Zanchief wrote:Martrae wrote:Lyion already answered this I think.
What Lyion describe is exactly what I said in different words. You invaded a country because you didn't care for the current government. You had no cause to do it, but you went anyway because you assumed you would find justification once you got there. You did not Then you TOLD them they could vote. You said, democracy is great, you'll love it. Be sure to vote for our guy though, or we may just too this whole song and dance all over again.
We're on completely different wavelengths. All of what you are saying is somewhat inaccurate.
We invaded Iraq because we felt they and their WMD programs were an
imminent threat.
It has nothing to do with disliking their government. The first world countries with open media and intelligence services believed he was developing Chemical, Biological, and attempting to acquire nuclear capability. Saddam had bypassed the UN which is a corrupt and useless entity and had plenty of cash and trade.
What *possibly* is the truth of what happened is he lied regarding his capabilities in order to keep Iran at arms length. Once we deposed Hussein who was believed to be a threat, as Martrae indicated and you bizarrely insinuated was similar to what you said, then....
Lyion wrote:We didn't 'force' democracy on Iraq. We removed Hussein, since he was deemed a threat, and allowed a UN party to work with the leaders in Iraq who created and voted on their own government. It wasn't written or pushed by us. In fact, the Iraqi government is autonomous and can ask us to leave anytime.
I'd also argue Japan, Germany, South Korea, parts of Europe, and other places have worked out nicely. I'm personally for fighting tyranny within means and feel it's wise to try and support freedom in the world. If you had been alive 60 years ago, would you have opposed the Marshall plan as being expensive and counter productive, since it was?
It would've been far easier for us if we had setup Chalabi or another strongman dictator in Iraq with Pro US ties a la Musharraf, tucked tail and ran, and that would've fixed a bad situation simply and cheaply. That indeed might still happen. However, if the Iraq transformation completes itself into a democracy and the other seeds of freedom planted in the Middle East grow it has the potential to change a volatile region into a somewhat stable one.
The good news is Iraq is stabilizing and improving, although I'd wager the CBC won't tell you the surge Petraeus implemented has done remarkable things. Hopefully by the end of this year Iraq will be self sustaining itself from a security point of view and we'll be able to remove the vast majority of our troops. Afghanistan is in far worse state, since the bulk of NATO who offered to help has done little to support us, outside of the UK and Canada.