Well, it sure took, a lot of left wing lies, but we did it..Follow

Actually Pre 9/11 (Remember that day?) we would have been foolish to have gone in and take out Saddam.

What changed in regard to Iraq after 911 praytell? Or did you mean there was now a valid pretext that the public would buy for a while?

I'm still of the opinion that we probably would have been in Iraq whether 9/11 had happened or not. 9/11 just gave us an additional rationale to use to do it.

Yeah, impossible. You're entitled to your oppinion and everything, and there's no way to ever know, but you couldn't have dragged the public into Iraq without some sort of pretext.

[quote]Actually Pre 9/11 (Remember that day?) we would have been foolish to have gone in and take out Saddam. Post 9/11 Removing the Taliban from Afghanistan and taking out Saddam and his regime and consequently having to rule Iraq until Democracy could be established has for the short term appeared to be foolish and settling a vendetta. However as historians look back on this justified invasion of a terrorist supporting state (not specifically al quaeda) that the pre-emptive decision will have been a major victory for the survival and protection of western civilizations. We are (collectively) viewing only a small part of the big picture. Since none of us none "high official" government types do not and probably will not ever have all the details to see the entire Big Picture. So until the finite details that can be released are, all we can do is hope that the next several years is limited in lives lost from the Coalition and the Iraqi's while the stage is set for the 21st Century and the poltics of the world post New Iraq.

Too dry, I guess.

We made Afgahnistan safe...

... I must missed that one looks to me like we abandoned it for something more fashionable, easier and with more long term profit.

Pre and post 9/11 the countries with the most Al-queda influence were Afgahnistan, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Chechneya.

9/11 certainly provided that pretext, but I'm not convinced they wouldn't have tried to go in without it. Remember, the triggering event for Iraq in this case was not 9/11, but was the UNs imminent removal of sanctions against Iraq, and the presumed move from cease-fire status to full peace. That event would have occured whether 9/11 happened or not, and the administration would have pushed for action at that time also.

When the next attack comes and we have spent all the money we should have been spending in actually setting up air defenses shore defenses or border defenses on making some fat cat richer.

Or we should have been spending it in actually FIGHTING @#%^ING TERRORISM, I hope its in your city.

If you want to be the poor mans gbaji and endlessly post when you are beaten over the head by all the evidence feel free, if you want to debate it show me where Iraq can in anyway shape or form be seen as fighting terrorism.

Saddam Hussein's Support for International Terrorism

Iraq is one of seven countries that have been designated by the Secretary of State as state sponsors of international terrorism. UNSCR 687 prohibits Saddam Hussein from committing or supporting terrorism, or allowing terrorist organizations to operate in Iraq. Saddam continues to violate these UNSCR provisions.

In 1993, the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) directed and pursued an attempt to assassinate, through the use of a powerful car bomb, former U.S. President George Bush and the Emir of Kuwait. Kuwaiti authorities thwarted the terrorist plot and arrested 16 suspects, led by two Iraqi nationals.

Iraq shelters terrorist groups including the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO), which has used terrorist violence against Iran and in the 1970s was responsible for killing several U.S. military personnel and U.S. civilians.

Iraq shelters several prominent Palestinian terrorist organizations in Baghdad, including the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), which is known for aerial attacks against Israel and is headed by Abu Abbas, who carried out the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro and murdered U.S. citizen Leon Klinghoffer.

Iraq shelters the Abu Nidal Organization, an international terrorist organization that has carried out terrorist attacks in twenty countries, killing or injuring almost 900 people. Targets have included the United States and several other Western nations. Each of these groups have offices in Baghdad and receive training, logistical assistance, and financial aid from the government of Iraq.

In April 2002, Saddam Hussein increased from $10,000 to $25,000 the money offered to families of Palestinian suicide/homicide bombers. The rules for rewarding suicide/homicide bombers are strict and insist that only someone who blows himself up with a belt of explosives gets the full payment. Payments are made on a strict scale, with different amounts for wounds, disablement, death as a "martyr" and $25,000 for a suicide bomber. Mahmoud Besharat, a representative on the West Bank who is handing out to families the money from Saddam, said, "You would have to ask President Saddam why he is being so generous. But he is a revolutionary and he wants this distinguished struggle, the intifada, to continue."

Former Iraqi military officers have described a highly secret terrorist training facility in Iraq known as Salman Pak, where both Iraqis and non-Iraqi Arabs receive training on hijacking planes and trains, planting explosives in cities, sabotage, and assassinations.

Fact Sheet
Excerpt from White House background paper "A Decade of Deception and Defiance"
Washington, DC
November 8, 2002

Security Council Resolutions Concerning Iraq

Read the entire White House background paper "A Decade of Deception and Defiance"

Saddam Hussein's Defiance of United Nations Resolutions
Saddam Hussein has repeatedly violated seventeen United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs) designed to ensure that Iraq does not pose a threat to international peace and security. In addition to these repeated violations, he has tried, over the past decade, to circumvent UN economic sanctions against Iraq, which are reflected in a number of other resolutions. As noted in the resolutions, Saddam Hussein was required to fulfill many obligations beyond the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Specifically, Saddam Hussein was required to, among other things: allow international weapons inspectors to oversee the destruction of his weapons of mass destruction; not develop new weapons of mass destruction; destroy all of his ballistic missiles with a range greater than 150 kilometers; stop support for terrorism and prevent terrorist organizations from operating within Iraq; help account for missing Kuwaitis and other individuals; return stolen Kuwaiti property and bear financial liability for damage from the Gulf War; and he was required to end his repression of the Iraqi people. Saddam Hussein has repeatedly violated each of the following resolutions:...