Do you know about the Iraq war?

Saddam Hussein was extremely oppressive. He persecuted the Shiites and Kurds within Iraq. And he also gave monetary rewards to the families of suicide bombers in Israel. The US is obliged by the Truman Doctrine ("It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.") to help the oppressed worldwide and must therefore help the persecuted peoples in Iraq.

In addition to the fact that Hussein was a terrible tyrant, Iraq was also in the process of developing weapons of mass destruction, which could affect the United States directly if he decided to attack. You may say that we never found any WMDs in Iraq after we invaded but you are then ignoring three important points: (1) that before we invaded we had every reason to believe they were there, (2) that if Iraq had WMDs, they would have destroyed in order for us not to find them, and (3) that if the US had found evidence of WMDs in Iraq the findings would most likely be kept secret so that no one would find them and reuse the remains and also so that other countries (such as Iran) would not think that WMDs are easy enough for Iraq to make.

Another thing worth mentioning is that there was a point in time when we had the war practically won. We were using the former leaders of the enemy to help the Iraqis rebuild and these former leaders, as well as the Iraqi people, trusted and respected the US army, especially General Petraeus. The only problem was that according to Congress the former enemy leaders were still enemies and had to be put in prison or on trial. Congress forced General Petraeus to imprison these leaders and put elected civilians in charge of rebuilding. Because of this, the Iraqis lost all trust and respect in the US and rebelled, joining forces with Al-Qaeda. The Shiites we had just freed were now our enemy and now we had to stay and protect our former enemy Sunnis from the Shiites we had angered. (That is not to say that we made the Shiites and Sunnis enemies since they had been enemies for hundreds of years; what we did do was spark the violence in what would have been less violent hatred.)

it was done against the orders of the United Nations and it made the United States and Britian look bad to most of the world. Colon Powell presented some false evidence claiming that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. The problem with that is that Israel ended Iraq's nuclear program in the Summer of 1981. This war has cost our nation 3 trillion dollars 6 or 7 thousand of our soldiers maybe a million Iraqi lives and will end up being a victory for Iran. Thank you George W Bush you gave Iraq to Iran what a stupid thing to do!

At the time, it was believed that Iraq was in possession of weapons of mass destruction, and if we didn't start a war there was a good chance of those weapons being used, either by the Iraqi regime or by third party players funded by Saddam.

Whether or not this is true is open to speculation--there were a number of mistakes made by the intelligence community, and there were obviously no WMD stockpiles found. That said, there is certain evidence to indicate that there was some yellowcake that was smuggled out of the country just prior to the attack.

The actual truth is probably lost forever--the people who know the answers are either dead, unable, or unwilling to talk. Such is life....

Well, ignoring my own personal bias and opinion as to why we went to war, the OFFICIAL reason was because Saddam hussein had been disobeying UN weapons sanctions put in place after the first gulf war, and he was presumed to have WMD's.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/july-de...

There's a good link. It's a PBS interview with the weapons inspectors, showing what they did and didn't find.

No sorry I have been living on the

"Dark Side of The Moon"...

Is there a War in Iraq ???

The resolution cited many factors to justify the use of military force against Iraq:[2][3]

Iraq's noncompliance with the conditions of the 1991 cease fire, including interference with weapons inspectors.

Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, and programs to develop such weapons, posed a "threat to the national security of the United States and international peace and security in the Persian Gulf region."

Iraq's "brutal repression of its civilian population."

Iraq's "capability and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction against other nations and its own people".

Iraq's hostility towards the United States as demonstrated by the alleged 1993 assassination attempt of former President George H. W. Bush, and firing on coalition aircraft enforcing the no-fly zones following the 1991 Gulf War.

Members of al-Qaeda, an organization bearing responsibility for attacks on the United States, its citizens, and interests, including the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, are known to be in Iraq.

Iraq's "continu[ing] to aid and harbor other international terrorist organizations," including anti-United States terrorist organizations.

The efforts by the Congress and the President to fight terrorists, including the September 11th, 2001 terrorists and those who aided or harbored them.

The authorization by the Constitution and the Congress for the President to fight anti-United States terrorism.

Citing the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, the resolution reiterated that it should be the policy of the United States to remove the Saddam Hussein regime and promote a democratic replacement.

The resolution "supported" and "encouraged" diplomatic efforts by President George W. Bush to "strictly enforce through the U.N. Security Council all relevant Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq" and "obtain prompt and decisive action by the Security Council to ensure that Iraq abandons its strategy of delay, evasion, and noncompliance and promptly and strictly complies with all relevant Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq."

The resolution authorized President Bush to use the Armed Forces of the United States "as he determines to be necessary and appropriate" in order to "defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions regarding Iraq."

some of my friends have been wounded in action in Iraq and sent home , and they all agree it is needed , we are fighting in the rite place and for a good cause and if they were able to go back they would. I know that much if it helps.

The truth is, Bush wanted to take care of Saddamm H. once and for all. He used 9/11as an excuse, capitalizing on the nations fear that Saddam might sell terrorists a nuke or chemical weapons (he didn't have them). But the honest truth...we don't really know why the Bush administration decided to go there and not use those troops to fight in Afghanistan.

Remember the following: First Iraq War. Cease-Fire. Decade of Iraq breaking the Cease-Fire. Attempt to kill our President. Convinced even his allies he had WMDs. Decade of useless UN threats with no action against Iraq. US ends their side of the cease-fire to finish the job started more than ten years earlier.

Official reason was Saddam Huseein had Weapons of Mass Destruction. Poison Gas, nukes the works. As it turns out it was a lie.