Iraq War Cost US 2 Trillion dollars, 200,000 lives. What a waste.

[blackhawk]

Two things first yes Iraq was a mistake I will gladly admit that second for God's sake will guy's pick a number and stick with it your numbers on this go up and down more than a basketball during March madness.

 

[rdean]

A new report by the “Costs of War” project at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies finds that nearly 200,000 people, including soldiers and civilians, were killed in the war in Iraq President George W. Bush launched 10 years ago.

The Iraq War was in vain. No WMD were found, and there's no real democracy in Iraq. The facts are clear: The world would have been better off if Saddam were still in power and Gore had taken the office of President, which he rightly won in 2000.

The GOP's refusal to admit to their mistake of starting the Iraq War is one of the reason why they have little power in DC. The US voter is punishing the GOP for their foreign policy mistakes, and they deserve every bit of it and more.

And all these armchair war hawks don't want any taxes raised to pay for the war THEY supported. Figure THAT one out!

And they want America's wealth to go to rebuilding Iraq when spending on infrastructure in this country is a "waste of money". I can't explain it. They won't.

 

[freedombecki]

Oh no.

Holy crap.

All this time, I didn't realize that Saddam was America's Commander in Chief at the time. So HE made the call to send our troops. Bush was just an innocent bystander.

Okay, sorry, I take it all back.

.

Poor unfortunate Saddam. Picked to be a target just by use of a dart board. Didn't use WMD against his own people. Didn't threaten the region. Didn't cause ecological disaster in Kuwait. No he was just an innocent bystander that Bush and Congress decided had to be a target.

Kinda of like the 16 year old American that Obama murdered.

Hussein did none of those things at the time Bush sent troops in. So it's not like he sent troops in to prevent those atrocities. And none of those actions were a threat to the U.S. when Bush decided to attack a country which had not attacked us first.

Yes he did. When the troops marched into Baghdad, they were greeted by the sight of a beheaded family hung on the fences after being treated the weeks before to torture, the women raped in front of the men in the family before killing them one by one in front of the head of the family.

I'm surprised you forgot about Saddam's highly active rape-rooms to torment suspected "traitors" who were tortured with no trials whatever, and killed or not at Saddam's whim, at which time he sent them home minus a few body parts.

Lot of selective memory goes on around here.

 

[AmericanFirst]

Yep.

A war crime and a national disgrace.

The national disgrace is in the wh currently, with all you idiots kissing his ass.

 

[depotoo]

what many fail to remember is that Iraq also tried to have former President Bush 41 assasinated. I guess to some that also accounts for nothing... He attempted to have the President of the United States killed.

 

[Billo_Really]

care to give a link to where you proferred this information?

The link was in my post.

 

[Billo_Really]

loinboy, you also left this out of that British info -
“We believe Iraq retains some production equipment, and some small stocks of chemical warfare agent precursors, and may have hidden small quantities of agents and weapons.

And they told Hans Blix to go look for them and in his Feb 2003 report to the UNSC, he said he had not found any.

 

[Billo_Really]

Yes he did. When the troops marched into Baghdad, they were greeted by the sight of a beheaded family hung on the fences after being treated the weeks before to torture, the women raped in front of the men in the family before killing them one by one in front of the head of the family.

I'm surprised you forgot about Saddam's highly active rape-rooms to torment suspected "traitors" who were tortured with no trials whatever, and killed or not at Saddam's whim, at which time he sent them home minus a few body parts.

Lot of selective memory goes on around here.

Are you just as concerned for the over 1 million innocent Iraqis that died as a result of the invasion, or the over 4 million Iraqis that are now refugees because of the invasion?

How 'bout all the death squads from the government we put in power, are you outraged over them?

 

[freedombecki]

Two things first yes Iraq was a mistake I will gladly admit that second for God's sake will guy's pick a number and stick with it your numbers on this go up and down more than a basketball during March madness.

Then you deny the seriousness of Saddam's war crimes found here:

U.S. War Crimes Ambassador Reviews Saddam Hussein's Criminality

The Case for Justice in Iraq
By David J. Scheffer
Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues

Monday, September 18, 2000

Middle East Institute and the Iraq Foundation
National Press Club, Washington, D.C.

You have NO idea.

 

[francoHFW]

Stupidest war EVER! Also lost us the Afghan War and gained us tens of thousands of terrorists...great job Pubbies Just as bad as the cronyism and corruption GOP World Financial Meltdown...Is it total ignorance, brainwashing, or dementia? YES

 

[Dot Com]

freedombecki would gladly have her taxes raised, precipitously I might add, to pay for that war of choice.

 

[Dot Com]

Stupidest war EVER! Also lost us the Afghan War and gained us tens of thousands of terrorists...great job Pubbies Just as bad as the cronyism and corruption GOP World Financial Meltdown...Is it total ignorance, brainwashing, or dementia? YES

Biil Kristol & his, now defunct, organization- PNAC egged the admin on to invade. He works at Fox now.

 

[blackhawk]

Two things first yes Iraq was a mistake I will gladly admit that second for God's sake will guy's pick a number and stick with it your numbers on this go up and down more than a basketball during March madness.

Then you deny the seriousness of Saddam's war crimes found here:

U.S. War Crimes Ambassador Reviews Saddam Hussein's Criminality

The Case for Justice in Iraq
By David J. Scheffer
Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues

Monday, September 18, 2000

Middle East Institute and the Iraq Foundation
National Press Club, Washington, D.C.

You have NO idea.

I'm not denying anything Saddam did or trying to paint him as decent person but the fact is we paid to high a price to get rid of him. I didn't oppose the war when it started nor did I turn on it when it got tough but looking back it was not worth what we paid but hindsight is 20/20 always will be.

 

[Wehrwolfen]

The Iraq war, the afghanistan war, the viet nam war, the kosovo war--------all wasted american lives and american money.

to try to make these blunders into some kind of partisan attack is to ignore history. Both parties are equally to blame.

It's the Progressive Left that has continued to whine about things passed while doing nothing to improve the future. All the Left seems to strive for is the power to supress the rest of the people.

 

[Faun]

Poor unfortunate Saddam. Picked to be a target just by use of a dart board. Didn't use WMD against his own people. Didn't threaten the region. Didn't cause ecological disaster in Kuwait. No he was just an innocent bystander that Bush and Congress decided had to be a target.

Kinda of like the 16 year old American that Obama murdered.

Hussein did none of those things at the time Bush sent troops in. So it's not like he sent troops in to prevent those atrocities. And none of those actions were a threat to the U.S. when Bush decided to attack a country which had not attacked us first.

Yes he did. When the troops marched into Baghdad, they were greeted by the sight of a beheaded family hung on the fences after being treated the weeks before to torture, the women raped in front of the men in the family before killing them one by one in front of the head of the family.

I'm surprised you forgot about Saddam's highly active rape-rooms to torment suspected "traitors" who were tortured with no trials whatever, and killed or not at Saddam's whim, at which time he sent them home minus a few body parts.

Lot of selective memory goes on around here.

What are you talking about? Did you not read the post before mine?

• "... use WMD against his own people."

Your response had nothing to do with that. As I said, that was not happening when Bush invaded.

• "... threaten the region."

Your response had nothing to do with that. As I said, that was not happening when Bush invaded.

• "... cause ecological disaster in Kuwait."

Your response had nothing to do with that. As I said, that was not happening when Bush invaded.

I never said Hussein was a boy scout. But in the interest of keeping the record straight, at the time we invaded, none of those attrocities freewill mentioned were occurring; so none of those were valid reasons to invade another country.

 

[depotoo]

loinboy, you also left this out of that British info -
“We believe Iraq retains some production equipment, and some small stocks of chemical warfare agent precursors, and may have hidden small quantities of agents and weapons.

And they told Hans Blix to go look for them and in his Feb 2003 report to the UNSC, he said he had not found any.

2. Whether an earlier voluntary disclosure by Iraq of its work on VX could have
contributed to fully clarifying this matter can only be the subject of speculation.
However, it is obvious that the unilateral destruction, admitted by Iraq, prolonged
the verification process, led to the elimination of physical evidence essential for
complete verification and left serious uncertainties regarding the quantities of VX
produced and its disposition. In 2002, due to these uncertainties, UNMOVIC
identified the issue of VX as one of the remaining unresolved disarmament issues.
In March 2003, it included this issue in the list of key remaining disarmament tasks
(required under the terms of Security Council resolution 1284 (1999)). The Iraq
Survey Group also reported that Iraq had not adequately explained and accounted
for its VX production and weaponization...30. Despite the Council’s prohibitions, from 1999 to 2002 Iraq procured materials,
equipment and components from abroad for use in its missile programmes. In
several instances, the items procured were used by Iraq for the production of Al
Samoud 2 missiles that were determined by UNMOVIC in February 2003 to be
proscribed. At least 380 SA-2 missile engines were imported for this programme by
Iraq’s prime missile establishment through an Iraqi State-owned trading company
controlled by the Military Industrialization Commission and through a local Iraqi
trading company and a foreign trading company.
31. The same Iraqi governmental trading company was involved, through a
contract with two foreign private companies, in procuring components and
equipment for the manufacture and testing of missile guidance and control systems,
including inertial navigation systems with fibre-optic and laser ring gyroscopes and
Global Positioning System equipment, accelerometers, ancillary items and a variety
of production and testing equipment. One Iraqi trading company was also involved
in the procurement (through private trading companies) of different pieces of
missile-related production equipment and technology. In addition several foreign
private subcontractors were responsible for the implementation of specific parts of
the general contract.
32. From 1999 to 2002, Iraq also procured a variety of dual-use biological and
chemical items and materials without United Nations authorization. They included
the acquisition by Iraq of some corrosion-resistant chemical process equipment and
biological research equipment, such as DNA sequencers, that were used by Iraq for
16
s12005/742
non-proscribed purposes. 30. Despite the Council’s prohibitions, from 1999 to 2002 Iraq procured materials,
equipment and components from abroad for use in its missile programmes. In
several instances, the items procured were used by Iraq for the production of Al
Samoud 2 missiles that were determined by UNMOVIC in February 2003 to be
proscribed. At least 380 SA-2 missile engines were imported for this programme by
Iraq’s prime missile establishment through an Iraqi State-owned trading company
controlled by the Military Industrialization Commission and through a local Iraqi
trading company and a foreign trading company.
31. The same Iraqi governmental trading company was involved, through a
contract with two foreign private companies, in procuring components and
equipment for the manufacture and testing of missile guidance and control systems,
including inertial navigation systems with fibre-optic and laser ring gyroscopes and
Global Positioning System equipment, accelerometers, ancillary items and a variety
of production and testing equipment. One Iraqi trading company was also involved
in the procurement (through private trading companies) of different pieces of
missile-related production equipment and technology. In addition several foreign
private subcontractors were responsible for the implementation of specific parts of
the general contract.
32. From 1999 to 2002, Iraq also procured a variety of dual-use biological and
chemical items and materials without United Nations authorization. They included
the acquisition by Iraq of some corrosion-resistant chemical process equipment and
biological research equipment, such as DNA sequencers, that were used by Iraq for
16
s12005/742
non-proscribed purposes. Although the goods were acquired by Iraq outside the
framework of the mechanisms established under Security Council resolutions, most (not all)
of them were later declared by Iraq to UNMOVIC in October 2002, when Iraq
submitted its backlog of semi-annual monitoring declarations. ...

35. Although the introduction of export licensing by individual States significantly
slowed down and limited Iraq's procurement efforts prior to 1991, it did not stop
them completely. The provisions involving only the licensing of exports on the
grounds of end-user certificates without on-site verification were not able to solve
fully the problem of possible shipments of dual-use items and materials to Iraq.
36. Iraq has demonstrated its ability to make adjustments and modifications to its
procurement techniques to overcome trade restrictions - to a certain degree even
under sanctions. Such an ability demonstrates that a combination of effective export
control measures taken by all potential suppliers, coupled with an international
mechanism for export/import notifications of dual-use items to Iraq and on-site
verification, is required in order to provide a sufficient degree of confidence that
dual-use items and materials will not be used for proscribed purposes.
".*
This was a report released by UNMOVIC in 2005.
There is much more for anyone that was truly interested in finding out the facts, but most I find only go by what has been hand picked and delivered to them.

 

[depotoo]

let's look at even more -

36. From information collected by the inspectors in Iraq, UNMOVIC assessed
that, depending on the munitions models, types of chemical warfare agents, dates of
production and filling and storage conditions, some chemical munitions, if
remaining in Iraq, may still retain relatively high-purity chemical warfare agent, like
mustard gas. Other munitions would contain degraded chemical warfare agents,
binary components or only their residues.
14

 

[Freewill]

Where is all the money we were spending winning the Iraq war? Seems to me if it were such a drain then we would be swimming in money. Where's the beef?

 

[Billo_Really]

loinboy, you also left this out of that British info -
“We believe Iraq retains some production equipment, and some small stocks of chemical warfare agent precursors, and may have hidden small quantities of agents and weapons.

And they told Hans Blix to go look for them and in his Feb 2003 report to the UNSC, he said he had not found any.

2. Whether an earlier voluntary disclosure by Iraq of its work on VX could have
contributed to fully clarifying this matter can only be the subject of speculation.
However, it is obvious that the unilateral destruction, admitted by Iraq, prolonged
the verification process, led to the elimination of physical evidence essential for
complete verification and left serious uncertainties regarding the quantities of VX
produced and its disposition. In 2002, due to these uncertainties, UNMOVIC
identified the issue of VX as one of the remaining unresolved disarmament issues.
In March 2003, it included this issue in the list of key remaining disarmament tasks
(required under the terms of Security Council resolution 1284 (1999)). The Iraq
Survey Group also reported that Iraq had not adequately explained and accounted
for its VX production and weaponization...30. Despite the Council’s prohibitions, from 1999 to 2002 Iraq procured materials,
equipment and components from abroad for use in its missile programmes. In
several instances, the items procured were used by Iraq for the production of Al
Samoud 2 missiles that were determined by UNMOVIC in February 2003 to be
proscribed. At least 380 SA-2 missile engines were imported for this programme by
Iraq’s prime missile establishment through an Iraqi State-owned trading company
controlled by the Military Industrialization Commission and through a local Iraqi
trading company and a foreign trading company.
31. The same Iraqi governmental trading company was involved, through a
contract with two foreign private companies, in procuring components and
equipment for the manufacture and testing of missile guidance and control systems,
including inertial navigation systems with fibre-optic and laser ring gyroscopes and
Global Positioning System equipment, accelerometers, ancillary items and a variety
of production and testing equipment. One Iraqi trading company was also involved
in the procurement (through private trading companies) of different pieces of
missile-related production equipment and technology. In addition several foreign
private subcontractors were responsible for the implementation of specific parts of
the general contract.
32. From 1999 to 2002, Iraq also procured a variety of dual-use biological and
chemical items and materials without United Nations authorization. They included
the acquisition by Iraq of some corrosion-resistant chemical process equipment and
biological research equipment, such as DNA sequencers, that were used by Iraq for
16
s12005/742
non-proscribed purposes. 30. Despite the Council’s prohibitions, from 1999 to 2002 Iraq procured materials,
equipment and components from abroad for use in its missile programmes. In
several instances, the items procured were used by Iraq for the production of Al
Samoud 2 missiles that were determined by UNMOVIC in February 2003 to be
proscribed. At least 380 SA-2 missile engines were imported for this programme by
Iraq’s prime missile establishment through an Iraqi State-owned trading company
controlled by the Military Industrialization Commission and through a local Iraqi
trading company and a foreign trading company.
31. The same Iraqi governmental trading company was involved, through a
contract with two foreign private companies, in procuring components and
equipment for the manufacture and testing of missile guidance and control systems,
including inertial navigation systems with fibre-optic and laser ring gyroscopes and
Global Positioning System equipment, accelerometers, ancillary items and a variety
of production and testing equipment. One Iraqi trading company was also involved
in the procurement (through private trading companies) of different pieces of
missile-related production equipment and technology. In addition several foreign
private subcontractors were responsible for the implementation of specific parts of
the general contract.
32. From 1999 to 2002, Iraq also procured a variety of dual-use biological and
chemical items and materials without United Nations authorization. They included
the acquisition by Iraq of some corrosion-resistant chemical process equipment and
biological research equipment, such as DNA sequencers, that were used by Iraq for
16
s12005/742
non-proscribed purposes. Although the goods were acquired by Iraq outside the
framework of the mechanisms established under Security Council resolutions, most (not all)
of them were later declared by Iraq to UNMOVIC in October 2002, when Iraq
submitted its backlog of semi-annual monitoring declarations. ...

35. Although the introduction of export licensing by individual States significantly
slowed down and limited Iraq's procurement efforts prior to 1991, it did not stop
them completely. The provisions involving only the licensing of exports on the
grounds of end-user certificates without on-site verification were not able to solve
fully the problem of possible shipments of dual-use items and materials to Iraq.
36. Iraq has demonstrated its ability to make adjustments and modifications to its
procurement techniques to overcome trade restrictions - to a certain degree even
under sanctions. Such an ability demonstrates that a combination of effective export
control measures taken by all potential suppliers, coupled with an international
mechanism for export/import notifications of dual-use items to Iraq and on-site
verification, is required in order to provide a sufficient degree of confidence that
dual-use items and materials will not be used for proscribed purposes.
".*
This was a report released by UNMOVIC in 2005.
There is much more for anyone that was truly interested in finding out the facts, but most I find only go by what has been hand picked and delivered to them.

And none of that say's they found anything.

 

[Sallow]

Iraq was a stupid mistake, but it was not a criminal act. congress authorized it, democrats supported it, the UN supported it, as did the UK, the EU, Japan, Spain, Russia, and every other major nation in the world.

You Bush haters need to get your history correct.

It's not about "hating" Bush..it's about international protocol.

The US attacked, invaded and occupied a country that did not attack it first.

The UN would not sanction this action.

Yeah..it was a crime.

There is no set of international statutes that define what is an international crime and what is not. The Iraq military action, while stupid, was legal by US law.

"international protocol" are you kidding. Does that include obama bowing to the saudi king and the japanese emperor? Did Saddam follow "international protocol" when he invaded Kuwait and when he gassed his own people? Is Assad following "international protocol" as he wages a civil war against people who want to remove him from power?

you talk like a 12 year old who has zero experience in the real world.

Geneva Conventions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Get back to me when you famliarize yourself with it.