mandy:

the Iraq war is very important to every american in many ways. its cost has been way too much so far. i dont want my tax money to go for a wrong cause, filling certain people's pocket. we should withdraw ASAP. there would be no end to this war if we stay there.

Posted by mandy | February 28, 2008 6:06 PM

Cliff:

The Iraq war has been a colossal blunder on both the part of an administration for whom deceit perpetrated upon the American people is a matter of policy and a whining and timid but condoning Congress who has yet to recognize and fulfill its obligations as an equal branch of government.

Posted by Cliff | February 29, 2008 3:03 AM

Diana:

We should never have gone to Iraq in the first place. Secondly, we will never win because it is now a civil war. When I was in the USAF, we discussed fighting wars where we cannot differentiate between the civilians and the enemies - house to house combat. It is not something that the military wants to be involved and that is what we are presently doing in Iraq.

The money spent in Iraq would go a long way in improving education, health care and the infrastructure.

Posted by Diana | February 29, 2008 10:24 AM

Wouter van Biene:

The war in Iraq was a war that was started by our president to show his father that he could finish what his father (wisely) had not. If GW had ever read a history book on the Middle East, he would have known that Iraq was much like the Balkans and once the dictator was removed civil war would be imminent. Add to that sending home a huge army (with their weapons and explosives) and making sure they could not find jobs (de-baatification) and you have all the ingredients to make the civil war really bloody.

We also should recognize that part of our current economic problems are directly related to the open money faucet policy this administration deploys when it comes to the Middle East. This huge tax dollar drain does not add anything to improve our infra-structure or add to our domestic spending, thus fueling the decline of the dollar and as a result fuels inflation on a grand scale.

We seem to have elected an administration that is unable to look beyond tomorrow. As a republican, it pains me so see such a complete failure of a republican administration.

Posted by Wouter van Biene | February 29, 2008 11:46 AM

Craig A. Repp:

GWB's wars are both of very high importance to me. The one in Afghanistan may have had some thin justification, but was handled very poorly and abandoned before complete for the sake of the one in Iraq. The latter is immoral, illegal, unjust, and was unplanned. The many tens of thousands who have died and the trillion plus dollars that have been spent are a blot on this nation that will be the burden of the next administration and the next generation.

While in my opinion, the Republicans have not had a candidate who could be taken seriously for nearly my entire adult life (I'm 50.), McCain's words and attitudes are particularly shameful. He continues GWB's rewrite of the English dictionary with his use of the term 'surrender' in the context of ending this terrible mistake of a war. He even voted for waterboarding last week. Since 2000, he has made little noises of protest against the administration without ever taking a firm stand. So whether on account of his unfortunate likeness to the incumbent or his lack of conviction, the country cannot bear his brand of leadership.

I can only hope that the Democratic nominee will live up to even a part of the campaign rhetoric about ending the wars, healing relationships, and restoring the reputation of the country.

The U.S. involvement in these wars must end soon. The country must simultaneously show a serious and sincere commitment to health, justice, and stability in that part of the world and others. As long as foreign policy is made solely on the basis of U.S. interests, this terrible chain of abominable wars and shameful trade policies that goes back throughout the nation's history will continue.

Posted by Craig A. Repp | February 29, 2008 6:36 PM

BRay:

The world has become a dangerous place. Saddam Hussein was a vicious dictator, who had attacked its neighbors, killed hundreds of thousands of its own countrymen with weapons of mass destruction and paid bountys to terrorist families around the world. If he had not under estimated the will of President Bush and yes the American people he would of open all his doors and let the world prove beyond the shadow of doubt that he no longer had the capabilities of producing WMD. Up until our invasion and unprecedented overthrow of the corrupt and evil government of Iraqi, the USA was considered to be a paper tiger. Now countries like North Korea, Libya and Iran have and will think twice before enticing the US to the brink of War.

Posted by BRay | March 1, 2008 11:55 AM

Sheryll T:

The iraq war is costing, now, OVER THREE TRILLION (three trillion!) dollars. Imagine if that money had been used for education, teachers, schools, new ideas for teaching kids of all ages. Imagine if it had been spent directly medical care for all US citizens? [Do you know how much a trillion is? I looked it up: One trillion is 1000 times a billion! What is a billion? A billion is one thousand TIMES a million. Dollars.]

The Iraq war has cost over a million (to three million) lives, sent millions more Iraqis away from their homes and out of their country -- and into camps -- because they are taken over or it would be too dangerous to stay -- at home! their own home!

It is a top priority to remove troops from Iraq. And to severely cut down the size of the US Embassy, which is an embarassment, and to cut down or out the CIA operatives there (about 300 did I hear?).

To remove the mercenary armies such as Blackwater, who are not held accountable for (literally) running roughshod over Iraqi citizens, and which shamefully are paid 10 times what US soldiers are paid.

Not to mention the thousands of lost lives of Americans PLUS the many more thousands of lost limbs, lost intact brains, lost marriages, lost fathers and mothers, lost dreams and expectations, lost trust in humanity on the part of those military personnel.

Posted by Sheryll T | March 2, 2008 9:06 PM

Fred Renzi:

Life is a cabaret, old chum!

This was, is and will continue to be a farse.

"W" apparently had to "wipe" the job which Bush1 did not have the cojones to finish. Damn them both.

The harm we suffer is now much greater than what Sadaam could have rendered on his own. The cost in lives, families and fiscal inpacts on all involved proves that this was a blunder of immense magnitude, and those who orchestrated it should be held to account. Instead, they retire with golden parachutes !!! Go for the gold I guess....

Posted by Fred Renzi | March 3, 2008 1:27 PM

FayRay:

Well, as a chronically uninformed populace with a very short memory & attention span, we got what we asked for. Ol' you're-either-for-us-or-against-us (Bush) was able to convince that populace to unjustifiably attack another country. Sure Saddam Hussein was a ruthless dictator but this can be found in 64 other dictatorships around the globe-are we going to police every last one of them?! We do not learn from history so we continually have a declared war on average of every 20-25 years severely depleting our limited resources but always hoping for a win that never happens (insanity=doing the same thing over & over while expecting a different outcome). George Bernard Shaw said it best when describing 'sane asylums.' Truly amazing.

Posted by FayRay | March 3, 2008 10:26 PM

Joseph Patterson:

The issue of Iraq is very important to me in respect to human life and the financial burdens that it has put on us. Although I am very fortunate that it has not directly impacted me personally, meaning that I have not lost income and thankfully no one that I know has lost a life, I do feel the pain and know that it is not good. Like FayRay indicated in an earlier post, I'm too a "chronically uninformed populace" but I hope common sense can eventually show itself. So why is it important to me, because we aren't a society of unlimited resources (people and money) and I fear that our constant meddling in an area that we clearly do not have a valid point of reference, is (and has been) so very dangerous. Have we not learned anything in the last 100 years?

I truly think that starting the current Iraq war was the biggest mistake that GWB could have made. And like Cliff mentioned in an earlier post, Congress has yet to fulfill its obligations to serve the people (let along recognize it is an equal branch of government)! It is truly pathetic the amount of misinformation and blunders that the Executive and Congressional branches have seemingly made.

What to do going forward? Now that is the Trillion dollar question. I'll refer again that I'm "chronically uninformed" but a plan to withdraw is the only logical direction with the goal of the Iraq people becoming self governing. Most importantly though, we have a moral obligation to fix something that we broke or did wrong by. Back to that common sense thing. So how best to accomplish that, I don't have a clue. But common sense tells me that you will have to do a lot of listening to figure that one out. And this is where we, the people, have to decide who best will be able to do just that. The troop leaders on the "front" lines have demonstrated that it's not force that is putting Iraq back together, but listening and understanding. We need someone in command that embodies the 5th habit (referring to Stephen Covey's book). We as a nation must hold dear and not waver on our democratic principles (an issue that many of our politicians have ignored for almost 100 years), regardless of any short term pain. What to do going forward? I don't believe any presidential candidate can commit at this stage what their plan would be, simply because I don't think they have listened enough.

Posted by Joseph Patterson | March 4, 2008 3:26 PM