to lead us to the people who are shooting at our armed forces, pointing fingers to those that are sabotaging what we manage to accomplish, and possibly indicating where those so-called weapons of mass destruction are kept.

Just last week I saw on the news where Iraqui citizens stormed the police department because they said they were promised jobs. Are police jobs the only ones available in that country? While our service people are rebuilding the power grids, bridges and roads, schools, hospitals, etc, and dodging bullets while they are doing it, what are the people of Iraq doing? Are they afraid of getting their hands dirty? When television cameras pan the streets of Iraq while doing their stories, do you ever look past the reporter? While we were responsible for the major bombing, much of the litter on the streets and the broken windows were done by the Iraquis during their looting spree after the fall of Saddam. Are they not capable of picking up trash, reglazing a window, taking a little pride in their own country?

Sorry, I think it's time to bring the troops home. Besides the billions of dollars that's going to come out of your pocket to pay for this, we are being left vulnerable by the absence of our military in our own country. I'm not saying they aren't doing the best job they know how over there, I just think the cost of our sons/daughters is too high a price to pay. Bring them home.

[Lake Effect1]

We cannot pull out now.