Quote Originally Posted by dragonrider
This is the five-year anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq, and I was wondering what poeple thought about it. Was it worth it? It's certainly not over yet, even after 5 years, so it is too early to say for sure if it was worth it --- it will definitely cost more lives and money before it's over, and the outcome could be better or worse than it is today. But at this point what do you think?

If you vote in the poll, please post something about why you think what you do. Something like this:

I don't think the war was worth it.

[B]This is what it cost:

  • 4,000 Americans dead
  • 30,000 Americans wounded
  • 80,000 to 150,000 or more Iraqi's dead
  • Uncounted Iraqi's wounded
  • Millions of Iraqi refugees
  • $600 billion to US taxpayers for the direct war costs, plus whatever the economic cost of damage to our economy, high price of gas, damage to Iraqi infrastructure. Estimates of total direct costs before the end are between 1.2 trillion and 2.7 trillion, depending on how long it goes and eventual outcome. Estimates of direct and indirect costs together are about 3 trillion.
  • Loss of credibility, respect and standing in the world
  • Alienation of allies
  • Internal division within our own country
  • Increase in number of terrorists worldwide due to hatred and resentment over the war
  • Creation of Al Qaeda in Iraq
  • Ongoing instability in Iraq
  • Increased instability in greater Middle East
  • Exhaustion and depletion of our military, meaning decreased readiness for other threats[/B]

Here is what it got us:

  • Got rid of Saddam Hussein


I don't think it was a fair trade. If we knew five years ago that this is what we would get and how much it would cost, I doubt we would have gone in.

Because of political reasons, Bush can never admit that this fiasco was a horrible mistake and not worth it, but sometimes I wonder what he REALLY thinks. Does he honestly think it was worth it like he tells us? Or does he personally regret it, but have no way to say so?

In addition to this question of whether it was worth it, there are the millions of questions of WHY exactly are we there at all. Was it really WMD? Was it security? Was it to free the Iraqis? Was it oil? Was it to scare the Saudis into line? Is it part of a broader secret plan to dominate the region? Was it personal between Bush and Saddam? Was it a Neo-Con fantasy? And there are the questions of what should we do now. Should we continue the "surge?" Should we fully pull out immediately? Should we stay 100 years? Should we begin a phased withdrawal? Should we wait until the Iraqi government steps up and can stand on its own?

Those are interesting questions, but they have been well covered in a lot of different threads (and someone could certainly start one specifically devoted to those questions if they wanted to), but the purpose of this thread is to ask "was it worth it?" without getting into why we are there and what we do now.

So, was it worth it?
Was it fuck worth it..
It aint done shit apart from KILLING THOUSANDS of INNOCENT PEOPLE ...

Fuck bush and fuck the war...
smok3y Reviewed by smok3y on . Iraq War: Was it worth it? This is the five-year anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq, and I was wondering what poeple thought about it. Was it worth it? It's certainly not over yet, even after 5 years, so it is too early to say for sure if it was worth it --- it will definitely cost more lives and money before it's over, and the outcome could be better or worse than it is today. But at this point what do you think? If you vote in the poll, please post something about why you think what you do. Something like Rating: 5