What the HELL Is the Point of Being In Iraq?

[Placebo]

It seems more pointless than ever for us to be in Iraq. There is no clear plan, there is no chance of success, we seem to just be hell bent on staying but for no apparent reason.

It's getting worse for our troops every day. No other countries want a single thing to do with it. Even our intelligence reports are saying that things will ONLY GET WORSE. There is no hope for success.

I don't even think republicans know why we're there anymore. There were no WMD's. Capturing Saddam has not made us safer. There is no chance of democracy in that country. The Iraqis want us out.

What possible reason is there for us to still be in that country?

How can you ask a man to be the last man to die in Iraq? How can you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake? :shrug:

[ropi]

1. answer

you asked: "What possible reason is there for us to still be in that country?


black gold..texas tea

[Maple]

2. Oil

It was, and remains, the only reason.

[Placebo]

5. I don't think it's oil.

I think it's corporate carpetbaggers getting sweet government no-bid contracts.

[babylonsister]

10. I disagree

Oil and vengence were the first reasons, and the turkeys thought it was a no-brainer despite what everyone else was saying. Now they have a full-fledged war that they had NO CLUE was going to happen and no idea how to solve. That scares the hell out of me, and I really believe that. But, are they good at SPIN! Oh, and making money...

[daa]

3. Uh he tried to kill my daddy eom

[blondeatlast]

6. shiny, happy people and the roads and the water and the ... nt

Edit: Should have replied to the post below!

[bushwakker]

4. but the electricity and the water and the schools and the.....

:wtf:

[cthrumatrix]

7. multi-tude ...none of them democracy

Iraq oil currency was switched to the Euro...dangerous precedent for OPEC...

Feeding the Industrial Military Complex billions of dollars

A control perhaps of future oil...

PNAC

[Vincardog]

9. PNAC and World Domination

[grytpype]

8. To prove Bush didn't fuck up.

Seriously, that's the only reason we are staying in Iraq. If we pull out, it'll be totally obvious that Bush fucked up. So we have to stay the course until the job is done, i.e., until it could be called something other than a fuckup. And we are nowhere near that point.

[LynnTheDem]

11. geopolitics and bush's inability to admit he's wrong

Oil.

And the fact that bush KNOWS he's a total failure, KNOWS he's ALWAYS been a total failure, but can not ever own up to any of his failures.

A very clear sign of a sociopath.

[Davis_X_Machina]

12. This question is what will sink Junta Boy -- because there is no answer.

We knew that two years ago -- but now it's increasingly clear to a growing segment of the population.

George W. Bush is the Iraq war.

What other policy does the man in the street identify him with?

The war, the war alone, is the entirety of his record to the average voter.

We know the rest -- the fiscal insanity, the creeping theorcracy, etc. etc. -- but they don't make for compelling video. They don't land on page one, above the fold, with a photo of a burning something or other, of the Podunk News-Fabricator.

Bush is strapped to Iraq like Ahab to his whale.

[TexasUnderground]

13. Oil and a strategic jumping off point for Iran and Syria

Iraq is relatively unexplored. It potentially has reserves as great as Saudi Arabia. At today's prices, that's over $100 billion a year. I can see the $ signs in Dick Cheney's eyes.

It also borders Syria and Iran, so when the Israeli lobby comes a-knockin, we can send in our troops and go a-rockin again for our paymasters in Jerusalem.

[LunaC]

14. Besides OIL, there's BIG $$$ in "reconstruction"

all going to GOP corporate supporters.

[jefferson_dem]

15. Good post. Sorry, but there's no rational explanation at this point.

And Chimp and his apologists keep shifting the definition of success. Has anyone heard talk of democracy lately? Elections in January? Bah... Now it's all about "stability"! Truth is that those sick bastards got us all jammed up in a tragic quagmire, with no exit in sight.

[Booster]

19. I just asked my totally Repug mother "what are we doing

in Iraq now", and she paused and said "well, I don't know". haha

[Kierkegaard]

16. These Cons have had a bullseye on Iraq for many years.

They figured(mistakenly) that it would be a walk in the park to go mug them and steal their wallets. But they underestimated 21st century warfare, the amount of resources necessary for success and an alert American public. They have no choice at this point but to wait it out. There's no way for them to go forward if they concede power, which is precisely what would happen if he cut and run now. If they tried to back out, the only way they could do it would to be to convince the world that we have succeeded. Not happening. The only alternative is to admit utter failure and ultimately defeat by the biggest landslide in presidential election history.

In short: it's all politics, baby. All politics.

[qwertyMike]

17. PNAC

It was Written

[leftofthedial]

18. Halliburton profits, Israel's plans for the ME, oil, PNAC, ego

probably others, but those are the main ones.

[IndianaGreen]

20. Dean was savaged by other Dems when he said we weren't safer

with the capture of Saddam.

Millions of Americans and people throughout the world marched against the war, and every warning they made about the war turned out to be truth!

With some notable exceptions, such as Dennis Kucinich and Robert Byrd, politicians on both sides of the aisle voted and supported the war. When Saddam's statue was brought down on a planned photo-op using Chalabi's people as a backdrop, all of our brave politicians (including some that are running for President) congratulated the troops and themselves for a job well done. The criticism on Iraq did not begin until after it became apparent to even those that expected flowers and dancing in the streets that the "great victory" was a bit premature.

The ugly truth that Americans will have to swallow is that Iraq is the second war that the United States has lost. I don't think that Bush and Kerry have the balls to admit the truth to themselves or to the American people. Bush is more likely to declare a phony victory and pull the troops out, as the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan. Kerry is more likely to try to continue the conflict under the guise of internationalizing the war. At this point is time, it doesn't matter what Bush or Kerry are saying. The important thing is that the war is lost and that we have to get our men and women out of Iraq as soon as possible. Any delay in a troop pullout will merely prolong the bloodbath but it will not prevent America's defeat from being completed.

[Davis_X_Machina]

21. In the worst days of WWI...

....the British soldiers used to sing (to the tune of Auld Lang Syne):

We're here
Because we're here,
Because we're here,
Because we're here,
We're here,
because we're here,
Because we're here,
Because we're here.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.