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Today's Poll: Should the U.S. have invaded Iraq 10 years ago?

By Howard B. Owens
Doug Yeomans

10 years ago I said "yes" as did many Democrats and Republicans. I tire of listening to people saying things like "Bush lied to everyone" to get approval for invading Iraq. There's so much video of Republican and Democrats alike voicing their desire to invade.

In hind sight, I fear that invading Iraq has hurt us in the long run.

Mar 20, 2013, 7:45am Permalink
Jeremiah Pedro

Should the US have invaded Iraq 10 years ago? I don't think so. Personally I think the US should have invaded Iraq 15 years ago when Saddam kicked all the weapons inspectors out. He was constantly thumbing his nose at the UN sanctions and the world and should have been dealt with sooner than 2003.

Mar 20, 2013, 8:39am Permalink
Sam Tambe Jr.

Given the intel at the time of the invasion I would say yes. Everyone can sit back and say Bush lied...I honestly think that he did what he thought was best for our interests and the interests of the poor Iraqi people who were being gassed/killed etc. People tend to forget that Hussein was committing genocide and was a monster. Think of all the people that would be dead in Iraq right now if Hussein would have been in power for the last 10 years.

PS. As a Desert Storm veteran..They should have let us finish the job in 1991!!

Mar 20, 2013, 8:44am Permalink
Gary Spencer

Chalie is right hindsight is 20/20, then I was behind it 100%, today it looks like it was a bad idea. The intel we had said Saddam had WMD's (there was also evidence that much of it was shipped out to Seria, and oddly enough on this mornings news they are saying chemical weapons have been used there recently).
I am getting sick of the USA being the worlds police force, let the middle east fight its own battles, they will destroy each other.

Mar 20, 2013, 12:30pm Permalink
Ken Herrmann

An op-ed from 2004:

Heed lessons of Vietnam War: Get U.S. soldiers out of Iraq
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle - Rochester, N.Y.
Author: Kenneth J Herrmann Jr
Date: Apr 9, 2004
Start Page: A.13
Section: Speaking Out
Text Word Count: 683

Document Text
Kenneth J. Herrmann Jr.

Guest essayist

The emperor wears no clothes, and the emperor is in Washington, D.C.

President Johnson was naked when the lie that became known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was used to justify our war of atrocity in Vietnam. The weapons of mass destruction lie in Iraq has left President Bush equally naked.

The comparisons between the wars in Iraq and Vietnam are disturbing to this Vietnam veteran.

The Pentagon is issuing statements that we will "win the hearts and minds of the people." This is the same motto used when I performed civil affairs work in 1968-69 with the U.S Army in central Vietnam. It did not work then, and it has no chance of success now.

Washington can say all it wants about the evil of Saddam Hussein, and I recognize that. But the U.S. formerly funded and supported this tyrant. In fact, we still support tyrants of equal evil. However, Saddam was not a threat to us when we invaded, any more than Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh was a threat to America during the two decades we waged war against him.

Sept. 11, 2001, was a tragedy of monumental proportions. However, Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or al-Qaeda. The small al-Qaeda training camp that the U.S. claims existed in Iraq was in a remote Kurdish area of Iraq, an area we say opposed Saddam.

Unlike during the Vietnam War, the loss of our young men and women will not be seen on the daily newscasts because Washington prohibits pictures of their returning coffins at Dover Air Force Base. Nonetheless, their numbers are escalating daily.

The Vietnam War lasted long enough for soldiers to go to the war, return, get married, have children, and for the children to grow up and go to fight in the same war. Potentially, the grandchildren of soldiers now fighting in Iraq could carry on that fight.

Many returning veterans are reportedly suffering symptoms associated with the depleted uranium in weapons we use in Iraq. The government is denying the connection, as it denied the effects of Agent Orange on Vietnam vets and the Vietnamese people.

The people of Iraq are rising up in a massive insurrection against American and coalition occupying forces and the puppet government we are installing, similar to the one we installed in Saigon. This is not a people supporting Saddam. It is people opposing a foreign force invading their nation - that did nothing to endanger America. In Vietnam, we installed President Diem and others in what became a corrupt and unwelcome alternative to the popular Ho Chi Minh. It did not work then, and it will not work now.

In Afghanistan we likewise have imposed a government that we think is best for its people - while the majority apparently prefers the tribal and cultural system they have had for thousands of years. Why does Washington seem to believe that all people in the world regardless of their history, culture and tradition want to have an American system of government?

Should we stay in Iraq and try to win just because we are there? The war in Vietnam was built on phony fears of communism and lies about the perceived enemy. Almost 60,000 Americans and millions of Vietnamese died because of these lies.

When we knew of Washington's deceit and the needless tragedy, we should have left. Now that we know history is repeating itself in potentially a worse situation, we should bring the troops home. Those hundreds of Americans dying in Iraq and the thousands who are seriously wounded have served honorably. They should each be respected and honored.

The administration that sent them will be remembered for shaming the flag and turning the world against America. Bush seems ignorant of the history of the war he evaded decades ago, the Vietnam War. Those who forget history seem doomed to repeat it. Must we all repeat this tragedy because of his ignorance?

Herrmann is an associate professor at the State University College at Brockport and director of the school's Vietnam Program.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Abstract (Document Summary)
[...] we still support tyrants of equal evil. The small al-Qaeda training camp that the U.S. claims existed in Iraq was in a remote Kurdish area of Iraq, an area we say opposed Saddam.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.

Mar 20, 2013, 1:36pm Permalink
Bob Harker

TP, are you being sarcastic or are you really that out of touch with reality?

If you are not being sarcastic, please cite any empirical evidence that you have that the US (including the Democratically controlled congress that authorized the war), our allies, and the UN missed.

Mar 20, 2013, 6:16pm Permalink
Frank Bartholomew

At this time I think it was a costly mistake, in 2003, I believed what the Bush Admin. was telling the US people.
I was still a little unsettled because I wasn't positive Saddam was a threat to the United States.
At this time I don't think we should have invaded. Not much has changed in Iraq, they're still killing each
other, much like they have done for centuries. We gave them someone new to kill for the last 10 years.

Mar 20, 2013, 6:52pm Permalink
Timothy Hens

Still too early to say. History will be the judge.

The long term struggle in the Middle East has never been with Iraq or Afghanistan. It has always been with Iran--ever since the mid 70's, through all administrations Republican and Democrat, and even before that really.

I believe the long term geopolitical outlook leads toward a conflict with Iran and anyone that studies geography and warfare knows that Iran can only be invaded from Iraq to the west. What a better way to keep the Iraq front occupied than to have troops and planes on the east in Afghanistan. Iran cannot be invaded from the Gulf as the terrain sets up a bloodbath. Just my opinion.

Mar 20, 2013, 10:02pm Permalink
Frank Bartholomew

That's a great point Tim,maybe the US was looking for an excuse, and Saddam gave them one.
I think we should pull all our troops from foreign countries, stop interfering, and protect our own borders.
We should also stop wasting tax dollars for foreign aid, pool our resources, and defend our country from the
inside out. The first country I would pull aid from would be Pakistan, they hate us, so why waste our time
and resources trying to change their minds.
Bob, I don't beleive we had the blessings of the UN to invade Iraq.

Mar 21, 2013, 5:33am Permalink

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