Operation Iraqi Freedom

[Sanitas]

The last combat brigade has left Iraq, and Obama is ready to make a speech Thursday reporting this very message. There is no question that Operation Iraqi Freedom is complete, but did we win the war, or did we simply give up?

 

[pbrauer]

On a scale of 0 to 10, the Iraq war rates about -1000. After all is said and done the war will cost in the neighborhood of $3 trillion, plus the cost of human life. Plus there was no threat.

 

[Scarecrow Akhbar]

Yes, because it was practically finished before Bush left office.

I'm betting that the Messiah isn't going to Blame It On Bush at that speech.

Now the people that hate America are in charge, and the lessons of Vietnam haven't been forgotten.

Expect Baghdad to fall before 2012. The occupation of Iraq needed another decade to support the fledgling government and establish a culture of stability in that land that was previously stable only under murderous socialists.

 

[Civil1z@tion]

To the extent that any war can be considered a success (which is very limited in my opinion), yes it was a success. Yes we went in under false pretences, but that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't a success. While spending of any war can be considered wasteful, when you consider how small a portion of our yearly GDP was spent on this war, it was pretty cheap (using absolute numbers is a little disingenuous given that larger countries such as our own can spend more money without really noticing it). Also, while invasion may not have been the best method to achieve this, rather than a tyrannical, aggressive, and all around jack ass dictator controlling a country with the largest military in the already unstable and oil rich Middle East, we have a relatively stable (stable enough that no insurgency is going to overthrow it in the foreseeable future...the lack of a North Vietnam equivalent is where comparisons to Vietnam fall flat with this war) regime that is basically democratic (more so than the Karzai regime in Afghanistan), non-aggressive, and proving at least somewhat capable of crossing the Sunni-Shia gap. Also, Iraq is beginning to recover economically after a decade of embargo and three major wars in the past 20 years (their economy is grew at a brisk 4.5% in 2009 and grew at a solid 7.8% in 2008). It has lots of problems but with the insurgency dying down (the 2006 civil war was decisively won by the Shia, and they have no interest in overthrowing the current regime), Iraq lots set to rejoin the international community.

Iraqi Freedom was messy, filled with blunders, and probably not the best way to get the end result we have, but I don't think the Middle East or Iraq would be better off with Sadaam still around.

 

[Wiseone]

This is still an on-going conflict, 50,000 troops still remain in Iraq. No one should be talking about this as if it were over and in the past, we are about to enter a new phase of the conflict, hopefully a more peaceful one, but the conflict itself is certainly not over.

 

[Tashah]

I don't think it's possible at this time to look at Iraq in absolute terms of win/lose.

It will require 5 - 10 years of absence/analysis to crystallize the historical verdict.

 

[RightinNYC]

What the last two posts said.

The war is far from over, so it's a bit premature to be calling it one thing or another. I can envision plenty of outcomes where it would be considered a success and plenty where it would be considered a failure.

 

[Your Star]

It's too soon to say. It will take 10-20 years to even make an assessment on the war's effectiveness. It all depends on if Iraq can be stable on its own, and keep an effective, and fair form of government.

 

[Winston Smith]

It's not over, but certain things have been accomplished. We set out to occupy a country that wasn't a threat to us. At the cost of maybe two or three trillion dollars, an Iraqi civil war, and an increase in anti-American resentment that will last for decades, we succeeded. We weakened our economy, thus playing into the intentions of Al Qaeda when they attacked us, and squandered the good will that we'd enjoyed after 9/11. We legitimized torture. We undermined our credibility against real threats. We missed the opportunity to reconcile with Iran while at the same time strengthening their position in the region. And we made a lot of money for the business interests that drive American policy. All in all, not a bad result if you think like a politician.

 

[Sanitas]

Yup, we are still in the war, but the combat operations are over. I believe the other operation is called Operation New Dawn, with an emphasis on rebuilding and security.

Still, we did accomplish a few things in Iraqi Freedom - overthrew Saddam, found all of the WMDs in Iraq (that was hard :2razz, and held elections. There are also some things critical to rebuilding Iraq we have let go by the wayside.

 

[Sanitas]

That being said I should have added an "Utter failure", just to distinguish people who think it it was generally bad and people who think it was completely bad.

 

[pbrauer]

Bush basically said it was over May 1, 2003. Chris Matthews said that day: "We are all Neocons now."

 

[Ikari]

The last combat brigade has left Iraq, and Obama is ready to make a speech Thursday reporting this very message. There is no question that Operation Iraqi Freedom is complete, but did we win the war, or did we simply give up?

Well considering we sacrificed thousands of American lives, trillion or so American dollars, all for something which was never our fight or problem in the first place....I think we simply gave up on this one. Not that it's a bad thing, we just should have done this 5-6 years ago. Though I do think that we should really get out in total right now. Not this newspaper headline game we're trying to play here "combat is over"! Like hell it is. We still have troops and such there. I think it's up to Iraq now and what they want and they're going to have to stand up and fight for it. Iraq is not worth anymore American lives.

 

[earthworm]

It's not over, but certain things have been accomplished. We set out to occupy a country that wasn't a threat to us. At the cost of maybe two or three trillion dollars, an Iraqi civil war, and an increase in anti-American resentment that will last for decades, we succeeded. We weakened our economy, thus playing into the intentions of Al Qaeda when they attacked us, and squandered the good will that we'd enjoyed after 9/11. We legitimized torture. We undermined our credibility against real threats. We missed the opportunity to reconcile with Iran while at the same time strengthening their position in the region. And we made a lot of money for the business interests that drive American policy. All in all, not a bad result if you think like a politician.

Make that conservative/tea bagger/Republician politician....
The tremendous expense, the thousands of lost lives, the lost respect and good will - all this due to fear and ignorance....
We will need 20 years of President Obama to undo all the bad that has been done.
And maybe the scarecrow is right(without knowing it, of course), about this silly "Messiah" name calling....which I would expect from a child.

 

[Tashah]

Moderator's Warning:

Let's get back on topic without all the partisan hackery