That's funny because the Afghanistan war started before the Iraq war.

According to all middle eastern countries the start of the Arab Spring was Tunisia. But then, who are the 6 billion people on earth compared to the wordly wisdom of wilksman2000

yeah and dont forget it toppled our economy as well.

nice job Bush. good luck seeing another Republican elected again.

I hate it when the public is asked to express an opinion on something about which it knows nothing.

Before answering whether the Iraq War was worth it, define "it": what exactly is claimed to have been accomplished, and who makes that claim?

Thanks for expressing your opinion.

wilksman - that is a bizarre conclusion to reach. America should never have invaded Iraq. The war was wrong and the reasons for it were false.

Nothing was accomplished that could not have been accomplished without loss of American lives !

The US will pay far more in the future for the Iraqi lives lost and the corruption that took place by us and them. It ain't over!!!

wilksman2000,

Cheney is that you? Must be! No one in this country would make such a misguided, self affirming comment except you Dick.

Ten years of the majority of all Congressmen and Senators making personal fortunes in their war investments while our economy and our once good name go to hell.

What a complete waste of Soldiers and Marines lives and trillions in tax dollars.

It was worth it to Cheney/bushy and Halliburton and Blackwater(Xe)!

It was not worth our real national treasure -people - or the money or the innocents caught up in all of it!

Now we have Nam and Iraq to point to when another hawk/military industrial complex supporter lies to make war! Please do not let there be a third one to point to for proof that rushing into war is misguided, dangerous, wasteful, and idiotic!

Perhaps one should explain how invading Iraq benefitted this country. I know that defense contractors have benefitted and continue to benefit. Iraq dislikes the U.S. so much that it refused Obama's request to keep troops and bases there. The cost of that war is the reason so many suffer here today in a crappy economy. The U.S. destroyed more lives in Iraq than Saddam Hussein. Helluva job, Dubya.

Your legacy, former President Bush. I hope to live long enough to see you face International Courts for war crimes.

If the point was to lie to the citizens of the US, kill over 4,000 of our young men and women, maim thousands more, kill many more Iraqis, leave that country politically open to Iran, ruin the US economy and run the deficit through the roof, oh, and make the rest of the world hate us, then yes, it was worth it.

The republicans are not done with this. You can just hear the beginnings of the next war. Iran. Are we going to let Iran do this? Are we going to let Iran do that? Wait! You mean there is still some money left in the US Treasury? Well we'll just see about that! Next big money hole? Iran! Weapons of mass destruction? Check! Despotic government? Check! Not Christians? Check! Just wait, here comes the war in Iran.

TOO EARLY TO TELL

What will Iraq become when we leave? Will Saddam Jr. take over and be the next thug? Can Iraq have some means of allowing the people a voice in gov't, even if it does not look like Colonial America?

What about the neighbors? Iran? The Taliban (though greatly beat down, they do still exist)?

What security arrangements will be in place when we leave?

To read the press of the Left, it is simply "go go go". Sorry Buttercup, it is more complicated than that. Getting into war is relatively simple, go there, start blowing up crap. O.K. Getting out is hard. Who leads when power is handed over? What sort of infrastructure is there? Are the Iraqi's capable of policing themselves? Very hard questions.

Will a token force be left? Say 5,000 troops.

Will the U.S. have any permanent base there, as in Korea and Japan?

There are billions of questions to be asked here, before we merely tuck tail and run. The SMART WAY is to ask these questions BEFORE we go -- as a contrast, the STUPID WAY is to just go, realize that the problem is still there, turn around, and go back. No one wants to do that, even Liberals.

Therefore, speed is not as important, as methodology here.

Was the Iraq war worth the human and financial cost?

Not only no, HELL NO!!! President Obama has shown how to get things done with surgical precision....

Dear Mr. George Dubya,

Do you know what Americans could have done with $712 Billion ?

I'll be right back; dont you move now....

That 712 billion dollar cost is not even close to the final total estimated cost of 1.5 trillion dollars. Just the medical costs and the health care costs , alone, of those who served there have been estimated to be 300 billion to 700 billion. Remember this war was an unfunded war fought with borrowed money, so you will have debt sevice cost to add to the total. Then there are the hidden costs of defense appropriations which are not included in that 712 billion dollars, but which should also be tallied into the cost. Most estimates of what will be the total final cost of the war, decades from now, tally a grand total of at least 1.5 trillion dollars.

As a vet of the Iraq War I can honestly say, with full conviction, it was a WASTE!!! All we did was allow the Shia majority in Iraq have control of the country. Perhaps it would have happened over time anyway. Nonetheless, if there were to be a change in leadership, it should be the people of the country doing it (ala Tunisia, Egypt, etc) NOT the United States, which now has extended its sordid history of sticking our nose into other country's business!

I believe there will be, in CIA terminology, "blow-back" from this fiasco. We have left a hell of a lot of carnage there, many wounded children who fathers and brothers we laid waste to. You don't go waltzing into a country, blow away over 100,000 mean, women and children and NOT expect some kind of retribution. It will happen, and like 9/11, it will be by their own time, in their own manner. But it will happen! Bush, Cheney, etc, should be in jail, no ifs, buts or doubts. Jail...period.

DocHolliday -- That is $712 billion +++++. Think of the numerous wounded who will need long and expensive treatment, sometimes lifetime care, families broken up or ruined, etc. etc. While we were spending all this money on this idiotic war, the country was falling apart and into ruin. Actually, from that point of view, I guess some (notably Bin Laden) would have called the war a success. Bin Laden wanted to devastate the country financially and he has more than succeeded.

The Iraq war began the upheaval in the Middle East that has toppled so many evil regimes.

An event happened after another does not necessary make them related. Otherwise we can blame you for all the evil things had happened because you posted here.

No war is ever worth the costs and it will take years to find out what its real cost was, that is if the government will tell the truth about it. Just wait until the other wars are totaled out.

The only ones who benefited from this nearly nine year war were those who are part of the military/industrial complex (including VP Cheney) and owners of stock in the oil companies trying to get their control back from the Iraqi people over that oil. Iraq was just an extension of Bush I's Gulf War to protect his oil interests. Jr. had to make sure that daddy's investments were gained back from Saddam's nationalization of daddy's oil interests.

Bush will face no war crimes ... neither will Israel ... that's just the way it is!!!!

What's the old saying "Money Talks and Bullshiiit Walks" .........................

Weldon Gebhard ... Let's put it this way ... war is never worth it to the war dead ... they will no longer need the "central AC, telephones, food and medicines" ..................

Muslims believe that there should be one Muslim states, a Caliphate. Now, its true today there are many different sects that dislike each other but all still believe in the idea of an Islamic state. The regimes toppled were nationalistic and socialistic regimes that did not believe this way. The people coming into power do believe and one has to wonder if war on Iraq in fact has led to the formation of the very thing Al Qaeda and even Iran has called for over the years.

The Devil-1138528

Really ! If most Muslims really feel there should be a ONE religion world state and actully try to make that happen......well things will get very, very ugly and it will work out very, very badly for them.....like extermination badly.

This is what is called a "Fool's errand".

It was an "elective" war performed at a time and place of our choosing.

Nothing excuses Saddam's treachery, nor Idi Amin's, nor Josef Stalin's, nor Adolf Hitler's, nor Slobodon Milosevic's. But when you act electively you need to an "end-game" plan that does not enrich your political toady friends and supporters.

20/20 hindsight (NOT!). I supported the action in Afghanistan as appropriate response. What $%^@#$ Congress was fed, and then taken advantage of, I have little idea.

But I do recall that those who were truly informed were "gagged" from discussing this at all under penalty of something (can't recall).

This was no different than what led to the Viet Nam war, or the fall of the Weimar Republic - FEAR!!!!

712$billion$? Such a small number in comparison to the economical price not only the U.S. but the entire world has had to pay and continue pay. Prewar price of gas at the pumps was 1.17$ a gallon here in So.Cali. and we were paying some of the highest prices in the nation. As the gas gougers used the conservatives fear of Saddam to their advantage, they took the price of a barrel of oil from 14$ a barrel to more than 125$ a barrel and more. The price the world paid to these war gouging criminals collapse the world's economies and they have made 4$ a gallon the staple price for their 1$ a gallon product and the world has never caught up. Yeah, 712$billion was a joke comparison to what the illegal war actually cost.

Yes - Because we eliminated all those weapons of mass destruction.

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What? There were no weapons of mass destruction?

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Well, some Americans got rich.

Go get 'em Halliburton!

Obama's handling of Libya proved that there are much quicker, cheaper, and less deadly ways to remove Middle Eastern dicators than a massive ground force invasion.

Really? Was there ever a point that 51% or greater of our population said that Iraq was a good thing? I don't think Americans turned the world against us, I think American traitors with power and money turned the world against us.

The hatred for America and our way of life has been part of the world culture since the late 60's. To think that that we were not hated previously is quite naive.

Don't forget the estimated million dead Iraqi's that resulted from the conflict. A full million people. Dead due to Bush and Dick. They are like 1/6 Hitler...

Oh, and I forgot, Saddam was Iran's worst nightmare. Getting rid of him emboldened the Iranian government and made that scenario more volatile. Another wonderful outcome of this stupid war.

If I remember correctly....Bush signed the first stimulus bill into effect BEFORE Obama took office.......

Nikky, maybe Bush should have apologized for this sham of a war that HE created. You seriously don't think the billions of dollars that was spent on these horrific wars could have been used for good in the U.S. instead of in that dirty sandbox where it was spent? Wow... seriously are you joking? The stimulus package was an attempt to keep us out of a depression or another damaging recession. GWB and his cronies left the U.S. in the mess it was in when Obama took office. I'm not saying the guy is a saint, but if you're going to point fingers, please do so more accurately.

What is it with this fixation on "apologizing" from Nikky and conservatives? Tell me when Obama has apologized for the USA (other than in Fox news reports that THEY admitted were wrong.) To say Obama is not saluting the flag is ridiculous. What Nikky seem to be actually saying is that she disagrees with Obama (and liberals) so they must be un-American. Actually saying that is un-American. To think this war was fought to end tyranny is really really stupid. Just look at the tyranny we are supporting in other countries like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. This war was fought for one thing: money. Money from oil and money from the war itself. So was it worth it? Well, it was probably worth it to Haliburton and the oil companies, especially when the US public pays for it. Don't forget it was the republicans who started did this war and whose policies brought on this recession!

Spot on, Stickerbush! Republicans are still playing "the emperor with no clothes" when it comes to the Cheney/bush administration and ALL of their blunders and lies. They cannot even admit how the Cheney/bush administration, along with Tom Ridge, tried to divert our attention from what they were doing with all the "code oranges."

Now We the People are waking up and looking thru all the Republican's political tricks and it will show up big time in November 2012. Bet on that one!

Sometimes apologies go a long way in restoring relationships. Are you against apologies in general or just when it comes to the U.S. admitting it's sorry that it killed and displaced over a million Iraqui people because we had a hunch there were wmd's in the place? Perhaps Rumsfield should apologize to the American people for sending in too few troops and forgetting to even guard the borders allowing insurgents to flood Iraq thereby creating a war that didn't need to happen. But some things are just so downright wrong that apologies wouldn't make a difference. Bush should have been impeached for incompetence not to mention tried for war crimes.

Nikky, honey, actually Obama has done an enormous amount to repair our reputation and standing across the world in the short time he has been President. He doesn't apologize; he accepts that everyone in the world is not us and we have no right to try to make them be us, and as demonstrated by his action in Libya, he is especially adept at working with others to get the job done.

And, what is the obsession with saluting the flag? You are aware, I take it, that the pledge was written by Francis Bellamy, a socialist? And that the first salute was the Nazi-style arm raise (which was changed to the current hand over heart by FDR for obvious reasons)? I for one don't feel that anybody needs to see me take a loyalty oath, and I don't need to see anyone else take one. We are all Americans and we don't need to be worshipping a piece of cloth.

The war in Iraq was a war of commercial conquest, nothing more, nothing less. We use the American military as the Oil industry's private army. Disgraceful!

Steve,

Not the whole world -- Saddam gassed the Kurds with mustard gas. He was tried and hanged for this and other atrosities.

Thank you, Obama! It's about time we got out of that sham of a scam of a war! I find it disturbing that the Bush Loyalists STILL cannot find value in the accomplishments of the Obama administration. Is it the man? Is it the Democrat Party affiliation? Either way, he's more YOUR kind of POTUS than he is for those who voted for him in the first place. The irony is thick enough to cut with a knife! I CANNOT wrap my mind around the abject hatred of President Obama when he's CLEARLY taken his cues from the Bush Playbook, and only improved them to be more precise and effective. WAIT! THAT'S THE TICKET! He's better than Bush in playing from the Bush Playbook, and we can't have that, now can we? Oh, how I WISH you people could see how ridiculous you look and sound, for that matter. There are none so blind than those who will not see. It would be funny, but it's not.

How long will the US govt keep manipulating war casualty figures? Just read the following the following and decide for yourselves:

Quote:

I can attest that in 2004 on active duty we volunteered CONUS to unload coffins at an AFB. The shifts were 12 hours, two shifts per day, for three weeks. I’m not aware whether this activity was taking place prior, at other bases, or both. I am also unaware whether, but suspect the affirmative, this has taken place since. We have long held that the numbers were sourly misrepresented, but what is new under the sun?

unquote

More on it at www.viewzone.com

Which other former President has to be worried about being arrested for war crimes if he travels outside the United States? ONLY ONE- GEORGE ! --Should be Dickie too ! !

I'm concerned that the poll doesn't list the number of Iraqi people dead because of the war. Do they not count towards the cost? Shameful!

GWand Dick should be in prison for war crimes and/or crimes against humanity. I would like to see them in a court of international law ... the cost to the US has been staggering, but the two in charge of the made some fat cash behind the scenes.

You are in denial.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14728447/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7634313/

Joe:

Denial has nothing to do with the increased threat from Saddam. The two reasons you linked above were only a small portion of the resolution that was past through our representatives for the approval to go to war.

The Iraq Resolution or the Iraq War Resolution (formally the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 PubL 107-243.

116 Stat. 1498, enacted October 16, 2002, H.J.Res. 114) is a joint resolution passed by the United States Congress in October 2002 as Public Law No: 107-243, authorizing military action against Iraq.

quite the dry reading but has some insite into the additional reasons behind the use of force.

Local business man--Here's a question. With all the despotic dictators, all over the world (with tons more in the middle east alone), all having committed many human atrocities---Why Saddam? The North Koreans are literally starving their own population to build nuclear facilities. Why did we not invade NK? Central Africa. Military dictators engaging in open genocide! Mass starvation throughout the region. The armies of these dictators blocking food deliveries to starving children. Somalia. Uganda. Why don't we invade Central Africa? And don't forget there are "weapons of mass destruction" in many of these states. So Local business man, you seem to have trouble understanding just what is the question? Why Saddam? Come on you're a "business man" and local to boot. You tell me why Iraq? ...I wonder if it had anything to do with the vast Iraqi oil fields. Ja think?

War is always a bad idea. Our nation however knows nothing but war and conquest. We have an empire that the sun never sets on just like the British used to have. But, like the British the sun is about to set on our empire. We can no longer afford to constantly police the world. 950+ bases in 150+ countries is an albatross around the necks of ALL Americans. We have fought wars for "Independence", for" Manifest Destiny", To "Save Europe", to "End all Wars", to stop the "Domino Effect", and now to "Spread Democracy". Now we are $14 trillion in debt and on the brink of collapse. When will people learn that what we need is a policy of Mutually assured Respect. Not all countries and cultures are like ours. Lets stay out of their business and worry about our business in the Western Hemisphere.

Long live the Ron Paul Revolution!

Rest,

I like Ron Paul too -- he is great for debates -- he swings for the fences, home run or stike out, O.K. However, Mr. Paul, like Mr. Chamberlain (in jolly old England) has a rather isolationist view, which, in the end, is MORE DANGEROUS, than engagement.

This being said, engagement need not always be war, or military actions, but the world is a very dangerous place, and concerted efforts by many nations, are necessary for the greater good.

Saddam was evil. Ask the Kurds? His Ba'atists were blood thirsty thugs. Ask the Iraqi's -- no one misses Saddam.

Here's the takeaway -- not every action of the U.S. need have this size and scope -- Libya has proven that. However, Ron Paul style isolationism is a foreign policy disaster dressed up in campaign garb.

As much as I love to hear Dr. Paul opine, we would all rue the day of his inauguration. He is at 5% for a reason.

@Greg, if you actually believe the polls that the mainstream media presents you are nuts. The polls you see are manipulated to show what the powers that be want you to see. Back in my college days I took a course call Political Analysis and in that class I learned that I could make any poll say what I wanted. Then I took a course called Statistics. Same thing, I can make the numbers work for whatever my ends are... As far as your view that Ron Paul advocates Isolationism, that is just false. He advocates Non-Interventionism. That is a big difference. We don't have the right to intervene anywhere in the world. I don't give a hoot about dictators or human rights around the world. I only care about the USA and our human rights. The greater good is an imagined dream. We are broke. Let China police the world.

Long Live the Ron Paul Revolution!

Libertarianism is a great political philosophy for the 19th century and totally irrelevant to the 21st. Every time Ron Paul says something I agree with, he backs it up with something totally insane. Insane as in Ayn Rand. Ayn Rand (not her real name) was a degenerate fascist who wrote reactionary garbage in an effort to intellectually justify fascist, laissez faire capitalism. She couched her garbage philosophy in terms like objectivism and enlightened individualism but it was all just reactionary tripe. She railed against government involvement in our lives and yet used her married name to collect American Social Security. Her hypocrisy and tormented view of religion and politics was just outlandish.

As I said, for every stance that Ron Paul takes that I agree with he comes with an idea that is just crazy. Such as the recent hurricane damage on the east coast. According to Paul we don't need FEMA or any government intervention in these natural disasters because, hey look, we got along OK without it in 1900. We don't need it now. Paul lives in another time, a time out of mind. If he was running for president in 1904 he might seem more reasonable. You can watch polls or ignore them Ron Paul has a better chance of becoming the Queen of England than President of the United States.

Wow Dave, you say 4900 like it was nothing, simply because it was reduced from the 50k in Vietnam? It isn't just 4900 soldiers, it is the likely average of 100 or more people per soldier whose lives were directly affected or ruined because of it. "Move on" is pretty easy to say when you don't have someone lost forever because of it.

Wow, only 4900... I feel so much better now *sarcasm*.

Not to mention the Iraqi dead...but then again, nobody ever does.

Joe:

The following is a time line from 1979-2003 Criminal actions committed by Saddam H:

1982 / Reprisal against DuJail - 1500 women/ children and men taken to prison and tortured

1988 / Anfal Campaing - 182,000 killed (approx)

1987 / Chemical weapons against Kurds - 5000 (approx) died - 10000 live with disfigured or major health issues

1990 / Invasion of Kuwait - thousands killed and 10million barrels released into ocean waters

1991 / Shiite uprising and Marsh Arabs - thousands of Marsh Arabs killed

And this only dates back to 1979 and I could continue with a number of other human otrocities but dont have the room. War is something not to take lightly but the inevitable had to be done.

Bush invaded Iraq to expand military presence in Iraq. The WMDs were just an excuse. He was drawing up plans before 9/11. He knew there weren't any WMDs.

I don't like that so many others lost their lives in this war but I know that I'm glad that Saddam Hussein is no longer breathing. I believe that he himself was a WMD.

Really, if all GWB wanted to do was get revenge on Saddam Hussein for threatening his daddy, it wasn't more than a sharpshooter could have accomplished.

yes what a moron,got us out of Iraq,killed bin laden and helped get ghadafi.you'll get used to him during the next 4 years.

That's a stretch Joe. Obamma didn't kill Bin Laden, nor did he kill Ghadafi.

As Commander in Chief, he gets the credit. Get over it !