watch the late sen. robert byrd’s speeches for an example of what a reasonably intelligent person could anticipate going in, and match that against what the defense & state dept. put forward.

bush, and clinton before him, were corrupt 2nd-raters. bush I was a corrupt 1st-rater.

obama, it appears, is more like the elder bush than his son, but an equivocater entirely beholden to the corporate elite, nevertheless, like all since & including reagan.

you can pick your party, but the can that comes out of the machine tastes pretty much the same.

There were and are very good reasons to engage the enemy in Iraq and any other place where we can contest their influence.

The root question remains: Is war necessary?

To those that contest that war is a creation of primarily economic pressures and ambitions I would ask: What economic gain have you seen in the western world from our engagement in Afganistan? If we are making so much money from conflict, how come war does not fund itself? Do you really expect me to believe that large swaths of Western leadership back the war simply to make a select few wealthy? That Leaders like Tony Blair, who committed political suicide to stand by his decision, did it for some kind of sadistic personal power trip? Please. There is always an economic element to war. You dismiss much if you believe it to be the only reason.

Most people, even those in the Millitary industrial complex, know that war is the most ugly and evil construct of man. I do not believe we have entered into these conflicts lightly.

When another people profess a desire to see your way of life ended… Is war necessary? When these people arm political parties and respect only force as a means of governace… is war necessary? When these people, in the name of god, kill innocents on every continent save Antarctica… is war necessary?

War is never good. But this is the “Good Fight.” I only wish that we were not the ones to have to do it.

“Expect the blambe of those you better and the hate of those you guard” -Kipling

I agree, I dont even think the Bush administration ever made up its mind, I think the plan was put down in the late 80s. In old times, before guns and bombs there were ways of attacking fortified places. You attack first from a far, try and burn down as much of the place as you can. Then you stop, surround the fort and sit back. You stop any supplies getting in to the fort and simply sit there and starve them out. When you decide they are no longer capable of putting up a strong resistance you then restart the war and finish the job.

The first Iraq war they bombed all their power stations, food supplies, communications, hospitals etc, all their means of survival. Then, they blockaded the entire country and stopped any aid going in with sanctions, put the entire country under siege, and sat back. then when they had fallen to bits the went back in for the second wave and finished it. Its a textbook siege, the entire thing is one single plan hatched long ago in the 80s before they batied Sadam into the first battle.

“The Bush Administration made up its’ mind to go to war on September 11th 2001.”

IMO, nothing could be further from the truth. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld made their decision to re-engage the military industrial complex prior to 9/11. The tragic event that happened on that day was only the means, to justify their end (read as: agenda). Unfortunately for Iraqi Civilians, their homeland happened to be the place where this event would unfold.

Our move to invade and obviously now occupy Iraq, is yet another feather in the cap for other nations to deepen their hatred for the US. From oil to opium, makes no difference to them… if you’ve got it, TPTB want it. And, by god they’ll take it at all costs.

It’s much more than a conspiracy ran by Governments though. Multinational Corporations are also worthy of a finger pointing.