WAR IN IRAQ

Is that the only claim you want to start with? Okay, ill bite. The war in Iraq was indeed NOT justified. Iraq had no ties to Al Qaeda despite the enormous amount of pro-war propaganda spewed by news networks like Fox. Saddam Hussein was a tyrant, this is true, but the United States has no right to attack a sovereign nation under the pretense that they might be developing weapons. We went to war against a third world nation that had no capability to attack us, and we are beating those same drums of war against Iran. The idea of preemptive war is extremely dangerous, and under that idea, almost any war is justified. Terrorist activity in Iraq was minimal. Saddam was not a radical, in fact, Hussein was a deterrent to extremism in that area. He was the only thing keeping that fragile nation together, and that kind of government worked for them. We have no right to spread our beliefs around the world by attacking sovereign nations that we disagree with. Our overthrow of him was the chance people like Osama Bin Laden needed to radicalize and recruit thousands of people. The infidel has invaded the holy land and must be punished. Our presence in the middle east is a platform that radical groups are going to continue to recruit upon. Until we realize that we are part of the problem, we will have no solutions open to us. The "War on Terror" is a war on an idea, you cannot kill an idea. Our enemies are weak and dispersed throughout the world. it is not a single nation, such as Iraq, that threatens us. The real threat is our domestic policies that threaten civil liberties at home. Let me just remind everyone, there were NO WEAPONS. The Iraq government had been bluffing about its weapons program to deter and scare Iran. The United States government was not interested in the accuracy of the intelligence we received. War mongers like Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, and the civilian "think tanks" such as the Heritage Foundation were responsible for the hastily made decision to invade. The neo conservative doctrine of war without end is going to drive us into isolation from the rest of the world if it continues. The United States use to be looked up to around the world. All our invasion succeeded in doing was radicalizing large numbers of moderate Muslims into killing their fellow Muslims, and Americans. They are happy to have us over there because we become easy targets. They don't NEED to come over here and attack us if we stick our necks out and make ourselves vulnerable. The solution to our problems is the traditional conservative idea of what government should do. It should provide for the common defense, and not let things like 9/11 happen. We are less safe when we agitate and instigate around the world, creating hatred for America. War does not make us more safe, and this "War on Terror" is folly. For every militant that is killed, two more are recruited. Our very presence in the middle east is offensive and will continue to be a recruitment tool as long as we remain over there. Those 14 bases we are building and the embassy the size of the Vatican will symbolize American tyranny and oppression. When people are oppressed, they will act out violently, possibly resulting in more attacks on our home soil. With that said, the war was NOT justified, and it will never be justified. For us to truly be safe we must challenge the idea that perhaps supporting the war is not an act of patriotism. The old moderate Republican base realizes this, it is the neo conservative parasite that has attached itself to the Republican party that makes rational ideas such as strength through peace seem un-american.