The Iraq War Is Over: Who Won?

I suppose just like with every war, I think the Iraqi people still alive won, not the US or Iraq.

The past decade was one really long push of the restart button and Iraq will try it again differently this time- this time with Democracy.

With Democracy, people vote for leaders. As corrupt as they are/will be/will once again be, they will nonetheless keep the giant wheel of Democracy slowly spinning in one direction.

Terrorism is no longer a viable means of presenting an opinion- we have 9/11 and this whole flucking mess to remind us all on both sides this hard to learn lesson. It makes us broke and it kills them all; no one wins.

I look forward to the future of Iraq. With rich oil fields yet to be tapped, we will become Iraq's best friend for the next 25 years. We will import technology and society and all the trappings that go with it; they will civilize 200 years in 10 years and we'll be left with a rebuilt nation a decade from now- full of optomistic people who promote Democracy.

I foresee border disputes and fences being built on the border of Iran like with Mexico today- I see better days ahead.

 

Bankers, war industry, halliburtons, politicians, contractors, oil companies...

 

Its too soon to tell, though it is headed in the right direction.

 

Yes- these are the trappings I alluded to in the OP.

I am sure they will have MORE THAN their share of corruption in government for the next couple of decades or more but democracy will prevail- as long as the oil fields still produce oil.

 

Took the words right from me. This.

 

Iran, the Saudis, military contractors, the defense industry.

 

Yep, and Iran as well.

 

Israel.

Their dangerous enemy was destroyed. American soldiers died to serve Israel. American citizens are burdened with debt because of the Israel lobby.

American Soldiers Dying for Israel?

I have no love for the oil companies, I think they're mostly a pack of thieves, but I don't think they yearned for an invasion. The industry had huge investments in the Middle East and above all the industry wanted stabilty.

 

IMO the real winners are the defense contracors, the Dick Cheney, and the host of other TX based defense corporations that supply the military with food, ammo, weapons, medical supplies, and other goods a soilder needs to survive. As well as the private defense contrators who rebuilt the infrastructure of Iraq.

Also, anyone who invests in the corporations that were making big profits off the war.

So based on who paid for it and who financially benifited from it, I would say the winners are Isreal. LOL, just kidding.

 

In the short term.

It is still possible in the long term that democracy will work there and that the country will progress and be an example for the middle east.

However, that said, the truth is, if at the beginning of the war, the US people were not lied to and the pitch for war was: "Saddam is a bad man and we can nation build Iraq into a democracy and in the long run, it may end up in our national interest. This will be worth thousands of american lives" People would tell Bush to go to hell.

So if the war would not be justified by the truth before the war, it is not justified afterwards for the same reasons.

 

I'm trying to remember what it is we went in there for....Lemme think. Oh! Weapons of mass....on no. That was BS. Ummm...SAD dam was a bad man and Iraq had links to 9/11! Oh wait....that was BS too. Hmmmmmmm... Oh. Now I remember. We had a war mongering republican in the White House, and war profits to be had by Haliburton, Cheney and company. Bankrupt the country for immediate profit. That's right.

Profit! That was it! The "market forces" put us there. Hail, hail republican war profiteers everywhere! (and probably to your next CEO who will eliminate your job in lieu of profit). God bless you wonderful "things".

 

The Iraqis won...

... now they can have their Sunni-Shia intranicene war...

... an' decide for themselves who's really gonna run Iraq.

 

What's so bad about that? Are countries not allowed to develop an economy?

We won this war back when Saddam was ousted. What happened afterwords was a completely different war. We fought two back to back wars in Iraq. One against its old leadership, and another against internal forces wishing to disrupt the formation of a democracy in Iraq with outside influence on both sides. It was one big proxy war between the strict Muslim states ( Iran, Syria and a few others) and the US /anti allies.

 

No, the problem with this is some believe (myself somewhat included) the War was prolonged simply to keep these companies in the black..most of the Americans over there were private contractors....people got rich(er) because of this war..and thats a problem...more so when the Vice President at the time would directly benefit from all of this..

 

Simply rediculious. The war went further than it needed to go because the anti war tried undermining the funding needs to end it sooner. And yes, part of it had to do with poor strategic planning on our par. However, every war has had mistakes that coated time and lives. Just read about just about any war we have been involved in and you will find failed strategies and pointless battles that did little more than just get people killed. That's just war. Almost impossible to plan for, its all about adjusting to the conditions as they change.

 

This is utter garbage. By the time Bush's propaganda would spread throughout the country the War was POPULAR. The Anti War sentiment didn't set in until back 2005 when it was obvious we were there for no real reason. There was no insurgency in 2003 after we took the capital, and by 05 it was clear there was no WMD's, so at that point we should have left. We weren't prepared for an insurgency, and most importantly, didn't go into Iraq trying to fight an insurgency. That was never to goal, and never was.

 

Your ability to doublethink would make Orwell proud.

 

It's a war. No one wins. Believe me, I've been there.

 

People always get rich in war. Don't be so idealistic.

 

Not.....like....this..

 

I suggest you read up on WWII.

 

Iraq is destroyed and people now is even living worse than with Sadam. Who has won in this war are the American corporations. Security corporations with his mercenaries, oil corporations... But the people have lost everything, including the freedom, however previoulsy they didn't have, now neither, and they have a "puppet democracy", that is not a democracy.

So, Iraq even is worse. And mainly with we consider the scalation of the islamic forces, it is terrorists. No, the war only enworsened the situation for Iraq people.

 

I would seem that you would prefer Saddam's reign of terror, repression, torture, false imprisonment and murder to the liberation of Iraq.

 

Liberation? LOL. There was not liberation, there was a war for American interests and no more.

And yes, I think that their life was better with Sadam than today. however the repression. But today they don't have freedom but they continue having repression with lower quality of life.

And I prefer Sadam because he was near to fall. He was weak before the Iraq war, so a Revolution in Iraq was possible. And the worst thing that a country can do is invade other, because you will change its course of history, and make worse the situation. So, if you want to be liberated you must do that by your ownl not with international intervention.