Iraq - Mission Accomplished

[Dr. Shane]

A noble effort ends successfully. Some day all war will come to an end and every man will know nothing but love for each other.

Last U.S. Combat Brigade Leaves Iraq

Quote:

Seven years and five months after the U.S.-led invasion, the last American combat brigade was leaving Iraq, as President Obama's Aug. 31 deadline for ending U.S. combat operations there neared.

When 18-year-old Spc. Luke Dill first rolled into Iraq as part of the U.S. invasion, his Humvee was so vulnerable to bombs that the troops lined its floor with flak jackets.

Now 25 and a staff sergeant after two tours of duty, he rode out of Iraq this week in a Stryker, an eight-wheeled behemoth encrusted with armor and add-ons to ward off grenades and other projectiles.

"It's something I'm going to be proud of for the rest of my life — the fact that I came in on the initial push and now I'm leaving with the last of the combat units," he said...

When the convoy finally reached the sandy border, two soldiers, armed and helmeted, jumped off their vehicle and raced each other into Kuwait.

Once out of Iraq, there was still work to be done. Vehicles had to be stripped of ammunition and spare tires, and eventually washed and packed for shipment home...

For Spc. Dill, who reached Kuwait with an earlier convoy, the withdrawal engendered feelings of relief. His mission — to get his squad safely out of Iraq — was accomplished.

Standing alongside a hulking Stryker, his shirt stained with sweat, he acknowledged the men who weren't there to experience the day with him.

"I know that to my brothers in arms who fought and died, this day would probably mean a lot, to finally see us getting out of here," he said.

[SivartM]

Finally! It's so sad that so many people have had to die unnecessarily... and still do. I'm looking forward to the day we're all reconciled. One thing I still don't understand about humans is all the fighting.

[Dr. Shane]

It was worth the cost but terribly sad. If Saddam hadn't been stopped, he would have had sanctions lifted, resumed his chemical weapons programs and used terrorists to attack the US on our soil. I am not one that thinks American life is more valuable than Iraqi life but American politicians do have the obligation to protect the US first. So since Saddam was dead-set on attacking Americans, I guess it was better to do it on his soil than ours.

I hope the Iranian situation can be resolved without war but I am concerned what will happen if Israel attacks them.

[Overaged]

It was worth the cost but terribly sad. If Saddam hadn't been stopped, he would have had sanctions lifted, resumed his chemical weapons programs and used terrorists to attack the US on our soil.

I don't believe they went there just to get Saddam. The US could have saved almost a million people from butchery in Rwanda; but they didn't lift a finger. They were there in Iraq for years after Saddam was nailed. Why do we believe everything we are told? I know soldiers who have been to Iraq and Afgahnistan; and even they have said "I don't know why we are there."

[fccool]

Quote:

It was worth the cost but terribly sad. If Saddam hadn't been stopped, he would have had sanctions lifted, resumed his chemical weapons programs and used terrorists to attack the US on our soil.

You are correct, Shane. He was also pretty close to inventing a machine capable of drying up the oceans and blow up the moon. The global warming would certainly be much worse off with Sadam... not even talking about the alien invasion of our world he was instigating, and the time machine that he's built to go back and assassinate Lincoln.

That guy was really a Satan himself in man's body, so the deaths of several millions of Iraqis, several thousands of Americans, trillion paid in our money to war profiteers at expense of our children, and the ruin that we are leaving Iraq to be that will take decades to recover from and will breed more angry fanatics as a result of the violence and desperation...

You are absolutely correct... IT WAS ALL WORTH IT, BROTHER! Long live the USA!

[fccool]

What You Will Not Hear About Iraq

By Adil E. Shamoo

August 23, 2010 "FPIF" -- Iraq has between 25 and 50 percent unemployment, a dysfunctional parliament, rampant disease, an epidemic of mental illness, and sprawling slums. The killing of innocent people has become part of daily life. What a havoc the United States has wreaked in Iraq.

UN-HABITAT, an agency of the United Nations, recently published a 218-page report entitled State of the World’s Cities, 2010-2011. The report is full of statistics on the status of cities around the world and their demographics. It defines slum dwellers as those living in urban centers without one of the following: durable structures to protect them from climate, sufficient living area, sufficient access to water, access to sanitation facilities, and freedom from eviction.

Almost intentionally hidden in these statistics is one shocking fact about urban Iraqi populations. For the past few decades, prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, the percentage of the urban population living in slums in Iraq hovered just below 20 percent. Today, that percentage has risen to 53 percent: 11 million of the 19 million total urban dwellers. In the past decade, most countries have made progress toward reducing slum dwellers. But Iraq has gone rapidly and dangerously in the opposite direction.

According to the U.S. Census of 2000, 80 percent of the 285 million people living in the United States are urban dwellers. Those living in slums are well below 5 percent. If we translate the Iraqi statistic into the U.S. context, 121 million people in the United States would be living in slums.

If the United States had an unemployment rate of 25-50 percent and 121 million people living in slums, riots would ensue, the military would take over, and democracy would evaporate. So why are people in the United States not concerned and saddened by the conditions in Iraq? Because most people in the United States do not know what happened in Iraq and what is happening there now. Our government, including the current administration, looks the other way and perpetuates the myth that life has improved in post-invasion Iraq. Our major news media reinforces this message.

I had high hopes that the new administration would tell the truth to its citizens about why we invaded Iraq and what we are doing currently in the country. President Obama promised to move forward and not look to the past. However problematic this refusal to examine on the past — particularly for historians — the president should at least inform the U.S. public of the current conditions in Iraq. How else can we expect our government to formulate appropriate policy?

More extensive congressional hearings on Iraq might have allowed us to learn about the myths propagated about Iraq prior to the invasion and the extent of the damage and destruction our invasion brought on Iraq. We would have learned about the tremendous increase in urban poverty and the expansion of city slums. Such facts about the current conditions of Iraq would help U.S. citizens to better understand the impact of the quick U.S. withdraw and what are our moral responsibilities in Iraq should be.

Adil E. Shamoo is a senior analyst at Foreign Policy In Focus, and a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He writes on ethics and public policy.

[Overaged]

Quote:

It was worth the cost but terribly sad. If Saddam hadn't been stopped, he would have had sanctions lifted, resumed his chemical weapons programs and used terrorists to attack the US on our soil.

You are correct, Shane. He was also pretty close to inventing a machine capable of drying up the oceans and blow up the moon. IT WAS ALL WORTH IT, BROTHER! Long live the USA!

What a bunch of baloney. You guys still haven't provided proof of WMD; and now you want us to believe this dunce, Saddam had such capabilities? Right; and I'll bet if I believe that one you will throw me another

[fccool]

Sure,

Didn't you know that he invented a time came back to kill Lincoln? He's also building a death star in space to destroy Alderan, and take over the Universe.

Nobody know what happened to Hitler before he died, so now we know! He has transplanted his mind into a head of an 8 year old Iraqi boy as the last attempt to survive. So, Saddam was actually a Hitler re-incarnated! I'm serial!

[fccool]

I don't believe they went there just to get Saddam. The US could have saved almost a million people from butchery in Rwanda; but they didn't lift a finger. They were there in Iraq for years after Saddam was nailed. Why do we believe everything we are told? I know soldiers who have been to Iraq and Afgahnistan; and even they have said "I don't know why we are there."