| MrBubbles said: preemptive attacks and the failings of the iraq war are not connected. the invasion of iraq was decently executed...the occupation was a failure because it wasnt properly thought out. you dont need to occupy a country to attack it though. |
Yes they are. Preemption is a doctrine crafted with terrorism almost exclusively in mind.
The invasion of the Iraq War was moderately well executed, but the exit strategy was lacking if present at all. The Bush administration's attitude towards the Iraqi people was condescending to say the least. They thought the people would embrace those who invaded their country and dethroned their leader (putting aside the issue of how much a tyrant he was) while simultaneously destroying their homes, their families, and the stability of their country.
Terrorism is the new guerilla warfare. Why do you think we were so effective when fighting against the British imperialists? Because we fought the war in a way they were unfamiliar with and in a way they could not easily counteract. They ran into the same problem we have in Iraq, you can't fix every problem with a sledgehammer, especially when you are not fighting on your own turf.
Invading the country directly or indirectly increased the hostile rhetoric towards the United States throughout the Middle East, not just Iraq. Many of these people entered the country to fight because they hated America so much even if they weren't Iraqis. We have probably created as many new terrorists as those we have killed until very recently. That is not how you win a war.
Remember what George Washington said?
Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation [as our geographical isolation from the rest of the world]? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice?
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke
It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...." Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson
