Here's something I posted in another thread that i'll post here with some changes:
The Iraq war is filled with lies. I remember in late 2002, before Bush sent in weapons inspectors to Iraq, he said that if they find weapons, and yet Iraq doesn't disarm, there will be a war. Bush was confident that he will definitely find weapons. However, the weapons inspectors found absolutely no weapons. But Bush wanted to go to war anyway. Therefore, before the war started, Bush changed his story, instead of making Iraq disarm, he said that Saddam Hussein must step down as leader within 3 days, or else the U.S. will attack. He also added another reason why the U.S. should go to war: Iraq/Al-Qaeda/9-11 relations. By giving this reason to the American people, many people supported the war.
So first Bush said that the U.S. will attack Iraq if they don't disarm. But when he found they have no weapons, he added 2 more reasons: the fact that Saddam is an evil dictator and that Iraq has relations with Al-Qaeda/9-11. Now, out of these 3 reasons, the first and third ones are bullshit. But Bush needed these 2 lies to get approval of the American people to go to war.
The pro-war people argue that it is good that we went into war even though Iraq had no weapons or a connection with Al-Qaeda/9-11, because Saddam was such an evil dictator and it is good that we removed him from power. For people who believe that the war is a good idea for this one reason, it is still the wrong war, wrong place, wrong time for numerous reasons:
1) Iraq was never a direct threat to the U.S.
2) There are other nations that have evil dictators AND nuclear weapons AND are threats to the U.S. (North Korea) So we should focus on North Korea and not waste our time, money, and troops on Iraq.
3) Besides North Korea, another direct threat to the U.S. is Al-Qaeda. We should have sent more troops into the Afghan-Pakistan border. President Musharaff is not allowing U.S. troops into Pakistan. However there is a region in Northern Pakistan that is not controlled by the Pakistani government. Rather, it is controlled by radicals who support Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and are against the U.S. Osama Bin Laden is probably in this region or near. Now Bush should have worked with the Pakistan government and focused on trying to get U.S. troops into this region of Pakistan only.
4) Although I don't support a war against Iran, I must say that Iran is a much more dangerous country then Iraq. Before 9-11, it let many of the hijackers pass through it's country while knowing who they were. Also, we all know that Iran HAS nuclear weapons as opposed to Iraq.
5) Bush had no exit strategy for the Iraq war. More people have died after he declared that major combat is over in Iraq.
6) The cost of this war is enormous. Not only do we have to pay right now, taxpayers will be paying for the war for many years to come, money that we could have used to pay for other things. The cost of the war is defintely driving down the American economy. Check out this link:
http://costofwar.com/
7) As of today there have been 1,978 coalition deaths in Iraq, 1,786 of them Americans. The death toll of the Iraqis themselves has been ignored, but as of today there have been an estimated 23,140-26,189 Iraqi deaths. I feel bad for all the soldiers, they were brave enough to risk their own lives for their countries. But I even feel worse for these more then 20,000 Iraqis which include many men, women, children (including many new-born babies), because what did these people do to put their lives at risk and end? I remember the Bush administration saying that they will only be attacking political buildings of the Iraqi government, and will avoid the civilian population.
8) One last point: If the U.S. has WMD's, then they shouldn't force other countries to disarm. The U.S. is a bully.
but, you know what? There are PLENTY of bad men in this world, and PLENTY of dictators and rebel gangs killing civilians left right and centre this very minute, yet are the united states helping these countries?!
Or do they consider some groups "freedom fighters" and others simply criminals? Am I missing something?
