I guess it comes down to where Americans want to fight the terrorists...either fight them in their yard or in our yard. I, for one, am glad we took the battle to their yard. To have suicide bombings and the such in the streets of the US would do alot more harm for the world than what is going on right now, don't ya think? That, in a nutshell, is why most Americans buy into the lies. Does it make it right? Of course not.

just my opinion, for what its worth ;)

X,

The problem with this is that it makes what the US and Britain have done even more morally reprehensible. Every time a terrorist (as opposed to an insurgent) attack occurs and innocent Iraqi people die, that is the responsibility of the US and Britain as well as the perpetrators of the attack.

But that wasn't the purpose of the invasion of Iraq. Don't forget that Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld fully expected against all contrary advice that they'd be welcomed with open arms by Iraqis and not with bullets and bombs. Rumsfeld predicted that a mere 30,000 US troops would be needed by the end of 2003. Again his delusions got the better of him.

The vast number of attacks are by Iraqis and not by external forces as Bush would have you believe. The profile of the terrorists that will attack America again is not some ignorant madrass influenced fanatic but a well educated, committed group that will plan operations meticulously.

Remember that terrotists attack to their own agenda and not to America's. That there has been no attack since 9/11 has little to do with the invasion of Iraq, there are more than enough new recruits because of the invasion of Iraq with the ability to get to Iraq to fill that particular quota. And remember that it is only lat last year that Zarqawi formally allied himself with Al'Qaeda. Iraq is simply a bonus for Al'Qaeda and Osama must think himself the luckiest man on the planet.

America will be attacked again, when she least expects it. Remember that it was some seven years between attacks on American soil, it's a question of if and not when.

All invading Iraq has achieved is to tie down US resources and money in an unwinnable war. Meanwhile those with the ability to attack American home soil are plotting and planning their next move.

yechydda,

"Morally Reprehensible???" Are you kidding? I'm sorry, but I find it a bit strange that you use the exact phrase by M. Moore in his news interviews and his "film." Really, I think the problem is that people watch too much television nowadays. We need to shut the damn things off and step outside for once. Get our OWN opinions and words!

• In regards to the issues stated at the top: No one can confirm/deny Saddam being linked to 9/11. He paid for many things in cash, which is barely traceable in a developed country. In a country like Iraq, it's invisibility. He stated on an Iraqi news cast that if anyone attacked America &/or killed Americans, he would fully support them. One year later, 9/11 occurred. It was investigated & found that the terrorists had started planning that operation one year prior. What a coincidence. That sounds very fishy to me. Also Saddam's crimes are being investigated by the UN. American soldiers nabbed him, & turned him in for crimes against humanity to the UN which has been too sissy to get him on their own - as usual. There are video tapes of him watching Iraqis in a room - people who didn't agree with all his ideals and voiced their opinions - being exposed to chemical weapons. He gave the order, he watched it happen, he sanctioned more. These aren't criminals being gassed, these are men, women AND children. Under Saddam's rule if you spoke your mind someone would turn you in; they would take you and half your family into custody. The rest would be left to remind your neighbors to "behave."

• Weapons of mass destruction? Read this: The Cobra Event by Richard Preston. He did a lot of research for this work of fiction, but there are many truths in it. It should answer you questions about how difficult this all is. The inspectors aren't going into junior's room and looking under the bed or in the closet. They're trying to search an entire country for something that won't show up on a satellite or radar - underground, or a disguised building. You and all your friends load up into a few jeeps, landrovers, etc, and try searching across the outback for an "X" that I'll put there for you. Or how about a box filled with cash I'll hide in the American rockies? That's what you have.

• Now, X’s post is right: this isn't the right and 'they' are in the wrong - it's just the lesser of two evils. War isn't pretty; it's not fun or right. But I do commend Bush for taking his time. If you remember the news casts... I kept wondering, what is he going to do? It took a few weeks for him to go ahead and declare war on Al'Qaeda, but Congress approved it in one day. Don't forget, the president declares war, congress approves it, and it's into the hands of war generals - Bush has no more say in it except to recall all the troops. But that happened in Somalia when Clinton ordered all US troops out, then decided to appease the UN with whatever troops were still there. Enter 'Blackhawk Down,' a very sad movie & a lesson learned that you can't run in and run out-there's repercussions. There had been many attacks by terrorists since 1998, if you really look into it, and yet America never went to war with anyone! This looks to me like it was the last straw, and I can't find it in me to completely disagree.

• On the other side, you say Iraqis are upset & hate the US... well, that's what CNN wants everyone to believe. Seriously, I've visited many of these countries over there, & they hated Saddam, they hated Bin Laden, they loved Europeans, Westerners, Easterners, (& Australians!) alike. They want our money! Places like Afghanistan have such a poor economy that they just sell whatever they have if you ask. Sometimes when you don't ask: I commented to one local that her daughter has such beautiful clothes - the fabric was lightweight & rich coloured with embroidery. She got out 2 offered them to me to pick & we would pick a price. I gave her the standard price I would expect for a nice dress for my niece: 20 Euro (25USD/30AUD) and her eyes got huge. I felt bad that I was taking one of her daughter's dresses, but I felt sure that she would get material to make more than 2 with less than half of what I gave her.

• Also, there are families that won't talk to media, because they're afraid Saddam will go free, come back & they will be killed. So they talk off the record, express how terrible it was, how there was no hope, how nothing ever got better. Only Saddam (and some he allowed) got rich, lived comfortably. If you were nobody you didn't live in suburbia. Half the towns didn't have electricity. A country of that size, half the towns, no zap-juice, no plumbing, nothing but clay/stone houses... that's a lot of people living in poor conditions. Those that did get electricity prior to US invasion were pretty scary. I don't want to walk the streets-there's wires hanging everywhere! It's a wake-up call to see. E-mail me and I'll send you some pics if you like. None of the mass graves though - that would be so impersonal and disrespectful... :(

• Really, it's a no-win/no-lose situation. It's a stalemate. Wars aren't like they used to be with clear cut "there's the badguy" targets, or to the victor go the spoils. Soldiers are helping Iraq get on its feet so it can stand alone. Believe me, in 10 years they will be giving Saudi Arabia a run, just like what happened to Japan. US retaliates, bombs away, negotiation, surrender with treaty, & rebuild. Now where does Japan stand? There's no outrage over that because none of the reporters wanted to go over there and make America look bad. Everyone in the world was unified that Japan was the badguy, but don’t forget that Japan planned to end diplomatic relations to the Secretary of State of the US at 1 pm EST (7:30am Pacific) and then immediately attack Pearl Harbor about 7:65am Pacific (1:25 pm EST). Did you know that the US government knew the JP diplomat was there to do just that, and delayed him on purpose? He wasn't allowed to see the president at the appointed time, so it looked like Japan was the bad guy because there were no cell phones, no e-mail, no mission computers on aircraft or ships. There was no way to recall the attack. This caused a well planned military maneuver to look like an act of outrage. And the rebuilding was intense because Kyoto (and Tokyo) were fire bombed!

• Where’s the outrage? What about the “pseudo” concentration camps for Japanese heritage Americans up until Hirohito’s surrender? Things like this have been happening for centuries, but because of the immense availability of communications in our age, I believe the military and actions by them (ordered by their governments) are more honest than in prior years. Everyone is held accountable with videotape. Assclowns like Hitler and Saddam have a problem with conceit and insist on filming what they do, so later international courts can find guilty verdicts with ease. An American can’t sneeze in the direction of a foreign country without a television reporter in their face. The scary thing is that on the interview tapes, Saddam continually insists that he’s the ruler of his country & because of that, he is allowed to do what he wants in his country to his people... including "executions."

Mechchik

Hello there!

Morally Reprehensible???Are you kidding? I'm sorry, but I find it a bit strange that you use the exact phrase by M. Moore in his news interviews and his film.

I'm not sure why you find a perfectly good expression strange, and while I've certainly heard of Michael Moore I haven't read any of his books or seen any of his films. You might not be aware that I've been on the road now for 18 months travelling around the world and don't get to watch much television so you have to accept that my opinions are very much my own and not borrowed from someone else. I've been commenting on Iraq for several years and not just since Bush decided to invade it.

No one can confirm/deny Saddam being linked to 9/11. He paid for many things in cash, which is barely traceable in a developed country. In a country like Iraq, it's invisibility

In other words in your book facts are immaterial, they don't count for anything. Using your logic you can pin the blame on Saddam for everything that's happened. It doesn't matter to you that committee after committee of appointed American investigators found no link whatsoever between Saddam and Al'Qaeda. That's too inconvenient for you so you go off and invent a groundless conspiracy in order to justify your fantasy. You also seem to think that I believe Saddam not to be responsible for crimes against humanity which is arrant nonsense. Show me anyone that does not think that Saddam was anything but a monster. But his crimes do not justify futher crimes against humanity that the US has committed. Because he used chemical weapons does not justify the US using chemical weapons in Iraq. Because he tortured people it does not justify America torturing people. Because he rounded up and killed innocent people does not justify America doing the same. Because he killed God alone knows how many people does not justify Americans killing tens of thousands of people in Iraq. And it's indicative of your mindset that you seek to justify your view with a work of fiction, just like Bush!

War isn't pretty; it's not fun or right. But I do commend Bush for taking his time. If you remember the news casts... I kept wondering, what is he going to do? It took a few weeks for him to go ahead and declare war on Al'Qaeda, but Congress approved it in one day.

I'm not sure what your point is here, almost the entire world approved of taking out Al'Qaeda in Afghanistan - even the French fought there as part of Nato. 9/11 had nothing to do with Iraq, and you are sadly deluded to continue to believe so. Not even Bush is now saying that there was any connection between the two.

Bush lied when he said that declaring war on Iraq was the last option. It was not. You cheerfully ignore the evidence that the weapons inspectors turned in who claimed that in a matter of just a few months it would be possible to verify that Saddam had indeed no WMDs. Instead, Bush rushed to war with an unprepared, ill equipped army and with no post war plan, And you are wrong about the fact that once Bush declares war and Congress approves such a declaration that it's then down to the generals. Rumsfeld ignored the advice of his generals that wanted at least twice the number of troops in order to succeed in Iraq and went in with an inadequate strength of force. No sane general would have attempted such a folly. Britain could not contain Northern Ireland with twice the number of troops per capita that the US has committed in Iraq.

I do not watch CNN, I find it rather comical. It is so hopelessly 'on message' for the Bush administration it is embarassing. My sources are other than the media or the internet.

Like you I have travelled to many lands where poverty is rife. Cambodia, Laos and Tanzania are among the poorest countries I have visited. People in such countries care for little more than escaping the hardships of their lives. I was recently in Vietnam, and was astonished at how little ill-will the people there have for Americans, even though they lost 3 million people in the 'American' war - as they term it. The same is true of Laos and Cambodia which the US illegally carpet bombed. It's also embarrasing I agree, to have so much money when they have so little. Most people in Laos and Cambodia live of less than a dollar a day. As for electricity - only in the big towns. And please - if you want to see a terrifying electricity supply just come to Bangkok (I'm currently here) and look up!

Wars aren't like they used to be with clear cut "there's the badguy" targets, or to the victor go the spoils

I don't agree with this. Afghanistan was relatively straight forward. The coalition paid the warlords to defeat the Taleban and Al'Qaeda (I won't go into details on this) with their help. In Iraq, there simply wasn't an enemy. There was no Al'Qaeda, there was no enemy whatever, until the Americans made themselves the enemy and now they and the Iraqis are playing a blood price on a daily basis for Bush's arrogance and ignorance.

Interesting take on the Japanese war involvement, I'm not sure why you brought it up. What I do find strange is that you seem properly cynical on one hand and yet a Bush babe on the other hand - the two do not seem to be compatible.

My own position on Iraq prior to the war was that something needed to be done, the UN approved sanctions were killing hundreds of thousands of people, However I wanted it done with the sanction of the rest of the world, properly conducted and properly planned. Bush chose neither of those options. He has dragged America into the gutter where it wallows in fat hypocrisy. But thankfully America seems to be waking up. 60% of the people now believe that the war wasn't worth it and has been conducted poorly, Would that they had woken up sooner.

yechydda,