Was It Worth It? Iraq Ten Years Later
 

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...civil-war?lite




For all of you guys who thought George Bush knew what he was doing in Iraq.
I spent six months there....I cannot say that I am surprised. My perception was that if I could not go out for a walk without being beheaded by Al-Queda in Iraq then expecting some sort of Western Democracy to flourish in Iraq was sort of a pipe dream. By the way, being Iraqi is not a guarantee of not being killed by a terrorist either, as any objective observer who has been watching the country since 2005 can attest.

I think this guy put in perpective, Robbin.

“You think about the guys who lost their lives in World War II, at least there was a higher purpose for risking your life,” said Andrew O’Brien, an Army convoy gunner who served in Iraq during 2008 and 2009, surviving an IED blast. He attempted suicide in 2010. “Now that I’m hearing about this, all I think about is the guys we lost in Iraq. It’s hard to not think that it meant nothing.”

I can't speak to serving in the armed forces personally as I came of age in '75 but I remember the deep sense of loss and betrayal that 'Nam engendered. Bitter is too soft of a word to describe what many felt about the wholesale slaughter of 58,000+ young people and an untold number of Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians. Hot bitter tears well up if I think about it too much. Fuck war.

I am glad you were too old for Vietnam Bob.

Although Americans sincerely believed in the morality of our war aims...stopping Communism and bringing democracy to Indo-China.... the world did not end when Vietnam finally won.


Fire In The Lake by Francis Fitzgerald is one of the best books on Vietnam.....
we just did not have the Mandate of Heaven.

I think you misread my intent but suit yourself, no skin off my ass. Everybody thinks their age group is the special one and Iraq war veterans are no different in that respect.
To be honest, if I had been sent a draft notice from Uncle Sam? I would probably be a hockey fan now. I felt that strongly about it. It was a bloody, bullshit sacrifice for someone in congress to get re elected, time and time, again.

You know I messed up....I meant to say I was glad you missed Vietnam....I was thinking that since you were older than me by a few years you were too young for the draft period for Vietnam. Sorry it did not come out the way I meant it.....I was thinking that you must be born around the mid or late 50s so you were too young for the draft or the war. I did not mean it sarcastically....

sorry!!


I did not go to Iraq because I am patriotic... I went because the President told me too. I was in the 17th year of a 20 year tour....I was not going to give up my retirement at that stage even I was going to killed in the Middle East.

No. The whole thing was bullshit. Every life lost was wasted.

Dave

I was 18 and 128 in the 1972 lottery that called like 176. What a bunch of crap that was. Johnson escalated it because that is the textbook, but it did backfire on us. Then comes Nixon and plays it to get votes where HHH would have brought them all home period. Nixon filled another 30,000 bodybags from what he did. :mad:


Carl

We would never had boots on the ground if there was still a draft! Women would of been on the list too!

BTW my number was three the year I turned eighteen. Never received a letter, never inquired as to why either.



Barney

No problem, Ice. It's cool.

From the article:

"One of our roles was to shred their national identity. What is happening today is a direct result of the U.S. occupation's strategy. I remember the Iraqi government being setup along ethnic lines by the U.S. occupation. I remember arming certain ethnic groups to fight others. I'll live the rest of my life knowing I was a part of that."

Uh, yeah.

It's a familiar strategy to some of us.

Native-centric eyes? Perhaps.

But, also, it highlights the fallacy of land wars in Asia.

Tribalism is impossible to defeat. The only time it ever subsides is when a common goal large enough to motivate beyond it makes itself evident.

In this case, it was "get the Americans out of our country." (sigh)