Quote:Many, many people believed that Hussein still had the WMD he had had previously, and that he might be developing more. Bush says that he believed this and that this was his reason for invading. I am inclined to agree because I favored invasion for just this reason long before Bush 2 came on the scene.
Then you, as well as others, should be willing to admit that you were wrong. Very wrong. Every piece of evidence that we have today shows this.
Can you say that, Brandon? I think that a truly objective person who espoused that particular opine should....
Quote:Why would you think that? Of course, it is better if democracy comes naturally from within a country, but it seems to me that we did this rather effectively in Japan after WW 2.
Your comparison is heavily flawed.
To begin, Japan attacked US in WWII, not the other way around. There was no way for the people of the country to view us as imperialists; hell, their PREVIOUS governement, the one which we defeated, were the imperialists.
It is interesting to note that the reasons given for the war against Asia and America by the Japanese government were.... to bring peace and security to the region. Sound familiar?
After their defeat, Japan's entire culture changed immensely. They had attacked US and been found wanting; their islands were in ruins from U.S. bombing.
So what did we do? We put THEM to work rebuilding their country. NOT American contractors. We showed them that THEY could rebuild and innovate, that they didn't need their old government to be successful.
We haven't shown anything of the sort in Iraq. American Contractors are getting the profits off of the rebuilding; there are tons of unemployed Iraqi citizens right now, with nothing to do.
The comparison of the two countries is so far off as to be ridiculous.
Quote:Anyway, we invaded as a matter of national defense, and having removed the government, we have no choice but to try to leave them with functioning one. When we do things like this, naturally we choose to arrange for democratic elections.
The concept that we invaded a country halfway around the world, as a matter of national defense, when there was little evidence that said country had ever or ever would attack us, is ludicrous.
Beyond ludicrous. It's national offense.
Cycloptichorn
