Former Bush Official: We Went Into Iraq Because 'We Were Looking For Somebody's Ass To Kick'

[pepperbear]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/20/bush-official-iraq_n_4132719.html?icid=maing-grid7

New York Times reporter Peter Baker is out with a new book that reportedly reveals some eyebrow-raising details about the Iraq War.

A senior official from former President George W. Bush's administration is quoted in “Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House” saying American troops went into Iraq because the U.S. was looking for a fight.

"The only reason we went into Iraq, I tell people now, is we were looking for somebody’s ass to kick. Afghanistan was too easy," the anonymous official said, according to Politico.

[steve2470]

1. really sick statement by a sociopath nt

[City Lights]

2. Surprise, surprise, surprise.

Sick mofos.

[BlueJazz]

3. I'm sure that the love ones of those who gave their lives for a silly, stupid, nebulous reason...

...are just thrilled with THAT knowledge.

Mom...what happened to Daddy?
Oh..He died for almost nothing.

[NeoConsSuck]

6. The ones who gave their lives

had a choice to go or not to go. For the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi's who died in that war, they didn't have a choice, did they?

[BlueJazz]

10. What you say is true.

[gopiscrap]

11. Yup

[dsc]

13. a no they didn't

at least not those who enlisted prior to the start of the Iraq war.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

37. x2

[Ace Acme]

79. If They Enlisted Thinking They Were Going to Be Paid to Sit Around

If they enlisted thinking they were going to be paid to sit around for 20 years polishing their guns, and that turned out not to be true, I find it difficult to muster much pity for them.

[dsc]

99. they probably enlisted thinking they would fight in wars, if at all, to promote our national

interest, not the vanity of armchair warriors who took 9 deferments instead of fighting in VietNam.

[Victor_c3]

68. To a degree they had a choice

I could write an essay on this, as I lived through it myself.

I joined the Army in 1997 when I was 17 and accepted an Army ROTC scholarship in 1998. As a result, I incurred a 4 year active duty service commitment to the Army from 2002-2006 when I accepted that scholarship in 1998 - a full three years before September 2001 and 5 years before the war on Iraq started.

So yes, I volunteered, but I was tricked and duped by my upbringing, my parents, and our nation. I was born in 1980 and I watched a steady stream of G.I. Joe and recall watching numerous conflicts play out on TV. I was 11 during the first gulf war and I believed (especially at the time) that our role was justified. I was 15 in 1995 when the Dayton Peace Accord was signed by Clinton and the US lead NATO forces into the Bosnia and Kosovo to stop genocide. I saw those as examples of our military being used as a "force for good". I truly believed that we learned our lessons from previous military conflicts and I believed that our military was a tool used to help people and to make the world a better (and safer) place for the less fortunate. I truly believed in the motto of the Special Forces "De oppresso libre" (or liberator of the oppressed).

In 2003 I watched events unfold which would later lead to me deploying to Iraq in Feb 2004 and I never bought the argument for war in that country. However, by that time, it was too late. I was already in the military and made my oaths. I deployed as an Infantry Platoon Leader and tried my best to treat the people of Iraq with dignity and respect. Among my peers, I would say that I was by far the kindest and gentlest of the leaders. I took the phrase "winning hearts and minds" personally.

So I suppose I could have protested, not gone to Iraq, and gone to prison but instead I followed through on my commitment to the Army and sucked it up. I did my best to make a bad situation good and I guess I'm partially to blame for what happened over there. However, I believe that the Army was just as victimized by the general American population and their lust for Arab blood after September 11th as the Iraqi people were.

[calimary]

95. Hey, thank you for your service, Victor_c3!

Thank you for your sensitivity. This was such a no-win situation for SO many. Including folks like you who went in with all sincerity.

Seems to me MANY of us just simply don't want to believe that our leaders are evil, or have ulterior motives with which we're uncomfortable or don't share. After all, our country voted for them (well enough of them that it was close enough to steal, in bush/cheney's case). It's hard to accept that our country actually did that. That we got rolled. That we bought in. That we swallowed it whole. And that it took SO DAMN LONG for many of us to wake up again. Some of us - too many, unfortunately - remain hard-asleep.

Heck, those of us who did protest and did try to stop it sure didn't get very far on our end, did we?

Interesting enough, btw, Victor_c3 - your post here is #911, at least as of this writing.

[BlueMTexpat]

121. You did what you had to do once you accepted to serve.

No one on DU who has never been in the shoes of someone in the military has any right to criticize your actions so long as you behaved in an honorable manner throughout your service.

As the daughter, sister, aunt and wife of those who have admirably performed/are performing their military service - and a lifelong Dem, I thank you for your service to our country.

Like you, I believe that the military was victimized by our unscrupulous, cowardly and criminal "leaders" - none of whom were fit to lick your boots. Thank you!

[polly7]

4. As serious as that, eh?!?

Sick *'er!!!

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

Bush and the rest of his bloodthirsty warmongering crew need to be frogmarched to The Hague. Yesterday.

[Left Coast2020]

98. We'd gain more respect from other nations if we did.

[Hoyt]

5. Don't doubt it, they had no significant weapons, no Navy, no Air Force. . . . . .

Is there any wonder countries like Iran want nukes?

[newfie11]

7. Exactly

Several years ago, I was thinking about moving out of America. Top of my list was what country the US was least Likely to bomb or go to war.
None of the places I liked fell in the least likely category so I'm still here.

[robbob]

81. Come to Canada!

Minute I moved back to my home country (from Boston) it was like entering a decompression chamber. It always felt like that even coming back for visits. In the USA circa 1999-2003 there was some heavy shit going down.

[newfie11]

92. Canada was my first choice

But I am retired and Canada requires a lot of money if your retired. Wish I had moved up there before retiring.

[Ace Acme]

82. I was planning to move to Canada

If Bush won the 2004 election, I was going to wash my hands of the USA.

But that was before I realized that the voting machines were fixed, the media were fixed, and the government reports about 9/11 were corrupt and full of holes. I realized that my country was in deep kimchee and it would be irresponsible to flee. Besides, Canada has the Oil Shale, so the USA will just invade if it feels like it.

[indepat]

8. Would that suggest junior's pre-emptive war of aggression were a violation of international

law? Ho-hum.

[davidn3600]

15. We believe international law doesn't apply to us. We are exceptional.

[indepat]

17. It's so easy to sometimes forget this neat little truism.

[spanone]

9. i'm sure the families of those who died trying to kick somebody's ass will be happy to hear that

sickfuck

[quaker bill]

12. They said as much

at least in the accounts I have seen so far, "there are no good targets in Afghanistan" was attributed to Cheney.

They wanted gun camera footage of American bombs blowing up big things, thus "shock and awe". It was sort of a perverse fireworks show designed and filmed for mass consumption. It did not matter that it was not targeted at the folks who attacked us, they (bush* and cheney) just wanted to be seen blowing up big things, pulling down statues, ...... whatever, the bigger and louder the better.

Most of us in the US approved, at first. Eventually it wore very thin, but at first it was quite popular.

[ArcticFox]

27. I never approved.

Just want that on the record.

[quaker bill]

43. neither did I

but polling at the moment indicated about 85% did approve.

[ProfessorGAC]

58. Really?

With regard to Iraq? I don't recall that. I do recall that about Afghanistan, but i remember more people than 15% questioning Iraq.

Not that i'm right. Maybe it's wishful hindsight.
GAC

[7962]

126. I agree. Most agreed with Afghanistan, lots of protests about Iraq.

Pretty much HAD to go into Afghanistan, but Iraq was such a waste of people and money. If we hadnt gone there, Afghanistan wouldve probably been over with years ago.

[SammyWinstonJack]

119. Neither did I. Never approved of attacking Afghanistan either.

[Blue_Tires]

75. Not only that

in long spells of peacetime, the MIC are like kids with a bunch of toys and no place to play with them....Computer simulations only do so much, and sooner or later they need a real live testing ground to see how all their toys perform...

One of the (several) reasons why the USA stayed in SE Asia much longer than they should have is because it was such a valuable resource for R+D, especially for the CIA....

[BB1]

83. Pulling down statues

as if it was a natural occurence.

http://www.google.nl/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=V083WJR4_90KsM&tbnid=Eo4os631RSvT4M:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lookingglassnews.org%2Fviewstory.php%3Fstoryid%3D5671&ei=3XFlUqL2BILU0QWLxoGoBA&bvm=bv.54934254,d.Yms&psig=AFQjCNHV4owhV0Q7oyJknUOy0bD85Ezp-A&ust=1382466384140018

(edited to add: this link leads to the picture of the square where the Saddam statue was toppled.)

[Ace Acme]

105. Pulling down the statues

http://www.lookingglassnews.org/viewstory.php?storyid=5671

I'd been little impressed by Colin Powell's speech to the UN about the need for an invasion, and I thought we should leave the decision on the issue up to the UN, as required by international law, instead of going ahead with an illegal aggressive invasion of a country that was no military threat to us.

When I saw them pull down the statue on TV, it was obvious that the whole thing was phony as hell. A few glum-looking Iraqis were standing around, and FOX kept showing the same white mini-pickup truck with about eight celebrants riding in the back driving back and forth as if showing it enough times might make it into a parade.

Then later when they'd somehow cut off the statue's head and were dragging it down the street there were more cameramen photographing the event than there were participants. With such incompetent propaganda it's a wonder anyone gets fooled.

[Rex]

14. Republican family values.

One dead soldier at a time.

[polichick]

16. "Looking forward" was the biggest mistake Pres. Obama has made...

It's supposed to be "liberty and JUSTICE for all" - Bush officials should be held responsible for killing thousands and thousands of innocent people.

[JHB]

22. Doubly so because Bill Clinton did the same thing and got the same result

There was no shortage of Reagan/Bush era scandals, investigations of which could have greatly benefited from the change in administration. The apparatus for hampering investigations was no longer in the hands of the subjects of those investigations. When asked about it, though, administration officials said it wasn't "on their radar screen".

A lot of people who might have gone down in disgrace merely burrowed into think tanks and corporate boards, to resurface in Dubya's administration as the people who were chomping at the bit to send our forces to attack Iraq.

[polichick]

73. Good point. The problem we have is that both parties serve...

corporate America and the mic far more than they serve the people. There is no people's party in the US of A.

[ArcticFox]

29. Obama could always change his mind

Where's the pressure to get him to do that?

[polichick]

74. He won't because of his drone activities, among others.

[Ace Acme]

87. The UN Convention Against Torture Requires Obama to Investigate

Last edited Mon Oct 21, 2013, 07:15 PM - Edit history (1)

"Looking forward" and ignoring the crimes is not an option. He is in violation of that treaty. Not only that, but a Wikileaks memo showed that he interfered in a Spanish judicial investigation of the Bush 6 (Gonzales, Addington, Bybee, Yoo, Feith, Haynes) for torture of Spanish citizens, causing the investigation to be dropped.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

88. Welcome to DU. Your concern is noted. nt

[polichick]

90. "Your concern is noted." First a welcome, then an insult?

[Ace Acme]

101. Am I to infer that you think no concern is justified?

Am I to infer that you think no concern is justified when the president thinks he can decide which treaties he will abide by and which ones he will ignore?

Do you think the President should be an elected dictator who is above the law?

[polichick]

89. imo we're about "liberty and justice for all" or we're not...

People go to jail for weed, for God's sake! No wonder citizens don't give a shit anymore.

[dflprincess]

116. Not too late for him to change his mind on that one. n/t

[WinkyDink]

18. NS, S.

[90-percent]

19. yeah

There's 4,500 American families saying to themselves:

My child died fighting their war in Iraq SO THEY COULD KICK ASS?

-90% Jimmy

PS - the war was based on WMD's because it was the only thing they could agree on! Wolfowitz fuck up #1. The war will pay for itself. Wolfie Fuckup #2

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

20. Nothing worse than chickenhawks trying to play tough.

Last edited Mon Oct 21, 2013, 12:35 AM - Edit history (1)

[sheshe2]

21. Don't even get me started!

[prairierose]

23. That's a handy little lie...

to distract and rewrite history. They (Cheney) wanted Iraq's oil. But , oh so many people, will believe this because it sounds better. Really, no reason is better than we were there to steal the oil?

[BelgianMadCow]

57. Yes, that's a coverup lie. Cheney's secret Energy Meetings

where they sliced up Iraqi oilfields for "later", and that went on BEFORE 9/11. Enough said.

[Locrian]

71. exactly - another diversion from the masters of deception.

[Arugula Latte]

24. Yeah, we really showed them...

[Rex]

28. I wish the dead could haunt the living.

nt.

[Octafish]

25. Yeah, and somebody's oil to steal.

A lot of oil.

[Rex]

26. Well in all fairness, they did have OUR oil under their land!

I mean...peacefully extracting it and helping build their infrastructure with the revenue is for liberals! Compassionate conservatism ALWAYS means there will be a large bodycount.

Remember Poppy telling Saddam it was O K to drill near Kuwait and Poppy rubbing his hands together in glee over a soon to be war? Me too, but I bet most people don't. Most people just call it Gulf War I.

[libdem4life]

35. Just like that Cruz traveling snake oil show...just transferring wealth from the wicked to the

righteous gentiles. Hallelujah !!

I remember.

[Rex]

36. EVERYONE should see Papa Cruz for all his batshit insanity!

"And the seven princes will climb seven mountains"!

[libdem4life]

39. And to think him and a bunch of Texans thinks he could be the Commander in Chief of our military?

Can't you just see it ... He walks into the room with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and gets them in a circle with their hands on the Bible, anoints them, and sends them forth to battle to slay the wicked, by air, on land and sea... just like Daddy taught him.

Chilling.

[Rex]

41. Yes I can, I think he would make Dubya look like a Boy Scout.

Cruz would destroy this country, in order to 'save it'.

[libdem4life]

42. Dubya didn't have the religion crazy ... just petty rage and revenge.

[Boomerproud]

104. I thought I remember W saying he and God talked all the time.

and that's why he ran for president.

[Ikonoklast]

114. W was under the impression that God's name was "Jim Beam".

Good Ol' Jim always said what W needed to hear.

[90-percent]

51. Additionally

Didn't US Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie answer, when asked permission by Saddam to invade Kuwait; "Your internal affairs are not our concern."

Was Saddam not set up like a bowling pin by the US?

Isn't the muted April happy every day of her life that she has not been suicided by mysterious circumstance? Has she ever told her side of the story post Gulf War 1?

-90% Jimmy

as usual, correct me if I'm wrong

[SomeGuyInEagan]

60. You're right - we green-lighted Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

Then put together a coalition to invade Iraq.

I still recall Mike Royko's chilling column about the homeless guy singing a song about April Glaspie on the street as the country ramped up the machine to invade.

[JHB]

66. As I recall it, it wasn't entirely clear what Saddam was getting at...

...given the fog of diplomatic circumlocutions. Saber rattling for the ongoing negotiations? Seizure of the area being used to slant-drill into Iraqi oil fields?

There were a number of possibilities that would have been considered likelier than full-out invasion, and at the time the Bush administration was courting Saddam to be a US-friendly power in the region, and take the role that the Shah's Iran had played before the revolution.

I'm not really one to trust the Bushes, but they're not as much Machiavellians as they are shameless opportunists. It's entirely possible (and I'm inclined to think likely) that Saddam thought he was asking permission, but Glaspie and Bush thought he was planning something smaller, or just saber rattling. However, when he invaded instead, Bush took the opportunity to pivot and make a big demonstration of US military power and "shake the 'Vietnam Syndrome'".

The main reason I think he didn't intentionally set Saddam up is how things played out at the end: Bush was clearly fishing for someone in the Iraqi military to stage a coup and replace Saddam with a fresh face (who might be just like Saddam but without the bad press).

If Bush had set Saddam up, there would have been someone with backing to carry that out. As it was, none of the Iraq generals and colonels felt they could count on enough loyalty from their units to stick their neck out and not get it chopped off.

With no coup, Bush allowed Saddam to put down people who'd take up his call to remove Saddam but weren't anyone the US was interested in winning (like Iran-friendly Shia in the south).

That left Iraq mostly in limbo through most of the 90s, and kept American troops in Saudi Arabia (and remember who used that fact as a bloody flag to wave about for his terrorist operations).

[brett_jv]

76. Actually I believe it went further than that ...

Poppy via April Glaspie told Saddam it was fine by them to attack Kuwait for stealing their (Iraq's) oil by slant drilling ... and then stabbed him in the back when he did so.

[90-percent]

46. Octafish would know this

Just who the hell ended up with all that oil, anyway?

I'm guessing the Chinese outmaneuvered the USA at the negotiating table and ended up with the oil rights. That were procured by the deaths of 4,500 American servicemen, 100,000 dead Iraqi's, and even 800 dead contractors. (contractors are usually never included in any Iraq invasion death toll)

Hey, at least we take great care of those that got broken in that conflict. Hey, troops, who supports yah, baby!

Fact check and error corrections appreciated.

-90% Jimmy

[Octafish]

49. The same China We the People owe $2 Trillion to.

Hey, it's between Fiends.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5333644

[M.G.]

30. I remember reading...

I remember reading much the same thing in Stratfor.com back when the war started. Stratfor, a fairly respected civillian intelligence analysis group. basically said the Second Gulf War wasn't about oil or arcane conspiracy theories, it was about demonstrating American resolve in the MIddle East through an act of force.

That's not especially far from what this anonymous official is saying.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

31. If only the assholes starting the fight had to actually do the fighting personally.

[ReasonableToo]

32. Nah, the reason was oil. The propaganda on the other hand...

...was to kick ass. That's what the songs were about and that's what was used to spur on the flag wavers and budget approves.

[libdem4life]

40. To add military bases and control of the entire region ... The American Empire. That covers all

of the reasons. Think Crusades. Onward Christian Soldiers. 120 foreign "interventions" since the Civil War.

[War Horse]

80. You're on to something there

The OPs point still stands. It was sold as "we had to do something about this". To "someone".

I know former GOP-ers who are angry at themselves for having bought it, and at the Bush admin for having sold it.

[libdem4life]

33. Anonymous chicken plucker deadbeat...and we're paying for his retirement.

He said at the outset it was to get Hussein for "dissin' his Daddy". For him, it was The Rifleman in living color. (60s b/w television show) And the lemmings around him anxious for the spoils of war, trotted right along.

500,000 Iraquis now, how many Afghanis and all their families, after we tired of blowing up Baghdad, and our American dead and physically and psychologically maimed soldiers and their families. They all lay at the feet of The Bush Cabal. Psychopaths, all.

Sometimes I swear that believing in Karma is the only thing that helps even just a little with this rage.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

34. "we went into Iraq"? Chickenhawks like vicarious fights.

[Samantha]

38. I immediately thought of Armitage when I read this

Truly just a guess, but that sure sounds like him. Probably sounds like a lot of other Bush*-connected officials though as well.

Sam

[bemildred]

44. I thought of Kissinger (You've got to hit back!"), but yeah, Armitage works too.

A lot of them work.

[pepperbear]

45. Any one of them could've been capable of such a statement. n/t

[90-percent]

47. Good quote

I read this on DU many years ago:

GW Bush invading Iraq after 9-11 is like Franklin Roosevelt invading New Zealand after Pearl Harbor.

America - land of the universally respected ass kickers! Hero's in error we are!

-90% Jimmy

[Hotler]

48. "Now is not the time to point fingers." Who was it that said that ?????

I'm trying to remember. I think his name starts with an O, I'm not sure.

[stevenleser]

50. Sadly, given how things played out, that actually fits better than many other posits. nt

[Old and In the Way]

52. Not a valid excuse for commiting war crimes.

In a just world, the entire crew would be on trial at the Hague, begging for their wretched lives. 500,000 people died because Bush/Cheney felt like be tough guys.

[Downtown Hound]

53. Well, now there's a valid excuse for starting a war.

[4Q2u2]

54. Who the F is WE.

I bet I did not see him over there. If Afghanistan is so easy I suggest Mr. Senior douchebag grab a gun and head on over.

[The_Casual_Observer]

55. The day after 9/11 Bush was gearing up for invading Iraq and so was the press.

It was clear at the time that the purpose of it was to make amends for the attack and to misdirect the public from the fact that the attack was allowed to occur as a result of gross incompetence by the Bush administration. Simply put, they needed to kick somebody's ass.

[Art_from_Ark]

122. bu$h had his eye on Iraq from the very beginning

Less than one month after he slithered into the White House, in fact, he bombed Iraq.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

56. The whole "War on Terror" is essentially a PR war to make politicians look tough.

And, it's a flop.

[mikeysnot]

59. No it was about war profiteering

and enriching the friends and families of the Bush Crime Family. And to payback the investors in his appointment to the presidency.

[CrispyQ]

61. Does this surprise anyone?

Not me.

[grahamhgreen]

62. War crime. Prosecute.

[silvershadow]

63. I have to wonder how the families of our wounded/deceased Iraq war veterans must feel about this.

May they all RIP. At least they still have their honor and dignity. I am sure they would prefer to have their lives intact.

[Hutzpa]

64. They're inconspiciously admiting to

killing Saddam Hussein with prejudice.

How charming.

[Tikki]

65. This must be why boosh said he was 'awesome'...

he see's himself as an ass-kicker. He certainly is an ASS.


Tikki

[KansDem]

69. George W. Bush: 'Eight Years Was Awesome, And I Was Famous And I Was Powerful'

Huffington Post

[Tikki]

77. He killed a lot of innocent people...

..and that was just an awesome powerful famous thing to do...




Tikki

[yuiyoshida]

124. This!

[apnu]

67. No shit sherlock, tell us something we don't know.

Responding to the "senior official" not you pepperbear.

[Martin Eden]

70. NO, that's NOT why they went into Iraq!!!

The PNAC agenda was clearly spelled out before GW Bush took office, and invading Iraq was Step One.

In 1998 PNAC petitioned President Clinton to forcibly change the regime, and at GW's first cabinet-level meeting the big foreign policy question was how to go after Iraq.

The 2003 invasion was NOT some simplistic yahoo urge to kick ass in the wake of 9/11.

[stevenleser]

103. You are right about SOME people's motives in the administration, not all.

There were probably about half a dozen different motivations among the different senior administration folks.

[Martin Eden]

108. Oil, War profits, the Petro Dollar, Politics, Israel ...

... with "just wanting to kick ass" far down on the list.

[reddread]

109. poppys agenda, thats all there was to it, no need to diffuse

http://www.gregpalast.com/how-george-bush-won-the-war-in-iraq-really/

"Afghanistan was too easy"
tell it to the russians.

[panader0]

72. "Afghanistan was too easy"????

Right....

[RussBLib]

78. the good news is...

...there is no statute of limitations on war crimes. I hold out hope that someday this country will be brave enough to prosecute Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc.

[Ace Acme]

84. Rice and Zelikow Too

Rice chaired the Principals Committee that approved torture policies months before there was even any pretense of legal cover. John Ashcroft said "Why are we talking about torture in the White House? History will not judge this kindly." Rice's response to the CIA when they asked for guidance on torture policies was "It's your baby, go do it!"

Zelikow wrote the legal memo that justified pre-emptive strike doctrine.

Both of these criminals are younger than the other Bushcists, so they have long lives of exposure to prosecution. They could possibly induced to save themselves by ratting out the others.

[leveymg]

85. In 2002, Mike Ledeen said, "Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small

crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business."

Sounds like the same guy or they ran in the same neocon circles. Come to think of it, didn't we just do just that with Libya and Syria? "The Ledeen Doctrine" lives.

[Berlum]

86. Chickenhawk Republicon "Family Values" - BFEE Style

Right out of the stinking cesspool.

[jwirr]

91. War criminals who the American people elected to make these decissions.

[Ganja Ninja]

93. Still telling lies I see.

It was all about stealing the oil. Don't let anyone kid you.

[Javaman]

94. drunken fratboys with "courage" fueled by stupidity. nt

[arthritisR_US]

96. That is why there should be a draft and their

kids SHOULD have been the first to go!

[SunSeeker]

97. Yes, starting with Liz Cheney and the 5 Romney boys. nt

[arthritisR_US]

111. Absolutely! n/t

[Ace Acme]

102. There should be a draft, and not just for IED fodder, either

The modern military needs computer programmers, managerial talent, accountants, lawyers, doctors, dentists. Start drafting professionals for military service and that will put an end to wars fast..

[Martin Eden]

123. No, there should NOT be a draft!

Realistically, the ONLY way there will be a draft is if the need for numbers of troops exceeds the number of volunteers.

And THAT scenario means one thing:
More wars & occupations than we've seen in the last 12 years.

[arthritisR_US]

130. Respectfully, I disagree. If politicians got into

office knowing that their children would be the first to be drafted the chicken in them would take presidence over the hawk in them. The numbers of the standing force would remain the same, at a constant, but their motivation to send the troops into battle is what would be altered, IMO.

[Martin Eden]

131. There would be a stipulation that children of elected representatives get drafted first?

4 things:

1. Targeting a group of people based on parent's occupation is very questionable in terms of fairness.
2. What percentage of elected representatives have children of draft age?
3. There is an inherent conflict of interest in deciding national security matters based on potential loss of a child.
4. Such a bill would never get passed.

As a strategy for keeping our country out of unnecessary wars, that is totally unrealistic. At most, a handful of politicians' children would be drafted and they could easily be given less dangerous assignments even if the intent of a bill to draft them first (see #4 above) was to put them in harm's way.

Even if every single military-age able-bodied offspring of Congress were inducted, that would be a drop in the bucket of the total number of young Americans whose educational & career pursuits were forcibly interrupted -- and I sincerely doubt the parents & potential draftees would be confident that strategy for keeping us out of wars would really work.

I still think that realistically, political support to re-institute the draft could be generated only if there was a widely held belief that the volunteer force was insufficient. And that almost certainly would be the result of large scale overseas deployment (aka WAR).

[arthritisR_US]

133. Call it the Hawks Bill. Anyone voting for a war their

children or their closest relatives are drafted into Combat troops, no cushy assignments. How many troops were lost to the Iraqi war, how many innocent Iraqi's? All because they were itching to kick some ass! They had no regard for the lives that would be lost and that should be foremost in their considerations.

[Martin Eden]

134. Respectfully ...

... the notion that such a bill could actually become law and is a realistic strategy for averting war is little more than wishful thinking.

[marble falls]

100. How about some new stuff?

[SummerSnow]

106. i can dream right?

[Boomerproud]

107. Will this get any more exposure that the Huffington Post?

All of the people who died needlessly deserve the truth. Will Brian Williams have an expose...NO! And Mr. Anonymous from the Bush Administration...no Medal of Honor for you. Show your face, tell all and let the heavens fall.

[JEFF9K]

110. It only cost the Treasury $6,000,000,000,000.00!!

All registered Republicans should be taxed to get the money back.

[IronLionZion]

112. There is one ass in Texas that would be way more cost effective to kick nt

[bluestate10]

113. Wow, fucking WOW. All the dead American soldiers and and Afghans and Iraqis, that happened

because someone wanted to flex muscle?

[dflprincess]

115. Didn't Kipling refer to Afghanistan as "Where empires go to die"?

Besides, bullies like the Bushco crowd would only pick a fight where they thought they could win.

[hughee99]

117. Ah nevermind. I misunderstood something from the OP. n/t

[gopiscrap]

118. Jesus Christ that whole fucking administration should be

tried as war criminals.

[IkeRepublican]

120. Oh bullshit

The bastards from that administration are always insulting the people's intelligence.

They were big-oil lackeys under the guiding hand of PNAC.

Nothing more and nothing less.

[BeyondGeography]

127. Add thievery and you have the sum total of all their motives

[Diclotican]

128. pepperbear

pepperbear

It feels always great to be vindicated when it comes to something you was against - and had it right when you opposed the war in Iraq.. The only time I have been in a demonstration against anything, was in the roundup to the Iraq war in 2003 - and I was not alone to do it - more than 60.000 wa in that march against that war.. At least in Oslo, and it was the biggest demonstration since WW2 in Norway!

And it look like we also was right on target - when it came to why US wa going into Iraq - not to make the country a democracy as they was telling, or to get rid of the large stockpiles of WMDs - as claimed by the White House under Bush the lesser - but in fact a rape of the country pure and simple.. And today 14 year later, Iraq IS raped, and pillaged so good, that it will take decades to get onto what Iraq was, before the second Gulf War in 2003... A whole generation of iraqis will live in horrible conditions, illnesses who is treatable will kill off then of thousands of children, and it all come back to one thing.. Someone wanted to kick some ass in the Middle east...

And Iraq had nothing with 911 as it was mostly saudi-arabians and Yemenis who did it... No Iraqi was to blow up the world trade Center in NYC..

Diclotican

[warrior1]

129. trying to rewrite history

they went there for the oil

[Solly Mack]

132. Bet that gets him some laughs at parties. Murder, torture...just too fucking funny.