Reply #9: The Iraq war has played right into the hands of terrorists

[jumptheshadow]

On edit: I am not directly answering your questions here. The "flypaper" theory is just too pathetic and ridiculous, and is an obvious ill-reasoned attempt for the shills to defend the indefensible.

1) Saddam had been contained with continuing international pressure. The Bush administration has been dangerously inept at winning global support, and, due to its impatient and polarizing attitude, was ineffective using diplomacy to avoid war.

2) The war on terrorism is not a conventional war. It should be a carefully targeted police and intelligence initiative waged in cooperation with other nations. The Iraq war has eroded cooperation and resources for the war on terrorism in this and other countries.

3) If the administration had wanted to keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists it never would have exposed Valerie Plame, and as a result, put at risk everybody Plame had ever worked with in other nations. And why? Because somebody dared to question their shaky justification of the Iraqi war.

4) When you kill Iraqi citizens and destroy a country's infrastructure and national treasures, you are poisoning generations of minds against Westerners. This, in turn, will spawn generations of rage and terrorism.

5) Give the Iraqis democracy and you might end up with another unstable anti-Western, fundamentalist state. Was that your end goal when you triggered the war and the destruction?

6) Because of this war the American military is overstretched and demoralized. The Bush administration has shifted us from a position of strength to one of logistical weakness, and without good cause.

7) Because of this war the first response infrastructure to terrorism has been crippled in the United States. Much of our National Guard is overseas. Coast Guard cutters have been deployed offshore. The money that is funding the war in Iraq should have been used to equip the policemen, firemen and EMT crews that will respond to terror here and to fund the police and intelligence departments that prevent terrorist actions.

8) The money that is going to rebuild Iraq should have been used to bolster our economy, not weaken it. It should have been used for education, health care, veterans' benefits and small business credits here in this country. Instead, the Bush administration is bleeding our country, to the point where it might be too late to repair the damage.

The Bush administration has been a terrorist's dream and a military family's nightmare.