Majority say Iraq war is wrong

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

In a statewide poll, 53 percent said going to war in Iraq was a mistake, but Snohomish County voters split almost evenly on the issue.

By Jerry Cornfield
Herald Writer


A majority of Washington voters believe going to war in Iraq was a mistake.

But Connie Gronning of Marysville is not one of them.

For her, the war on terrorism began 21 years ago when her son was among the 241 soldiers killed in the bombing of a U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.

She believes the U.S. military must not pull out of Iraq as it pulled out of Lebanon.

"We left Beirut. We always cut and run," Gronning said.

http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/04/09/26/loc_war001.cfm

[NVMojo]

1. then send her over there

where she can pay the price herself.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

4. She paid the price with her son's life in '83

courtesy of Reagan. SHe seek revenge, or meaning for her son's life.

[Voltaire99]

5. Exactly!

And you see Bush using such symbolism all the time. Ironically, the more US casualties there are in Iraq, the easier it becomes to convince people that "we can't cut and run."

But only up to a point, because at a certain point in time there are too many deaths for that strategy to work. But perhaps we are years away from that time. As long as the casualties are confined mainly to the lower classes in our "volunteer" military, that day of reckoning can be delayed.

[devinsgram]

17. When you seek revenge

dig two graves, one for your enemy and one for yourself.

[lastliberalintexas]

22. I'm sorry, but that's not enough

If she supports this hell that our Middle East pollicy has become, then she should be willing to die for it herself. It's too easy to sacrifice someone else- even your own child. When she is willing to put her OWN life on the line, then we'll talk.

[bluestateguy]

2. The next step is to get a majority in favor of a pullout

It's always evolving. We are still at a point where a majority of the American people are saying "the war was a mistake, but we can't leave". It will take some more time, and regrettably, more casualties, before that changes.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. Sno-ho County is Freepilicious.

So 50-50 is surprisingly good.

[leftchick]

6. Iraq is Lebanon times TEN!

too bad some people still don't know a quagmire when they see one...

[MeinaShaw]

8. He who is silent is assumed to consent.

Only for those who have a habit of jumping to unfounded conclusions!

[leftchick]

9. what exactly does that mean?

please elaborate for me.....

[MeinaShaw]

11. The saying in your post

I was replying to the little saying you have in your post. You say those that are silent are assumed to consent. I said that is jumping to conclusions. Those that are silent could be, for example, scarred to speak up, in quiet agreement...

Your saying is just not a truism, that's all.

[JI7]

7. Connie Gronning is typical of many who misunderstand

they aren't the right wing types who are always about war or we got to get them all and other shit. but they seriously believe it's about defending the country. many of them see things in a too simple way. they think pulling out of lebanon was what caused terrorism. but they don't understand all of our policy in foreign affairs and economics that have more to do with it.

[MeinaShaw]

10. So what do you do now?

...but they don't understand all of our policy in foreign affairs and economics that have more to do with it...

I think the reason people say we should not have gone into Iraq but also say we should stay there is a matter of them saying, yes it was a mistake. But if you don't stay there, what do you do? If you leave now it will definitely be a very large resource for people set on doing 9/11 to the US again and worse. So what do you do now?

[leftchick]

12. lol....

guess what! there are loads of places all over the world that are "a very large resource for people set on doing 9/11 to the US again and worse"! Think we oughta bomb and occupy all of them? 2 down 44 to go? It all sounds rather PNACish....

:crazy:

[MeinaShaw]

13. ROFL

We were talking about Iraq. Remember, people agree with you that it was a mistake to go into Iraq. From that we can assume they do not also want to go into the 44 other places you mention.

But you did not answer the question.

The article said those same people think the U.S. can not leave Iraq now even thought they believe going into Iraq was a mistake. So if we can stay on subject here, what do you suppose is the proper course of action in Iraq now that this mess has gotten started?

[leftchick]

15. Iraq is a quagmire....

One needs to recognize that first. You can not win a quagmire. The US needs to leave before they kill several million people like they did in their last best known quagmire.

[MeinaShaw]

18. Thanks!

I'm worried what will happen if we leave. We have basically upset the ordered structure in Iraq. Saddam was a bad man but he kept things in control - I know, that sounds very selfish. It is bad to think that people have to be oppressed by someone like Saddam just so there can be stability and order for our benefit.

Anyhow, sorry for all the questions. I do appreciate your clarification. I guess you can tell I am rather undecided in all of this. I'm probably like the 50/50 group that thinks we should not have gone in but don't think we can pull out now. But, I definately understand your assessment of this being a quagmire.

[leftchick]

23. no apology necessary....

I used to think we had to stay and fix what we broke, up until about this time last year when the UN was bombed in Iraq. It has become steadily, agonizingly worse by the day. The US is THE problem right now in Iraq and it can not begin to heal while the occupiers are there. I say leave now, give them the billions of dollars they deserve to rebuild and let them sort it out. It sure isn't pretty but perhaps it would save many more lives that way.

[JI7]

16. what i'm talking about is their comparison to lebanon

she thinks terrorism had to do with us pulling out of lebanon .

now iraq is a different thing. we can't just pull out as we did with lebanon because we fucked up iraq that much. there is the al qaeda problem now and if we just pulled out iraq would become like afghanistan as a haven for al qaeda. but what we should do is get most of the american troops out. get an international team in. we do this by changing our economic policy which favors large corporations. through the united nations we send money to help the iraqis start to run their own businesses and other things. one of the differences between iraq and afghanistan is that there are many iraqis who are educated and if given the resources they can easily start to build up their country.

as for who will run iraq i don't know but the goal should be stability mostly rather than democracy. kind of like it was when saddam was there.

[VegasWolf]

20. Obviously, the first important step is to change the current admin!

[Merlin]

14. "Mistake" is different from "Wrong"

"Wrong" forces people to make a moral judgement, and moral relativism then raises it's ugly head--as in "Saddam was a mass murderer."

"Mistake" means we shouldn't have done it because we destabilized a nation based on faulty intelligence at the precise moment our forces were (are) needed to fight against the real enemies of America, al Qaeda.

[Placebo]

19. Yea but I'm sure they think bush is a 'strong leader'

or some shit, dammit this country is stupid!

[skylarmae]

21. KENNEDY ON C-SPAN1

His message is all about Iraq. The total mismanagement of the war. It's wonderful. more more more more more