Did you even bother to look any of this up, Tin Can??
Originally posted by .::Tin Can::.
Another interesting thing: the number of current Iraq Civilian Body Count has not been tallied OR estimated.
The body count HAS been estimated. By the people behind the website Rictor linked up above. Here, I'll do it again: I estimate the civilian casualties at... some positive number. Dude, get some perspective.
1) Children now go to schools, since the Iraqi regime did not educate their people nor did they have any regard for healthcare or education.
They had a great educational system before we crushed the country the first time. The schools continued to operate up until the begining of the current hostilities. As I recall from some news source I saw, the students had to praise Hussein first thing in the morning, every day.
2) They now have politions, the Governing Council of Iraq, which is trying to draw up a constitution. Although I am sure a bunch of you will say "OMG! NO THEY DONT JEEZ YOU ARE SO WRONG!!!11!!1!1!"
They have American appointees who are trying to draft a constitution. They don't have politicians. A politician is "One who holds or seeks a political office." They've got an American government telling them what to do and how to live. How would you like it people you've grown up hating your entire life appointed a bunch of people who didn't represent you and then said 'these are the people that are going to define how you live the rest of your lives'. I think you'd be pretty pissed off.
3) Think about it: Being pressured by armed Iraqi gunment without a conciounse, while Sadaam's son goes in and rapes your wife. I bet that sounds like something you would love to stay up and worry about all night.
You know, I think that's a pretty scary thought. Unfortunately, its nto relevant. If you want to use the 'Saddam was a bad man and he did terrible thing to his people!', explain to me why it is we don't bother to take care of the other bad men who do bad things to their people? I agree: he was a bad man. I don't agree that it justified doing what we did in the way we did it.
4) If, as all of you believe, 10,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in this war, think about how many MORE would die under the influence of Sadaam's power?
Lots. That's not the issue. The issue is not how the war was prosecuted. Its that the war was prosecuted under false pretenses, in a thoroughly illegitimate (though perhaps not illegal) way.
5) Bush did not lie about the weapons of mass destruction. He was given information by the CIA that THEY thought he had weapons of mass destruction, and he acted on the information and told everyone what HE thought was correct. If HE thought they had WMD, and the CIA thought they had WMD, and even SADAAM though he had WMP (I mean, he used chemical weapons on his own people. Come on!)
Lets get some things straight: first, Bush knew the yellowcake document was a fake before using it. He'd been told by the CIA. The Brits had told the Bush administration it was a fake when the document turned out to be signed by a man who was dead for around a decade. Second: the inspectors found nothing. American inspectors continue to find nothing. No evidence has been found that can be credibly linked to a recent weapons program.
Oh, and those chemical weapons that got used before, the ones Hussein used to gas 'his own people'? Guess who sold them to him? Guess who trained his people how to use them? Guess who fed Iraq intelligence data on Iranian positions so the weapons could be deployed more accurately? That would be us. Us as in U. S. The United States of America. The Reagan Administration, to be precise. Oh, did I mention that this was in direct violation of a chemical weapons treaty we were a signatory to at the time? That's okay though! Hussein was going to sell us oil for cheap! He was our friend, the secular, democratically elected (well, when you're the only person on the ballot...) leader in the Middle East.
6) The people want the US to liberate them, because now instead of "major attacks" on convoys, they have major attacks on civilians, officials, and people who are just cooperating with the US. All this complete bull**** that they dont want us is wrong, and you know it.
Some did. Some didn't. The Bush administration during the run up to the war stated that they expected the Iraqis to revolt when US troops started rolling across the border. Unfortunately, none of these revolts ever showed up. Perhaps they learned from Bush I. He promised to provide support for Iraqi dissident's if they revolted. Unfortunately, he changed his mind after telling them, and before they revolted. With no support forthcoming, they were crushed.
Originally posted by Ace
That's my stance on it too. Bush#1 should have finished the job instead of his son.
He couldn't. His dear, personal, close friends, the Saudis, were pushing Bush to not invade Iraq. Bush Sr, like his son after him, has always bent over for the Saudis.
