Iraq failed U.S. troops

[Playinghardball]

Source: Politico

As the U.S. military mission in Iraq ended, it was understandable that the commander in chief, President Barack Obama, and the deputy commander, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, would tell the troops that their sacrifices were not in vain. While that may make some members of the military feel better in the short term about having seen about 4,500 of their colleagues killed and another 32,000 wounded, it ignores the reality of the war and makes it more likely that those who follow in their footsteps will suffer the same consequences. The military and the country would be better off in the long run if Obama and Panetta had given the following speech:

“On behalf of the nation, I would like to apologize to you for the mistakes that were made in the unnecessary invasion of Iraq in 2003. These mistakes were made by all the institutions of government and society, not just the Bush administration.
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“There is no doubt that President [George W.] Bush, Vice President [Dick] Cheney, Secretary of State [Colin] Powell, Secretary of Defense [Donald] Rumsfeld, CIA Director [George] Tenet and National Security Adviser [Condoleezza] Rice cooked the books to justify the invasion. They knew or should have known that Saddam [Hussein] was contained and growing weaker by the day and that he did not have weapons of mass destruction or links to Al Qaeda.

“But they are not the only ones to blame. The Congress failed in its responsibilities to provide a check on the executive branch. Too many Republicans wanted to support their president and too many Democrats did not want to appear weak on defense; therefore, the Congress voted overwhelmingly to support this dumb war. Moreover, only a handful of the members took the time to read the classified National Intelligence Estimate, which Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), chairman of the Intelligence Committee, demanded be done before the vote. It is no coincidence that those members who took the time to read the entire NIE voted overwhelmingly against the war. As Sen. Graham noted, reading the entire NIE, not the declassified version, showed that there was no case for war.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70696.html#ixzz1hCFqbjIK

[tabatha]

1. The title should be "The Iraq Invasion failed U.S. troops"

Iraq had nothing to do with it.

[bvar22]

2. The overall results of the Iraq Invasion:

1) A secular US quasi Ally has been turned into an Iranian Puppet state.

2)The Global Oil Corporations now own a BIG piece of the oilfields that once belonged to the Iraqi people.
SEE: Iraqi Oil Law




You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.
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[Arctic Dave]

3. I wish I could rec this more.

Your government fucked you over. All parties and all but a few politicians.

Next time pull your heads out of your uber patriotic assholes and listen to to people who said this wasn't a good idea.

[T S Justly]

4. Iraq did nothing to U.S. Troops ...

That warranted invasion and occupation. Not an unsubtle point, imo.