SPfloppy
11-28-2006, 07:03 PM
Alright lets all keep an open mind about this. In the spirit of ESPN Classic's "Top 5 reasons you can't blame" tv show I shall submit the top 5 reasons you can't blame GW for going to war with Iraq. I am not apologizing here. I am not blindly supporting an oil war or whatever label some folks might give this thread. This is just entertainment OK?
Lets look at the case against Bush before we give our top 5 reasons:
A. The war in Iraq has cost the nation untold billions of dollars spent in a war that the US military is spinning thier wheels in a protracted conflict
B. Since the "End of major combat operations" nearly 3000 US Soldiers, sailors, Airmen and Marines has lost thier lives with little to show for it. A nation wouldn't have had to be rebuilt if you hadn't bombed it into the stoneage for 10 years.
C. Bad prewar intell- I'm not touching that one we all know how it shook out
Now that we have identified a few of the bad points in the war lets get into the countdown:
Reason #5:
Iraq had weapons of mass destruction- Prewar intell told a bleak story about how Iraq was capable of everything except an all out strike on US soil with Chem/bio or nuclear weapons. As it turns out there were not the huge stockpiles of WMD we thought there were but since the invasion US forces had found close to a thousand WMD's (Look it up). Further after the first gulf was UNSCOM the UN team sent to dismantle the WMD's Saddam had founds thousands upon thousands of weapons and were continually blocked access to suspected sites. Where did they all go?
Reason #4:
Campain promises:
In his run for Prsident in 1999 and 2000 then Gov Bush and Dick Cheney stated that if elected they would modernize our military. They did. The development of new weapons, pay raises, benifiets for service members and the best new equipment you could want come at a price for our services. The best way to prove the effectiveness of new equipment and new doctrine is to do so in war. The individual body armor (IBA) alone is so far ahead of what we had when I joined up in 98 you'd think I had joined the Swiss traffic police corps not the US military.
Reason #3:
Bill Clinton:
Go back in your minds and remember how many air strikes Bill ordered against Iraq throughout his tenure in office. This costs money. Building and suring up bases in austere environments, buying bombs, fueling planes, intell gathering ect. All cost money. Had we kept the containment approach through this administration we would have a heavy bill to pay. Bush was likely sold the idea that a one shot deal could cost less in the long term if you squashed the nation and replaced it's ruler. Further I recall reading my newspaper in 97and 98 when we beefed up to thwart after Iraq kicked UNSCOM out for good. All options were on the table, but with an election so close Clinton couldn't ro wouldn't risk a protracted conflict that might weaken support for his party.
Reason #2:
Osama Bin Laden:
After the 911 attacks (and I hate to use that by the way) the country felt vulnerable and needed to feel strong and united. Rulers throughout history have used this same method to unite an angry or seditious population. Give them all the same enemy and they will all be friends. Osama Bun Boogeyman gave the whole country a bad taste for Arabs and made it an easier sell to take down a sandy little butthole from the same nieghborhood.
Reason #1:
Donald Rummsfeld:
This dumb bastard so mis-lead our president and the joint chiefs they believed we could walk right over the country without much of a fight. The war plan he approved failed to secure objectives in favor of speed to the capital. Thinking the will of the nation and it's forces would be broken he pressed this plan into service and today the occupying force suffers for it daily.
There you go, my top five reasons you can't blame Bush for going to war with Iraq. You can disagree all you want these are just my opinions. By the way I just heard that LABF had a death in the family or some sort of family emergecy. I appologize to LABF if I hit you while you were down I didn't know about whatever happened. I wish you and your family the best and I hope to see you post again in the near future.
Lets look at the case against Bush before we give our top 5 reasons:
A. The war in Iraq has cost the nation untold billions of dollars spent in a war that the US military is spinning thier wheels in a protracted conflict
B. Since the "End of major combat operations" nearly 3000 US Soldiers, sailors, Airmen and Marines has lost thier lives with little to show for it. A nation wouldn't have had to be rebuilt if you hadn't bombed it into the stoneage for 10 years.
C. Bad prewar intell- I'm not touching that one we all know how it shook out
Now that we have identified a few of the bad points in the war lets get into the countdown:
Reason #5:
Iraq had weapons of mass destruction- Prewar intell told a bleak story about how Iraq was capable of everything except an all out strike on US soil with Chem/bio or nuclear weapons. As it turns out there were not the huge stockpiles of WMD we thought there were but since the invasion US forces had found close to a thousand WMD's (Look it up). Further after the first gulf was UNSCOM the UN team sent to dismantle the WMD's Saddam had founds thousands upon thousands of weapons and were continually blocked access to suspected sites. Where did they all go?
Reason #4:
Campain promises:
In his run for Prsident in 1999 and 2000 then Gov Bush and Dick Cheney stated that if elected they would modernize our military. They did. The development of new weapons, pay raises, benifiets for service members and the best new equipment you could want come at a price for our services. The best way to prove the effectiveness of new equipment and new doctrine is to do so in war. The individual body armor (IBA) alone is so far ahead of what we had when I joined up in 98 you'd think I had joined the Swiss traffic police corps not the US military.
Reason #3:
Bill Clinton:
Go back in your minds and remember how many air strikes Bill ordered against Iraq throughout his tenure in office. This costs money. Building and suring up bases in austere environments, buying bombs, fueling planes, intell gathering ect. All cost money. Had we kept the containment approach through this administration we would have a heavy bill to pay. Bush was likely sold the idea that a one shot deal could cost less in the long term if you squashed the nation and replaced it's ruler. Further I recall reading my newspaper in 97and 98 when we beefed up to thwart after Iraq kicked UNSCOM out for good. All options were on the table, but with an election so close Clinton couldn't ro wouldn't risk a protracted conflict that might weaken support for his party.
Reason #2:
Osama Bin Laden:
After the 911 attacks (and I hate to use that by the way) the country felt vulnerable and needed to feel strong and united. Rulers throughout history have used this same method to unite an angry or seditious population. Give them all the same enemy and they will all be friends. Osama Bun Boogeyman gave the whole country a bad taste for Arabs and made it an easier sell to take down a sandy little butthole from the same nieghborhood.
Reason #1:
Donald Rummsfeld:
This dumb bastard so mis-lead our president and the joint chiefs they believed we could walk right over the country without much of a fight. The war plan he approved failed to secure objectives in favor of speed to the capital. Thinking the will of the nation and it's forces would be broken he pressed this plan into service and today the occupying force suffers for it daily.
There you go, my top five reasons you can't blame Bush for going to war with Iraq. You can disagree all you want these are just my opinions. By the way I just heard that LABF had a death in the family or some sort of family emergecy. I appologize to LABF if I hit you while you were down I didn't know about whatever happened. I wish you and your family the best and I hope to see you post again in the near future.