cicerone imposter wrote:perception, It seems you've missed the reason why we attacked Iraq in the first place; this administration said Saddam had WMDs that could be used against us. We now know that is far from the truth, so how in the world is our involvement in Iraq protecting Americans?
What about the mustard gas and sarin recently confirmed? Of course, the occurance of just a couple of isolated incidents means little ... beyond the fact that ordnance some contend Iraq did not have is now identified as having been used as components of improvised explosive devices. If Iraq did not have them, where did they come from? By the way, can you point to a statement by an Administration official which contains the phrase, or even the sense, that Iraq's existant capability to inflict a direct attack on the US played any part in the decision to resume the hostilities suspended by the '91 Safwan accords?
Quote: Most would argue that the world is less safe today then before we attacked Iraq.
First, I doubt "Most" hold that point of view ... but then again, I could be wrong; there's often a disconnect between what generally is believed by many and what the facts show to be the case. Even if "Most" hold that view, they demonstrably would be wrong. The available evidence does not support that "Less Safe Now" point of view:
Quote:Patterns of Global Terrorism -2003
Released by the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism
April 29, 2004
The Year in Review
There were 190 acts of international terrorism in 2003, a slight decrease from the 198 attacks that occurred in 2002, and a drop of 45 percent from the level in 2001 of 346 attacks.
The figure in 2003 represents the lowest annual total of international terrorist attacks since 1969.
A total of 307 persons were killed in the attacks of 2003, far fewer than the 725 killed during 2002. A total of 1,593 persons were wounded in the attacks that occurred in 2003, down from 2,013 persons wounded the year before.
In 2003, the highest number of attacks (70) and the highest casualty count (159 persons dead and 951 wounded) occurred in Asia.
There were 82 anti-US attacks in 2003, which is up slightly from the 77 attacks the previous year, and represents
a 62-percent decrease from the 219 attacks recorded in 2001.
Pesky things, them facts.
