war is not your kids roughousing in a department store. saddaam forced us to go to war, then by refusing to abide by the cease-fire forced us to do it again. ideally his ass should have been beaten to the curb the first time, he should yhave been caught, trtied in kuwait, hanged, and the "country" of iraq should have been carved into a nation for the Kurds, and a nation for the chaldeans, and then, after recouping the costs of having to kick their ass we should have left with a wagged finger and an exhortation to "Not make us come back again" thats the only way war works, otherwise it's just the US going broke and sacrificing our men for idiotic feelgood rhetoric and bullshit. if it's not worth stomping that ass flat, it's not worth going to war. in the end both gulf wars had legitimate and pressing reasons for war, but the fools in washington love to gild the lilly, and they lack the balls to prosecute war in a manner that doesnt pauper the US taxpayer. they made most of the same mistakes they made in vietnam,, except for the "proportionality" blunder. refusing to engage in useless touchy-feelie "proportionality" is the only thing that saved iraq 2, the return of overwhelming force, from turning into vietnam 2 electric boogaloo. edit: not disbanding the military and police? those were the assholes who caused the shit in the first place. they had to go. the baathists were just fascists in giant 70's pornstar moustachioes. saddam's army and "security forces" were a huge part of the problem. they should have been rounded up and penned in the desert while the country was pacified like we pacified germany, then the bastards should have been turned over to the new elected government. whatever government the people of iraq voted for, with no vote rigging, no propping up one dickhead over another, and no interest in the outcome save that the count is correct and the majority rules. if they want a theocracy they will have one whether we like it or not, unless we turn that fucking kitty litterbox into a colony and run it from washington.
