Our being there didn't create Pol Pot and it certainly didn't create the VC. The VC was butchering people before we arrived and long after we left.Quote:
Accomplishing their goal resulted in millions of innocent civilian deaths. And the same will happen in Iraq.
I'm guesing the counter would be that thousands if not millions had already died because of our actions. How many would have died if we hadn't cast the die?
The mission wasn't to capture him, it was to drive him out of power and take down the regime, which we did.Quote:
The "Mission" of ridding Iraq of Hussein was accomplished. As much as it's fun to point out the now seemingly ridiculous nature of that banner, the mission to that point had been accomplished. I believe in his speech he stated "the job isn't finished yet" and went on to describe future goals and missions.
Except that photo-op occured before we captured Saddam.
Maybe some, but not all. I think the majority still welcomes us and is glad we drove Hussein out. The former Bathists certainly don't. I do think we may need to split the country into 3 independent autonomous regions with some sort of centralized power. It's not ideal, but it will stave off a civil war.Quote:
I believe Iraq is more closely comparable to post WWII Germany. We are much further along in Iraq than we were in Germany at the same time points in reconstruction. I also think the Iraqi people recognize that their greatest threat is not the US military men and women, but the terrorists that are using their country to try and advance their 'cause'.
The Iraqi people see America as a threat because the violence has escalated since our arrival. We might not be doing the detonating; but they see us as a catalist.
We'll see where we're at in 20 years.Quote:
We'll see what happens, but I still believe history will prove us to have been right.
Eh, I dunno. History has shown that the victors write the history books. It's all in the eye of the beholder.
