User Panel
User Panel
User Panel
TN, USA
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:04:33 PM EDT
Opinions pro or con are welcome.
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:05:16 PM EDT
[Last Edit: runcible]
[#1]
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:06:23 PM EDT
[#2]
knowing what we know now, bad choice. but understandable at the time.
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:07:24 PM EDT
[#3]
What was the end result? Was it worth the sacrifice that many made?
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MO, USA
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:07:34 PM EDT
[#4]
Wasn’t then
Still isn’t Unless you were able to profit from said invasion |
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WA, USA
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:07:54 PM EDT
[#5]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By searchin4shacks: What was the end result? Was it worth the sacrifice that many made? Nope |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:08:04 PM EDT
[#6]
7 years total in country.
You can’t help people, who won’t help themselves. No regrets though. We tried |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:10:06 PM EDT
[#7]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By runcible: https://i.imgur.com/jgu5JbK.jpg Oh yeah, this is going to be fun. I was always against the Iraq invasion. Looking back on it, it was a very effective manifestation of Orwells statement that wars at this point in history are just a way of burning up resources to no good effect. People blame Gates and Obama for the cancelling of the F-22. I would say burning truckloads of cash to make a bigger mess of Iraq might have had something to do with it. |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:10:22 PM EDT
[#8]
Without an expanded GWOT we wouldn’t have Grunt Style gear, BRCC, brovets, brocivs, Travis Haley and his army of occular scientists and Magpul’s Art of the Dynamic Carbine.
Of course it was worth it. |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:10:36 PM EDT
[#9]
Total waste of lives and money.
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:11:36 PM EDT
[#10]
Epic catastrophe and utter waste of money, materiel, and saddest of all, lives - on both sides.
I was a GWB fanboi back then and didn't get it at first. |
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USA
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:12:15 PM EDT
[Last Edit: vxtip545]
[#11]
Sadam literally flew those planes into the building himself, and loaded the planes with WMDs so that they could melt steel beams. Bush jr. had America's back. Mission Accomplished.
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:12:48 PM EDT
[#12]
The invasion wasn’t the problem. The lengthy occupation was.
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TN, USA
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:13:16 PM EDT
[#13]
Hell no.
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:13:52 PM EDT
[#14]
We have three kids names from our town on a plaque, so that’s thing.
I doubt that their families think that it was worth it. |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:16:04 PM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Miles_Urbanus: The invasion wasn’t the problem. The lengthy occupation was. When the invasion was announced I was expecting a bombing campaign and that Bush would leave office with a Nobel Peace Prize for it. When the invasion happened I said, “okay, it’s not too bad. Just go in, get rid of Saddam. Install new dictator then leave. It’s happened many times.” Then they announced that they were disbanding the entire Iraqi government and all I could say was, “well, we’re boned.” |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:16:07 PM EDT
[#16]
A lot of good men died and were maimed with very little to show for it.
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CA, USA
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:16:38 PM EDT
[#17]
Funny how times have changed, GD used to be so gungho about the war and it was taboo to even criticize Bush
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FL, USA
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:17:40 PM EDT
[Last Edit: FMJ3]
[#18]
2 decades later I see it as the Bush's using American blood and treasure to settle their spat with Saddam.
W should have been focused on OBL instead of worrying about his daddy's feelings. 
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:19:16 PM EDT
[#19]
The 91 invasion is when it started in my mind, it just wasn’t obvious at the time
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:21:30 PM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By searchin4shacks: What was the end result? Was it worth the sacrifice that many made? Hell fn no imo. |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:22:12 PM EDT
[Last Edit: buck19delta]
[#21]
Total waste of resources, and people, Afghanistan was an especially gigantic waste, we accomplished absolutely fucking nothing by entering Afghanistan , except get good people killed. Fucking pisses me off so badly just thinking about what a waste it was.
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:23:07 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By aggiesq: knowing what we know now, bad choice. but understandable at the time. Given what we know now, I doubt GWB was given the accurate correct intel on Sadam's programs, capabilities and intents. What was presented to the public? It was justified. What actually happened? We took a contained cancer, metastasized it, then allowed it to migrate throughout the Middle East, SE Asia and Europe. For better or worse, this is a portion of the world that only understands total war. Should have either waged it that way, or bottled them up and let them stew. |
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FL, USA
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:23:23 PM EDT
[#23]
Quote Historymac130: 7 years total in country. You can’t help people, who won’t help themselves. No regrets though. We tried A nation didn't get built, the world didn't get healed, and Trotsky's World Revolution stays failing. |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:23:34 PM EDT
[#24]
Sigh..dunno man.
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:23:55 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By aggiesq: knowing what we know now, bad choice. but understandable at the time. I lean toward this. Hindsight being 20/20, yeah, it was a waste. So was Afcrapistan. At the time, I was of the mind that Saddam Hussein was ABSOLUTELY the kind of nutbag to pursue nuclear weapons and use them. His behavior jerking around UN inspectors just cried that he was doing it, or at least other hinkey shit he didn't want the world to know about. |
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ID, USA
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:26:15 PM EDT
[#26]
shouldn't of stopped the iran iraq war. both sides were draining all their resource on fighting each other
now they're turning all their assets on us. |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:27:55 PM EDT
[#27]
Huge waste of lives, time, money and resources.
For better or worse Saddam kept things in check in that region. |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:29:00 PM EDT
[Last Edit: buck19delta]
[#28]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Matthew_Q: I lean toward this. Hindsight being 20/20, yeah, it was a waste. So was Afcrapistan. At the time, I was of the mind that Saddam Hussein was ABSOLUTELY the kind of nutbag to pursue nuclear weapons and use them. His behavior jerking around UN inspectors just cried that he was doing it, or at least other hinkey shit he didn't want the world to know about. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Matthew_Q: Originally Posted By aggiesq: knowing what we know now, bad choice. but understandable at the time. I lean toward this. Hindsight being 20/20, yeah, it was a waste. So was Afcrapistan. At the time, I was of the mind that Saddam Hussein was ABSOLUTELY the kind of nutbag to pursue nuclear weapons and use them. His behavior jerking around UN inspectors just cried that he was doing it, or at least other hinkey shit he didn't want the world to know about. All we accomplished in Afghanistan in 20 years was …..we took a poorly armed and poorly equipped taliban , and we fully equipped them with the very best weapons , optics, rifles, machine guns, explosives, night vision, thermal , body armor, trucks, apcs, that money could buy. We also made a bunch of corrupt shitbird afghans multimillionaires, and added a few zeros to a bunch of us politicians bank accounts. |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:30:28 PM EDT
[#29]
Should we have done it? No.
That said, after we decided to do it, we should have done it competently. Aside from success of the initial invasion, it was an undertaking of monumental incompetence. For ideological reasons, our leaders couldn't comprehend that our basic premise of turning Iraq into a western style liberal democracy was impossible. It's incompatible with their civilization, culture, priorities, etc. More importantly, it's not what they want. We wanted it for them. They didn't want it for themselves. On top of all of the above, a viable Saddam held the Iranians in check. Big mistake taking him down in that respect. |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:30:55 PM EDT
[#30]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By mac130: You can’t help people, who won’t help themselves. No regrets though. We tried |
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WA, USA
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:31:34 PM EDT
[#31]
I was against it from day 1 and called all kinds of vile things
"If you're not with us, you're against us". Way to feed that Mass Formation thinking............Just more propaganda. IF what we were told was true about Afghanistan and their training camps was true a good bombing campaign should have simmered things down. Instead we send thousands to die, spend trillions of dollars, all to end up arming the people we were saying were so horrible. US has had horrible foreign policy for decades. We go around the world either creating problems or making problems worse. Meanwhile the homeland continues to decay further. |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:31:49 PM EDT
[Last Edit: gotigers]
[#32]
One less dictator and his minions trying to nuke someone. He had everything except the bomb. He would have nuked someone. Hussein was nuttier than squirrel shit.
edit: The war was won. Nation building is fucking stupid, NOT WORTH IT. |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:32:06 PM EDT
[#33]
The entire golf war was personal revenge by the Bush family against Saddam Hussein for an assassination attempt on George HW Bush. I know this for a fact, and so do some of you. It was literally a personal vendetta. It was never worth it. That entire shit hole region isn’t worth one American life.
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AR, USA
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:32:22 PM EDT
[#34]
Afghanistan? We destroyed the mandrasas.
Iraq? Every arab or persian dictator saw Sadam hanging by his neck. Generally, a ton of muslim shit heads living in Kuwait or Saudi went north and were killed. A lot of people who needed to be killed all over the world were. We haven't had another 911. That's because we either killed or discouraged enough of the jihadists. It was soup with a knife but our trigger pullers did well. Real well. State Dept. sucked like they always do. DoD was too political like they always are. Bottom line we haven't had to watch any more women jumping out of buildings. |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:34:00 PM EDT
[#35]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By razorbackM1A: Afghanistan? We destroyed the mandrasas. Iraq? Every arab or persian dictator saw Sadam hanging by his neck. Generally, a ton of muslim shit heads living in Kuwait or Saudi went north and were killed. A lot of people who needed to be killed all over the world were. We haven't had another 911. That's because we either killed or discouraged enough of the jihadists. It was soup with a knife but our trigger pullers did well. Real well. State Dept. sucked like they always do. DoD was too political like they always are. Bottom line we haven't had to watch any more women jumping out of buildings. agree The US mil probably killed between 100,000-200,000 terrorists. |
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WA, USA
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:34:32 PM EDT
[#36]
yes
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:35:45 PM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By jackthom8: Funny how times have changed, GD used to be so gungho about the war and it was taboo to even criticize Bush Not about the war, but I admit I wanted to like and wanted to believe in GWB back then. Now I view him as one of the worst presidents in the history of the country. In fact this revelation was the beginning of me separating myself from the Republican Party and viewing them as the right wing of the uniparty. Fool me once, shame on, shame on you. Fool me, you can't get fooled again. |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:35:55 PM EDT
[#38]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By DKUltra: Huge waste of lives, time, money and resources. For better or worse Saddam kept things in check in that region. Hussein would have nuked someone. Killing Gadafi was stupid. After Reagan almost killed him, he was neutered. Now look at Libya. |
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AS, USA
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:36:05 PM EDT
[Last Edit: CoconutLaCroix]
[#39]
I think we can all agree that the $2 trillion plus we have spent and are still spending on the lasting impact of Iraq was a good use of resources. We are much better for that than we would have been if we fortified the hell out of our border and had less future inflation, taxes and children growing up without their fathers
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:37:23 PM EDT
[#40]
OP should use the poll option.
 
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:37:36 PM EDT
[#41]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By gotigers: One less dictator and his minions trying to nuke someone. He had everything except the bomb. He would have nuked someone. Hussein was nuttier than squirrel shit. edit: The war was won. Nation building is fucking stupid, NOT WORTH IT. He made sense in Iraqi terms. Unfathomable to outsiders, but given the dynamics of the country, a Saddam Hussein was inevitable. Look at Nasser, the first Assad, Sadat, etc. Military dictatorships were the only viable alternative to the internal instability at the time. |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:37:41 PM EDT
[#42]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By aggiesq: knowing what we know now, bad choice. but understandable at the time. Agree. |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:38:20 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Scratch45]
[#43]
I think the first one (Desert Storm) was legitimate. The following 20 years of War on Terrorism, not so much.
And it got me these |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:38:32 PM EDT
[#44]
I have zero regrets for my role. Nationally it wasn’t the best decision or later decisions made that the case.
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TX, USA
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:39:03 PM EDT
[#45]
Not worth it. We would have accomplished the same without the nation building part. In the greater scheme of things, having Iraq counterbalance Iran was a necessary evil for that shithole of a region.
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:39:16 PM EDT
[#46]
I was against it from the beginning. Saddam was a horrible person and leader, but he was the right man for the job. He had a stabilizing effect on the middle east which became very apparent during the arab spring that occurred after he was removed.
Also, you never want to have multiple fronts if possible during a war because it stretches resources too thin. We could have probably done a better job in Afghanistan if we hadn't had the distraction of Iraq to worry about. |
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OR, USA
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:40:05 PM EDT
[#47]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By aggiesq: knowing what we know now, bad choice. but understandable at the time.  Attached File |
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:40:48 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Falcon09]
[#48]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Scratch45: I think the first one (Desert Strom) was legitimate. The following 20 years of War on Terrorism, not so much. And it got me these https://media.defense.gov/2016/Dec/19/2001681039/2000/2000/0/161215-F-YG475-587.JPG |
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GA, USA
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:40:49 PM EDT
[#49]
God no.
The expenditure of material, money, and lives in war is only of benefit if we gain resources. No beautiful new ski areas, mountain cabins, or other natural resources claimed by us after OEF, No new oil fields to claim after OIF/OND- And war is not sustainable. The model of, say Germany and Italy selling us luxury cars, nothing out of Vietnam, Japan taking over dominant market share vs domestic autos, etc. are not the model of sustaining an empire’s war efforts. |
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UT, USA
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Posted: 5/1/2024 3:41:08 PM EDT
[#50]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By aggiesq: knowing what we know now, bad choice. but understandable at the time. my assessment given the PUBLIC knowledge communicated. But in the last 5 years I've lost ALL faith in the government. I suspect those shitbird bushes knew there was no real reason to invade. And if so, I hope they burn, forever, in hell for the lives they traded. The other thing I didn't realize, at the time I was all gung ho to get rid of Saddam. he was a brutal dictator and seemed to be somehow associated with funding terrorism against Americans. But it turns out, he was keeping a bunch of wild assholes contained. Things got worse with him gone. We got ISIS, which was worse. I am not smart, have no power, and don't know much about the ME, but now in 2024, wish we had never gone. Just embargo the FUCK out of them and call it a day. |
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