For all of you that keep spouting that the Iraqi war was for oil, tell me why the price of gas has gone UP since the war, and not down. Tell me that the schools being opened for the first time aren't worth it. Tell me that the children getting medical care including BASIC immunizations isn't worth it. How about the people being able to compete in the Olympics isn't worth it. Seriously. We went to war because of information that we had at the time led us to believe there was a serious risk of Saddam having WMDs. This has proven largely false (there have been caches found but nothing to the magnitude of what people expected). What sets up everyone so upset is that we went in with guns a blazing and no plan for getting out. And instead of it being quick and done, there were things that happened we hadn't anticipated, like the insurgency.
Politicians have screwed things up like the do in most every non-clear cut war (vietnam anyone). War is meant to be fought by the soldiers. Politicians should stay the hell out of it. People die in wars, get over it.
And don't start talking about the death tolls here either. Total deaths in the Vietnam war was in the neighborhood of 58,000. Thus far in Iraq there's been about 4,000 (total deaths combat and otherwise). That's one HELL of an improvement.
I can answer this easily.
1. We went to Iraq for oil, but not to control the price of oil (that's a misconception, although the oil companies didn't complain) but to control the world supply of it. There is a oil race going on between the West and China. Both sides wish to control the world supply of it in order to support their enormous economies, unfortunately their isn't enough oil for both. Whoever controls the oil supply controls the world.
2. Any Iraqi will tell you they got better basic services under Saddam than after the US invasion. Even under the strictest period of UN embargo Food and Medicine were exempt. If anything it was the Destruction of Iraqis Infrastructure and the DeBaathification at the hands of the so-called 'liberators' that caused all the distress of cilvilians in the first place. So I will say it outloud
"IT WASN'T WORTH IT".
BTW. There is a huge and real Humanitarian crisis in both Myanmar and Zimbabwe (but no oil) how come we haven't invaded there yet?
3. So we invaded the country so Iraq could compete in the Olympics, is that what you are saying? They could do that
BEFORE the invasion as well, so again what did we improve exactly?
4. The information on Iraqi WMDs wasn't just false, it was Cherry-Picked, distorted, forged, lied about, and otherwise complete fabricated. The evidence and witnesses to testify to this is now so overwhelming it has crossed partisan lines. If we had a more honorable and less cowardly Congress, the entire Bush Administration would be sitting in a Federal Prison. In WWII people went to the gallows for what Bush has done (launching a aggressive war and torture).
Make no mistake the GOP had wanted to attack Iraq BEFORE Bush was elected. There is a famous letter written to President Bill Clinton by Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle, Bolton and all the other DC Neocons urging Clinton to invade.
5. Its not the number of KIA that is the problem, it could be 1 person or 100,000. Its what they died for. Which I am sorry to say was nothing other than Politics and Money.
And thats a pretty lousy reason...