Iraq, A war gone right.

Imagine if after WWII we had only lost three thousand soldiers (not including the attack on Pearl Harbor) or if it used only one fifth of our national budget instead of the 3/4 it did use. Iraq, a war whose statistics are exactly these has been waged for over five years now. Let me first correct myself and a common misconception. This isn't a war as in the Iraq war, but a front in the War on Terror. This includes our front in Afganistan. Regardless of this trivial point many people have become disillusioned about this particular battle. Many beleive that this distracts from our true goal of finding and hopefully executeing Osama Bin Laden. This is the first thing that is wrong. We are not there to kill Osama, we are there to stop terrorism wherever it exists. This means fighting the terror orginaizations and the countries who harbor them. Sorry to disappoint the war for oil crowd but well... your wrong, and I am certain that some if not most of you know on some level that you are wrong, either in logic or in actuality.

In the beguinning George Bush Jr., with intel from MI6 (the british version of our CIA) stated that Iraq was looking for nuclear weapon materials. Where are these WMDs? Well first he said "looking" and also stated that they "might" already have them. Well how do we know this isn't a lie? Well as the times online reports the Butler committee agreed with this assesment based on data known at the time (source http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article457472.ece). Not only were they looking for WMDs but already possesed some in the form of Nerve gas. (Source http://www.defensetech.org/archives/000915.html) Along with this they also possessed: 500 tons of yellow cake uranium (left over since after Desert Storm, why it wasn't confiscated by the UN inspectors is beyond me and just another reason we shouldn't even trust them to sell girl scout cookies.) and approxamately 500 chemical weapons including Sarin and Mustard gas (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,200499,00.html note: weapons were partially degraded due to their storage). Ya right, we lied, I admit it.

The yellow cake is under dispute as it "could not be used in a nuclear weapon" And sulfur makes a very bad propellent by itself but with salt peter it goes boom. "They did not have the ability to refine it themselves". Strange assertion since I could refine it myself. It is very easy actully. The only problem is that someone as unskilled as me would have a very large loss ratio. This isn't to say that it is exceedingly difficult to build a centerfuge though. "They didn't have enough to make a bomb." It takes 8 kilograms of uranium 235 to make a gun or implosion type of atomic bomb. 500 metric tons is literally thousands of times that. If their refining was poor and produced only one gram of U 235 for every kilogram of yellow cake then they would have enough for atleast one bomb. Assuming, as is could be true, that U 238 made up most of the material a breeder reactor could still be constructed to change it from U 238 to Plutonium. Safe, right.

Bush didn't lie and wasn't even wrong about Iraq but that dosn't mean we shouldn't have been there. Accepting this poor line of reasoning we could of course point to the depravity of his regieme but we went in there under the War on Terror. Although some may disagree with that statement I made it and will now have to defend it. What if I told you Saddam himself was rather friendly to terror orginizations?

"Many terrorist movements and Saddam found a common enemy in the United States," This is from a report regarding the link between the dictator and and multiple terror groups including Al-qaeda (he was not involved in 9/11 however). (source http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/mar/21/saddam-friendly-to-terror-groups/) Multiple contacts andconections? Sounds bad if you ask me.

So there were 'other' reasons for the war? Oil had to be the real reason though. No, it wasn't. I doubt it was more then an after thought. Remember, conservatives and moderates want local oil, not foreign. The Democrats may be open to this but in general the american people are not. How could I know? Well, it wouldn't even be a logical place to go for oil. Think about the fuel spent to get there. If we did infact go to war for oil then a more logical step would be to invade Mexico or even better Venezuela. Both have oil reserves and both would be vastly cheaper to wage a war against.

The war is costing too much. This is intresting to hear since the dems are not known for fiscal responsibility but lets play along. Often when refering to this arguement people talk about our nine trillion dollar national debt and how the Iraq war is the cause. Then in a quizzical yet intresting display of self defeat they also spout off that the war has cost 500 billion dollars right now. 9 trillion minus 500 billion is 8.5 trillion dollars so if the Iraq war never existed then we would be 8.5 trillion dollars in debt still. Ahh, what would they bitch about then? How bout the social programs that cost our government hundreds of billions of dollars a year? It is like a little cute Iraq war in every one of them. Only alot of the money invested in Iraq goes to American contractors to buy American steel and American made parts. Those social programs go to paying people not to work. Ya, this one doesn't float either. Glad to see them talk the talk though; it is half the job after all.

No fiscal responsibility is the reason. "But we are loseing the war!!!!" We are doing so well that their own prime minister now thinks it is time for a time table. I must say he is doing a good job as since Al-Maliki has taken office we have fullfilled 15 out of 17 benchmarks we have set upon placing there. Iraq will be stable given just a few more years (I would wager no more than 5). Unfortunately credit for victory may be given to the protesters this time. If the dems win then it is no doubt they will pull out. Id I was asked three months ago I would tell you it would be a massacre, today I would say it wouls be a gamble. If Iraq manages to stand on its own then it will be to Iraq and Al-Maliki's own credit and not the democratic party, not Nancy Pelosi and definately not Harry Reid.

Iraq was not for oil, Bush didn't lie, WMDs were found and the war is not being lost. But hey, don't listen to me. I am just one of the brainwashed sheeple. I will just sit back and wait for this to end for the better or for the worse.