How much did the Iraq war actually cost?

are you sure you don't mean japan? and when you consider the fact that we were backing people who were not only egrmany's enemy, but supposedly our enemy as well. the soviet union, what would you have done if the country next to you was being invaded by hostile forces who had every intention of coming after you next? would you just stand there slack jawed and do nothing about it? that's the situation mr hitler was placed in. but it's been revelaed on behalf of the freedom of information act that roosevelt had plans to declare war o germany quite some time prior to the reich';s forces entering poland on a preemptive justification

 

even if every negative thing said about saddam hussein is true? it wouldn;t come near to the number of attrocaties placed on iraqis by both bush presidencies. or excuse the fact that our government many years ago gave money and arms to saddam's side so he could fight against iran and do nasty stuff to the kurds as well. i love it when all these blind american patriots and these knee jerk gi joes talk about how bad saddam is said to have been. but they laugh up a storm when the idea of arab blood spilling gets contemplated.

 

+ http://www.cfr.org/publication/9126/alqaeda_aka_alqaida_alqaida.html#p3

JackFlash: Most countries thought he had WMD based on "inteligence"...
Does being wrong = lies, then?
Plus, remember that wasn't the only reason to justify the invasion.
Hindsight etc.

 

The Iraq war cost too much money, the service weren't organized and the pecan soup was just horrendous

so I didn't leave a tip, other than to make love and not war, to hold hands and remember what makes us all the same and not different.

 

...does it matter how much it costs? (Just askin')

 

It cost human life...

material things are meaningless..

 

true.. and it's much worse than that, like everything with the USA it was about money, they were only interested in fighting in Europe if they could get a profit from it, and they did

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_did_imperial_powers_give_up_colonies_after_world_war_2

 

Most wars do...

 

On 18 September 2003 a US soldier shot and killed a rare Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, after a reportedly drunken soldier tried to feed it through bars in its cage only to be bitten by the Tiger. The incident occurred during a party with Iraqi police after the Zoo's normal business hours. A US military spokesman confirmed that a coalition soldier shot and killed the Bengal tiger but gave no further details. A group of US soldiers in civvies arrived at the zoo to party, armed with guns and beer. Mendouh the tiger was shot in the head three times after injuring a soldier who was trying to feed it through the bars of its cage. Head keeper Adil Salman Musa said: "The tiger bit his finger off and clawed his arm. So his colleague took a gun and shot the tiger."..

 

are you completely insane?

 

funny how the people who run the world tend to think the exact opposite . . .

 

Most countries thought he had WMDs because the Bush Administration perpetrated a series of lies and created a paper trail to convince these other nations that it was true. Remember Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame? How about the Downing Street Memos from your own government?

Overthrowing a dictator is not a justifiable reason for destabilizing the entire world.

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Other countries might have been the US and the UK's lap dogs and ignored their own inteligence assesments...lazily just eating up what the two were saying because they wanted to bomb Iraq into oblivion - for oil... etc etc etc blah blah blah.
That could be true.
However, It sounds too much like a simplistic Hollywood movie, though...high on prejudice and a lack of fair intelectual objectivity and non partisanship.

I have investigated a few of the "coalition of the willing"...and to be fair, it's a complex and complicated mess.
BUT, I've come to the conclusion that governments made their own decisions based on their own interpretations of the evidence, and America was just another one of the countries interpreting the same/similar inteligence...they have been made the pusher of the collective narrative because it is easier than thinking of this as the complex decision making process it is. Amarica bad grrrr. Easy isn't it?
Also, remember, some still did think there were WMDs but just chose not to join the the "coalition of the willing"...

I'm not so on-trend with Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame, but if it is anything like the Downing Street Memos, then it's interpretation is based on people apposed to the Iraq war and fixing what was said around that premise.
They have every right to do that, it doesn't make them right, though.

I'll be fair and ask what in particular in the Downing Street Memos and the "Plame affair" makes you think the intelligence behind the WMD "claim" was fabricated?

Fair enough. "destabilizing the entire world" is a little overstated, but fair enough.

 

I was only 18 when we declared war on Iraq and not very interested in politics at the time, so my memory is a little hazy..feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. But didn't we stop the weapons inspectors halfway through the inspection process? I think that pretty much proves that the United States was determined to launch an invasion in Iraq no matter if weapons were found or not.

 

And, what does this have to do with anything I said?

That's an interesting take on it. What other countries have the extensive intelligence networks that the U.S. and England have? Or the ability to "fake it."

You might want to get "on-trend" because these people are important in the unraveling of the Administration's web of lies.

I personally couldn't care much about the DS memos, but Joe Wilson was the person who investigated the Administration's intelligence that Saddam was buying enriched uranium from Niger. He was there and he reported that there were no such purchases made or pending. The Bush Administration lied.

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You said that other countries were told lies (by the US) to convince them the WMD "claim" was true.
I'm just saying that It seems a tad simplistic and almost a Hollywood movie to assume that America said jump and other countries said how high. It's more likely they came to there own conclusions based on what the UN and other inteligence agencies were shgaring amongst themselves.

Not many can compete with the US but most European countries are on a par with the UK. I presume we read more about the UK and the US because it is in English.

The Niger uranium forgeries are forged documents initially revealed by Italian Military intelligence. These documents purport to depict an attempt by the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq to purchase "yellowcake" uranium powder from Niger during the Iraq disarmament crisis.
On the basis of these documents and other indicators, the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom asserted that Iraq had attempted to procure nuclear material for the purpose of creating what they called weapons of mass destruction, referred to as WMD, in defiance of the United Nations Iraq sanctions.

I'd widen your goals a little.

...or believed what they wanted, perhaps. I'm being cynical because I don't have much time. I'm sure there is a far more reasonable explanation that isn't so Americentric.

 

unfamiliar readers of this site should be aware that this forum has been attacked by israeli trolls

these people change identities and create new identities

their message never changes however, they promote war and sow doubt.

their purpose was to try to knock out political discussion

you can engage in debate with them but you will be wasting your time



think for yourself and make sure you vote

 

Dude, where have you been the past 8 years? We put a lot of pressure on other nations to support the invasion of Iraq, and even then, many either didn't or sent only a handfull of troops. As far as the UN, they wouldn't touch it with that ten foot pole. I don't know what kind of news you get in the UK, but here everyone knows that Bush lied except the Teabaggers, and they wouldn't know mustard gas from a fart or uranium from a glo stick, and they still think Bush got his orders from God.

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Your links don't work, but, are you seriously trying to link to Wikipedia as a credible source?


While listening to an in-depth interview with Tony Blair a few days ago, I thought I was listening to you. Didn't his support for Bush and the Iraq war have something to do with him loosing his position as PM?

btw, how many people were chompin at the bit to get in the army and go to Iraq in your home town?

And now that we know that Iran is trying to build a bomb, are you in favor of building a coalition to attack them and destroy their nation? How about N Korea, and Pakistan is a lit fuse just waiting for the nukes to drop. Where's all the bravado and macho bullshit now? Why aren't the US and England going through Africa and kicking the asses of those dictators who make Saddam look like Gandhi's more peaceful brother.

A lot more information has been released since 2002 about how difficult it is to enrich uranium for a bomb and the equipment needed is not something one can purchase at a local WalMart. And don't you think that Motor home the Bush administration said was a "mobile weapons lab," was a little bit over the top?

Why don't you try reading about the real W Bush, the drunk who partied through college and became a success only at being a failure until he found that he could get votes for praying and pushing the Bible. His whole campaign consisted of "kill the queers, Kill the abortionists and let's put God in the White House while he rode the coat tails of the fundamentalist movement to a showdown in Florida where his brother and his dad's cronies on the Supreme Court handed him the election on a silver plate. And that was his high point.

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I have absolutely NO idea how much this war has cost us, and neither does anyone else. People keep throwing out this number and that number to justify their beliefs. Which are just that: beliefs. Why don't we ask Haliburton and Friends where some of that money is?

All I know is that we spent a fuckload in a country that isn't ours, and I still don't have any goddamn affordable health insurance. Thank you Walmart, Shell, BP, and the US Government. Thank you ever so much.

 

The people who run the world...