The 20 year anniversary of the United States invasion of Iraq. What are your thoughts all these years later?

[FranklinRoosevelt_FTW]

Here was an excellent morning discussion on the 20 year anniversary of the United States led invasion of Iraq. All sorts of informative calls from fellow American citizens on the very issue


“Viewers commented on a question concerning the 20th anniversary of former President George W. Bush declaring the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the start of the seven-year U.S. war in Iraq: “What is the legacy of that war?”

Washington Journal: News Headlines and Viewer Calls

Viewers commented on a question concerning the 20th anniversary of former President George W. Bush declaring the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the start of the seven-year U.S. war in Iraq: "What is the legacy of that war?"

www.c-span.org

I was just a young kid when this invasion had occurred in March 2003…. operation “shock and awe”




and it was a very interesting thing remembering it I was thinking why is this happening what is the deal with this man Saddam Hussein but more than that what about the proud people of Iraq what about them what about these Arabs what about these proud Arab Christians and Arab Muslims. Is he that’s one thing before 2003 12% of Iraq was Christian now something like 4% of the country is Christian. before 2003 the second in command of Iraq the number to most powerful man was a Catholic Tarik Aziz…. where is the Christian leader ship in Iraq now.? Critics have said that Iraq is very much influenced or even controlled by the Islamic Republic of Iran something that is very ugly it certainly is not good for proud Arab women.

This is one of the last outlet’s of journalistic integrity in America which is Washington journal on C-SPAN. Where American citizens can call into the program and provide their opinion. You just don’t see that on CNN, Fox News or MSNBC.

My thoughts on the 20 year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and the legacy of the Iraq war is first of all I stand by the United States military and by President George W. Bush. We as Americans we have freedom of speech that folks don’t have that in other countries of the world. But we have that in America at least for now. And I believe in supporting the office of the presidency just like it was during the Vietnam war when you had even Vietnam veterans who disagreed with the war but who fought because they were drafted and because they felt it was their duty.

I go back to the Iraq Iran war. I think that the United States should have supported Iraq more to crush Iran. Iran is a country that forces women to cover their hair has all sorts of sexist laws. They are problematic but they weren’t like that during the days of the shah. obviously we had the Iran contra affair I get this that was only for about four months during the Iran Iraq war and Ronald Reagan issued an apology to the Iraqi people for that episode.

One thing that stands out about this war is that Iraq was all alone…. they had no support from China no support from Russia that would’ve been a game changer if that support had occurred. Iraq did get some support from Arab volunteers across the Arab world but that hails in comparison to $100 billion in international military support for example. The hypocrisy of the international media between now and then is crystal clear.

To the other side of the argument one might say that the world is better off without the Ba’ath party of Iraq. But that is certainly very much debatable…. on the flipside you have ISIL and the terrorism brutality this was probably the worst state in the history of the world ….perhaps second to the third Reich. For a couple of years the Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant were throwing people into fires, they were feeding men to sharks in pools literally, ISIL would put men in a cage three or four of them and then drown them to death in a suburban swimming pool, they would Put men into a car and then blow the car up. They would chainsaw peoples heads off …. they executed Christians in mass…. basically anything you could think of from a violent video game ISIL did…. ISIL even had their own modified version of the video game “ Grandtheft auto“…which word attempt to recruit young gamers over to the cause of ISIL.

Of course after 2003 and also during the initial invasion you had dead Americans you had dead Iraqis. There was anywhere from 300,000 to 1,000,000 dead Iraqis due to the war in Iraq. Not to mention the tens of thousands of American soldiers who were injured…. some of whom suffered horrific spinal cord injuries , neck injuries they had their legs blown off their arms blown off many of these men these brave American soldiers are in wheelchairs for the rest of their lives. They can’t have sex they can’t even use the bathroom on their own piano that is something that words cannot really describe.

But it’s not just ISIL. Here’s a question we as Americans can ask today. What is the purpose of The state of Iraq …. A country which of the United States poured trillions of dollars into and countless American lives over 3200 American lives and again tens of thousands of injured soldiers. So where does Iraq stand today is it actually an ally of the United States? , or is it more so an ally of the Islamic Republic of Iran? which chants of death to America.

Finally what will the future of Iraq be ? will it actually remain a technical ally of the United States or will it become closer toward Iran? I think this is perhaps the most important question. Iraq has quite a bit of natural resources of course much oil.

 

[DGS49]

Saddam had to go.

It APPEARS that Saddam intentionally created and maintained the illusion that he had vast caches of WMD's, in order to frighten Iran so that they wouldn't invade and overwhelm Iraq militarily. It never even occurred to Bush and our crew that he could do something so tremendously stupid, so we believed his deception. And that was the basic reason for the invasion.

"We" failed to recognize that other cultures are not like us. In our minds, we were going in to modernize Iraq and bring it into the 21st century, culturally, technologically, and legally. But they did not share our vision. Hence, the mission was an utter failure. We spent incalculable money trying to save them from themselves. Totally wasted.

This was the Media's first major conspiratorial lie. They told "us" that Bush lied about WMD's. They knew this was false, but it remains the prevailing belief. Now we know that the Media are corrupt, and don't trust them about most major stories.

 

[toobfreak]

What are your thoughts all these years later?​

Yeah, I wonder how we didn't end up controlling the country, routing terrorism there and owning all of the oil?

 

[FranklinRoosevelt_FTW]

Small arms fire from AK-47s and anti-aircraft guns versus the most powerful military in the world

 

[FranklinRoosevelt_FTW]

Are you see right there a picture of that General Soleimani guy from Iran …. showing the clear cut Islamic Republic of Iran influence on Iraq which is no good for America that is a bad thing right there.

 

[FranklinRoosevelt_FTW]

What are your thoughts all these years later?​

Yeah, I wonder how we didn't end up controlling the country, routing terrorism there and owning all of the oil?

That’s the thing if we invade a country we should just take it over…. it makes no sense to just go in there and leave. I think such a thing is a disservice to the American soldiers who died or who had their legs blown off.

 

[Anomalism]

It was a huge waste. Money, and more importantly, the blood of patriots.

 

[RhodyPatriot]

Here was an excellent morning discussion on the 20 year anniversary of the United States led invasion of Iraq. All sorts of informative calls from fellow American citizens on the very issue


“Viewers commented on a question concerning the 20th anniversary of former President George W. Bush declaring the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the start of the seven-year U.S. war in Iraq: “What is the legacy of that war?”

Washington Journal: News Headlines and Viewer Calls

Viewers commented on a question concerning the 20th anniversary of former President George W. Bush declaring the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the start of the seven-year U.S. war in Iraq: "What is the legacy of that war?"

www.c-span.org

I was just a young kid when this invasion had occurred in March 2003…. operation “shock and awe”




and it was a very interesting thing remembering it I was thinking why is this happening what is the deal with this man Saddam Hussein but more than that what about the proud people of Iraq what about them what about these Arabs what about these proud Arab Christians and Arab Muslims. Is he that’s one thing before 2003 12% of Iraq was Christian now something like 4% of the country is Christian. before 2003 the second in command of Iraq the number to most powerful man was a Catholic Tarik Aziz…. where is the Christian leader ship in Iraq now.? Critics have said that Iraq is very much influenced or even controlled by the Islamic Republic of Iran something that is very ugly it certainly is not good for proud Arab women.

This is one of the last outlet’s of journalistic integrity in America which is Washington journal on C-SPAN. Where American citizens can call into the program and provide their opinion. You just don’t see that on CNN, Fox News or MSNBC.

My thoughts on the 20 year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and the legacy of the Iraq war is first of all I stand by the United States military and by President George W. Bush. We as Americans we have freedom of speech that folks don’t have that in other countries of the world. But we have that in America at least for now. And I believe in supporting the office of the presidency just like it was during the Vietnam war when you had even Vietnam veterans who disagreed with the war but who fought because they were drafted and because they felt it was their duty.

I go back to the Iraq Iran war. I think that the United States should have supported Iraq more to crush Iran. Iran is a country that forces women to cover their hair has all sorts of sexist laws. They are problematic but they weren’t like that during the days of the shah. obviously we had the Iran contra affair I get this that was only for about four months during the Iran Iraq war and Ronald Reagan issued an apology to the Iraqi people for that episode.

One thing that stands out about this war is that Iraq was all alone…. they had no support from China no support from Russia that would’ve been a game changer if that support had occurred. Iraq did get some support from Arab volunteers across the Arab world but that hails in comparison to $100 billion in international military support for example. The hypocrisy of the international media between now and then is crystal clear.

To the other side of the argument one might say that the world is better off without the Ba’ath party of Iraq. But that is certainly very much debatable…. on the flipside you have ISIL and the terrorism brutality this was probably the worst state in the history of the world ….perhaps second to the third Reich. For a couple of years the Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant were throwing people into fires, they were feeding men to sharks in pools literally, ISIL would put men in a cage three or four of them and then drown them to death in a suburban swimming pool, they would Put men into a car and then blow the car up. They would chainsaw peoples heads off …. they executed Christians in mass…. basically anything you could think of from a violent video game ISIL did…. ISIL even had their own modified version of the video game “ Grandtheft auto“…which word attempt to recruit young gamers over to the cause of ISIL.

Of course after 2003 and also during the initial invasion you had dead Americans you had dead Iraqis. There was anywhere from 300,000 to 1,000,000 dead Iraqis due to the war in Iraq. Not to mention the tens of thousands of American soldiers who were injured…. some of whom suffered horrific spinal cord injuries , neck injuries they had their legs blown off their arms blown off many of these men these brave American soldiers are in wheelchairs for the rest of their lives. They can’t have sex they can’t even use the bathroom on their own piano that is something that words cannot really describe.

But it’s not just ISIL. Here’s a question we as Americans can ask today. What is the purpose of The state of Iraq …. A country which of the United States poured trillions of dollars into and countless American lives over 3200 American lives and again tens of thousands of injured soldiers. So where does Iraq stand today is it actually an ally of the United States? , or is it more so an ally of the Islamic Republic of Iran? which chants of death to America.

Finally what will the future of Iraq be ? will it actually remain a technical ally of the United States or will it become closer toward Iran? I think this is perhaps the most important question. Iraq has quite a bit of natural resources of course much oil.

The Iraq war is what put politics on the map for me.

As a young 25 year old man, I became an adamant Democrat who voted for John Kerry like my life depended on it.

I became a dyed in the wool Democrat and later voted for Obama....twice.

Of course, in retrospect I now realize that Kerry is a crook who wouldn't have gotten us out of the war, and also voted for it - and Obama was just another cog in the faceless Uniparty machine.

I haven't changed, but most Democrats just see the "D" next to the name of their favorite politicians, and act like it's 2004 or some shit. They're asleep at the wheel. They're lazy, ignorant, and lack nuance - and many even have the gall to lecture those of us who left and went over to MAGA.

But back during the era of the Iraq invasion, the Left at least genuflected as an anti-interventionist party.

And I still think Bush/Cheney were (are) warmongering assholes.

Trump upset the globalist apple cart, and now the villains show their true colors as the Democrats steer us toward World War 3 and ally with the very people they told us were the bad guys in an attempt to eliminate the outsider who is Orange Man Rad.

 

[1srelluc]

Fuck G. "W" Bush.

Damn shame a rattlesnake did not bite him when he was clearing brush from that hardscrabble ranch of his.

 

[johngaltshrugged]

I think it was the first really big & successful Mockingbird operation that was used on the public to drive public opinion to the point where we could start a never ending "War on Terror".
Both sides were either willing dupes or insider enablers on board with gaslighting us with disinfo that was parroted & magnified by MSM.
They needed a war to start stripping freedom under the guise of patriotism with the Patriot Act & other infringements.

I thought we were stopping terrorism, saving the Iraqi people from the evil Sadam, keeping his WMD from being used & bringing peace, justice & freedom to the world. Boy, was that stupid.
This was back when I still thought the US were the good guys.
So much since then has destroyed that comforting fantasy.

 

[Flash]

I had mixed feelings when the war started.

I knew it was a bullshit war that never should have been started. Iraq was no security threat to the US, No weapons of mass destruction and they had nothing to do with 911.

However, since the war was on I wanted the US to kick ass. "Merica Fuck Yea!"

Piss on Bush, Cheney and the Neocons that sacrificed our best for that stupid war. Piss on Crooked Hillary, Biden and all these others of both parties that voted for the invasion.

My son is an Iraq War veteran. A Cav Scout. Four men in his platoon were killed. Several other severely wounded.

My son suffers from PTSD still to this day. A tough kid but the horrors of what he experienced caused him problems. Both physical and mental.

 

[MarcATL]

Same as I did back then, the Republican led government lied us into an unnecessary war that cost a crap-ton of lives and money.

 

[basquebromance]

The US promised to bring freedom to Iraqis, but its eight-year occupation resulted in death and destruction on a horrifying scale. It left behind a corrupt, sectarian political order that has responded to popular protests with brutal repression.

 

[RhodyPatriot]

Piss on Bush, Cheney and the Neocons that sacrificed our best for that stupid war. Piss on Crooked Hillary, Biden and all these others of both parties that voted for the invasion.

Amen.

Fuck em all and the idiots who still buy into the kabuki theater.

Long live MAGA.

 

[Flash]

Same as I did back then, the Republican led government lied us into an unnecessary war that cost lives and money.

But yet dumbasses like you voted for Crooked Hillary and Joe Potatohead that supported the war.

 

[RhodyPatriot]

Same as I did back then, the Republican led government lied us into an unnecessary war that cost lives and money.

And the Dems voted right along with it.

Malcolm X would not be voting Democrat by the way.

The white liberal was on his radar as the most eminent of threats.

Maybe get an avatar that better reflects your intellect.

 

[basquebromance]

The US promised to bring freedom to Iraqis, but its eight-year occupation resulted in death and destruction on a horrifying scale. It left behind a corrupt, sectarian political order that has responded to popular protests with brutal repression.

The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the administrative body set up by the United States to govern Iraq in the first year of the occupation, proceeded to implement a series of measures that were meant to eradicate all the remnants of the institutions that had formerly governed the country. A number of observers have described this as a process of state-building in reverse.

The CPA disbanded the Iraqi army and devolved the security and military functions of the state to an amalgam of US military forces, foreign contractors, and private militias aligned to political parties that were empowered by the occupation. There was an attempt to “de-Ba’athify” all state institutions, which meant political and economic disenfranchisement and criminalization for tens of thousands of people who were primarily Sunni. This fueled the insurgency and a sectarian civil war, particularly in the Arab regions of Iraq.

Iraq was a one-party state until the Americans occupied it. It was necessary to be a member of the Ba’ath Party if you wanted to work in state institutions, go to university, or be part of the military, even if you weren’t an active member of the party or didn’t belong to its upper echelons. This “de-Ba’athification” process thus affected a large part of the population.

In place of the Ba’ath, the United States set up an interim government that was supposed to be a constitutional democracy. However, Washington envisaged a different kind of constitutional democracy than we would be familiar with in Western Europe or the United States itself, for example.

The United States and its Iraqi allies saw Iraq as being divided along ethnic, tribal, and sectarian lines. In such a divided country, where the divisions were supposedly entrenched in culture rather than along economic and social lines, the only democratic system that could work would be one that gave proportional representation to the communities in a parliamentary system.

US policy makers and their overseas Iraqi supporters saw the Ba’ath regime as being dominated by the Sunni minority. To reset the balance and make sure that all communities had representation, they believed, it was necessary to divide power along communal and ethnic lines. The constitution that was ratified in 2005 set up a confessional system of representation in which parliamentary seats, the executive branch, and the resources of the state were divided up between political parties organized around sectarian and ethnic agendas. This was known as the muhasasa system.

Under this system, the president of the republic would be Kurdish, the prime minister would be Shia, and the parliamentary speaker would be Sunni. It was very similar in its construction to the much older Lebanese system of democratic politics. However, this was totally new to Iraq — there was no history of it — whereas the Lebanese system had antecedents in the nineteenth century and was reinscribed under the French colonial mandate during the interwar period. (Under the Lebanese system, I basquebromance am not allowed to be Prime Minister of the country, because I am not Sunni)

In its crudest iteration, this system furnished the scaffolding of a political and economic bargain among Iraq’s post-invasion political class to divide up the state’s ministries and institutions and privatize its resources according to ethno-sectarian quotas. The main beneficiaries have been the Shia blocs, which remain in power up to the present, with Sunni parties as their junior partners. The Kurdish parties have control in the areas ruled by the Kurdish Regional Government.

While these elites may have a fractious relationship with one another in their continuous bargaining for a greater share of the pie, they constitute a new political class with economic interests and a common style of governance. They build power by offering patronage to supporters who become their clients. They appoint people to positions in the various ministries under their control. This is their main way of winning support.

The funding for this patronage comes from state resources. Instead of being invested in the economy, these resources are used to buy clients. By 2011, when the US forces left, most state institutions had become arenas of competition between these highly militarized political parties. Corruption is built into the system at the expense of rebuilding the country and developing its economy for the benefit of Iraqi citizens.

 

[SeaMajor7]

Eisenhower warned us about the Military Industrial Complex.

Yuri Bezmenov warned us of the Marxist creep.

Now, it's a shit~show!

Prophets, the both of them.

 

[basquebromance]

The ripple effects of the disastrous Iraq invasion still course through the Middle East and domestic US politics decades later. Yet there’s little evidence those in power have learned anything from it.

 

[basquebromance]

no photoshop