amazing 

What the heck are you doing up so early? 

 

No, I'm not happy!  I conceded that I'm perfectly well aware that some improvements have been made but in looking at the overall picture, it sucks!!  I don't see how you can look at Iraq as merriment and sunshine!  Go troops!  Rah America! 

 

Strange how we are so far apart in opinion....  Here you are in liberal CA, and me in conservative KY... lol... oh the irony!

 

Whoa whoa whoa....   I've never said anything even closely resembling this and I resent that that's how you interpret my posts.  I AGREE that Saddam had to go... but it didn't take the kind of war we took part in to make it happen.  Do you remember the very first night of the Iraq attack... the "shock and awe" theater, which, really wasn't so shocking at all?  The administration speculated for days whether they had gotten Saddam in that attack before we saw much further action.  They said the war could have ended right then and there if we had had him.  Obviously we didn't get him then, and I firmly believe that that was just a ruse to fire up the Americans to go in deeper and try harder.  Look at how it ended.  It didn't take missles and massive loss of life to finally capture Saddam.  It took some intelligence and essentially, a small operation of special forces to nab him.  That's all it would have taken in the first place.  Bush craved this war... he had no qualms about the loss of life or the destruction he would inflict.  He spent trillions of dollars of our money and wrecklessly destroyed a nation that he can never rebuild.  They still hate us over there.  Sure there are some exceptions, but when a shoe-throwing reporter becomes a national hero, that's making a statement.

 

I CERTAINLY have never criticized the troops... I DON'T think they're sleeping.... I think they're too scared to death to sleep!  I think they have absolutely the right attitude for the job they HAVE to do.  They can't believe that what they're doing there is in vain.  They have to survive there... they have to believe that they are there for a real purpose and most of them will still defend their jobs.  But more and more, families and soldiers are speaking out... resenting the hell that wasn't necessary.  They're returning home to foreclosed houses, inadequate medical facilities for veterans, gross loss of VA benefits, broken families, unspeakable psychological trauma.

 

So, no, don't accuse me of not supporting the troops when in fact, all I have is the greatest empathy for them being put in the position that our maniac leader put them in in the first place.

Carrie...................HUH????

oh yes... I immediately thought that was what you meant by your Post #33.  I just wanted to be sure. 

 

That's entirely inaccurate. The damage to the infrastructure began in the first Gulf War, and the years of sanctions and then further damage caused by the current war are what has left the country's economy and infrastructure in ruins. The U.S. puposely bombed and destroyed the country's water and sewage systems and electricity grids.

 

Contrary to what you've stated, the people of Iraq previously enjoyed one of the highest standards of living in the entire Middle East. Their health care and education systems were also ranked among the best in the region. Before the first gulf war, Iraq had 1,800 health care facilities, with their best doctors having been trained in Europe and the United States.

 

Your assumption that Iraq wasn't allowed "technological advances" would also be incorrect. The higher education standard in Iraq, especially in the scientific and technological institutions, was right up there with the rest of the world.

 

It is not the mission of  "the coalition troops" to provide the Iraqis with water and electricity, they are there for purposes of security and political transition. The job of reconstruction falls mainly to the private businesses who won no-bid contracts, took billions of U.S. taxpayer money and did a piss-poor job. They have built health care facilities that were immediately condemned, they couldn't even be opened for business because they were so shitty. The case was the same with many schools.

 

Before the war, over 95% of people living in urban areas and 78% of those in rural areas had water and electricity. As of 2005, although 98% of Iraqi households were connected to the electrical grid, 78% of them experienced instability in the service and only 54% of households nationwide had access to a safe and stable supply of drinking water. Not much progress has been made since.

 

Infant mortality rates have risen since Saddam was power. Infant and childhood vaccinations are no longer widely available, as they were prior to the war, due to the deliberate destruction of refrigeration systems needed to store medicines. This also is the cause for other remedies, such as antibiotics, not being readily available -- remedies that we take for granted, but the lack of which can mean the difference between life and death.

 

For the most part, study after study has shown that the people in Iraq were, overall, in better shape under Saddam's rule than they are now. No, I'm not telling you this because I hate our troops. No, I'm not laying this at their feet, so spare me you're indignation over people not recognizing any of the good that may have come of our invasion. You seem to think that the fact that Saddam is no longer in power is good enough reason for us to have invaded Iraq. Are you aware that invading another country for the purpose of militarily removing their government from power is an illegal act of aggression and against international law?? Did you know that this is why the Bush administration had to lie to all of us, and the rest of the world, about WMD?

 

I saw the post that was deleted so I won't respond to it directly, though I would have liked to.

 

Instead I'll just say that anyone can investigate what Char has said in her post, on their own time, utilizing their own sources.... and you will have to come to the same conclusion in the end if you actually make an effort to read, understand and remain unbiassed.

 

Please remember this..... Char, Me, Amad...... hell 90+ % of Americans approved this war based on what we were told.  Not only did we approve of the invasion, we applauded it and demanded it because we were told how necessary it was!!!!  LOL... and now I think there's about 4 or 5 people left in all America who still supports George Bush and his policies. 

 

I continue to strongly resent the implication that because we're opposed to a war and to our own current White House officials, that somehow we're much less patriotic or worse, anti-America.  On the contrary!!  It's because we love our country that we are so disgusted by what has happened to it.  We've got to make things right again. 

 

America spoke when we elected Barack Obama.... Onward and upward, at last.

 

Great post, Charismer... thank you.