The US Military laid out 8 main objectives for Operation Iraqi Freedom:
1 End the regime of Saddam Hussein.
2 Eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
3 Capture or drive out terrorists.
4 Collect intelligence on terrorist networks.
5 Collect intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction activity.
6 Secure Iraq's oil fields.
7 Deliver humanitarian relief and end sanctions.
8 Help Iraq achieve representative self-government and insure its territorial integrity.
Operation Iraqi Freedom: Military Objectives Met
The goals were met at great cost to the US and especially in terms of our men who fought and served and made it a reality. In a few short year President Obama managed to turn back almost all of the goals. The terrorist networks now run most of the country.
In addition to the major geopolitical disaster this has become, what should President Obama say to the Vets who served in Iraq now that their sacrifices were all in vain
Items 1 thru 7 are honorable reasons to invade Iraq and it would be nice if they existed before the invasion. You would have found some reason to blame President Obama for something regardless or the out come.
We went in there for one reason, Oil. We were looking out for our interests and everyone knows what that is.
Don't you remember the list that was gone though as GWB tried to justify the invasion.
To refresh your memory
The first one was because of 9/11. We had to get those people responsible and we knew who they were, Iraq. That didn't work out to well as Iraq had nothing to do with it for several reasons. Where were the people involved in the 9/11 attack from? Have you ever heard of Saudi Arabia? Well most were from there, none were from Iraq. If you check the Muslim group that was involved in the attack you'd know why Iraq would not have been involved. Iraq was on of the few Arab nations that would not all Al Qaeda to enter their country.
WMD does not stand up to well either, if you think back we found none. The only people who ever said they had them were the CIA and NSA who's existence can only be justified by war or a threat of war. Of the 2, the least trusted is the CIA. If you check history you would find that were the one that set up puppet governments in both Iran and Iraq which made a few people in the country extremely wealthy but cared nothing about the people living there. It all had to due with oil. We ended up making enemies out of friends on at least three occasions.
For the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq find out about diagonal drilling.
3 and 4 are the same and 5 is an extension if not the same as 2.
6. Secure Iraq's oil fields. We all agree with that, some of us feel it was the only reason and should be no. 1
7. We really had no choice and it makes us feel better.
8 Help Iraq achieve representative self-government and insure its territorial integrity. We never saw that. It was a problem with three ethnic/religious groups which contains extremists. The government was never stable. If you accept that war is a part of life then you should be able to come to the conclusion that all they (the two minority groups in government) had to do is wait until the US was out and then try to make changes.
In comes Al Qaeda! Our PR and Intel have been poor in that area, never being at an acceptable level. Al Qaeda was not allowed to enter Iraq, the door is wide open. We have not done much to eliminate them and they have become stronger and better organized. If you are concerned about the five being released as being a threat, forget it. They were replaced by people that are doing a much better job than they ever did. if they end up as key members again it will be with titles; but I don't see them providing much to the organization.
Your list of 8 reasons turned out to be 5 and 4 are questionable.
Al Qaeda and the Taliban are still a threat and at no time have they not been. I made a prediction regarding Afghanistan two years ago. Here is what will happen:
Think back to when we were the before. That conflict was ended by an agreement between Afghanistan and the Taliban which the Taliban broke. It may have been more than a year ago that Afghanistan and the Taliban, have been working on their own. The USA is not included in those talks. An agreement will be reached and in a few years will be broken again and the cycle will begin again.
Extremism is the problem. Extremism is an attempt to force your will onto everyone else. I will not allow for any dialog, the reason the Tea Party is known as the No Party. I agree with some things they say they want to do; but they are the most dishonest group I've seen and do not instill either honesty or trust in anyone. I see very little difference between the Tea Party, Taliban and Al Qaeda.
