414 Comments

War is such a waste of humanity. When will we learn?

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I was against the war in Iraq. It made no sense to go after a foreign leader we helped install in that country.

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I will never forget the start of the Iraq War and my opposition to it. Our government's adamant assertion that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction flew in the face of international inspectors who said it was not so. Bush's assertion that the U.S. would "rid the world of evil" was audacious and delusional, but was embraced by a majority of the public, who love his hubris. To decide to go after Sadam Hussein, who was only one of many brutal tyrants, seemed odd when we aligned with tyrants in other places and other times. To bomb that beautiful, historic country was callous. So here I am in 2023, a strong advocate for our support of Ukraine's fight against Russia's brutal aggression and providing the arms that they need. And I find that many who supported the War in Iraq now argue against providing military aid to Ukraine. I was disappointed that the Democratic Party virtually gave Bush everything he wanted to start and extend that war. They lacked moral courage back then and we here we are in 2023 bemoaning Republicans who lack moral courage to stand up to hubris.

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I opposed the war in Iraq all along. I was SHOCKED by the attitude toward anyone who wasn't 100% on board for invading Iraq. As an elementary educator over the past 20 years, I've taught refugee students from Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, Syria, Somalia, Bosnia, Nepal, Ukraine and on and on. Because of war. The entire middle east was destabilized. The refugee crisis has impacted many nations. Fears about cultural and religious differences and racism have fed some of the extreme right factions in these nations (including our own). I'm sick to death of war. Sick of seeing children who've experienced unspeakable horror and been forced to be incredibly brave. 😪 For what? For oil? For money? For power? For the U.S. But Who benefits? Not me. The people in my circle are the ones who pay for and die in these wars. I was born in 1956, and I don't know if there's ever been a moment we weren't at war somewhere. When we left Afghanistan, it broke my heart to see us jump right into the Russia-Ukraine conflict. My spirit is weary. Why can't we seek peace? Why is war where our leaders begin?

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The day I stopped viewing myself as a republican. I was never ashamed to be an American until that day.

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A professor who undoubtedly never spent a day on active duty.

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Wonderful piece. America, like no other country, was always able to point at empires of the past and condemn their misdeeds while often committing the same or worse atrocities. As a traveler, and on the anniversary of this infamous date, I must yet again remind fellow Americans that there are other nations out there housing similar human beings, all with dreams and aspirations of their own. Every time we disrespect them, for whatever reason, we disrespect ourselves and drag our once-great flag through the muck anew. Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance with puffed breast does not a great American make.

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I think relying on politicians without thinking for ourselves is dangerous.

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Let us remember that Iraq war critics have never been interested in the Iraqi people, except when it serves domestic political purposes.

Iraq war critics didn't care about the Iraqi people when Saddam was butchering innocent Iraqis in torture cells. They didn't care about the Iraqi people when Saddam was hitting them with poison gas. Iraq war critics didn't care about the Iraqi people when Saddam stole their freedom, and siphoned off the wealth of Iraq for his own personal use.

Iraq war critics didn't care about the Iraqi people during the Iraq/Iran war started by Saddam, a horrific blood bath which cost about 500,000 lives.

And now that American involvement is over, Iraq war critics have once again returned to showing no interest in the Iraqi people. Let us not forget that Iraq war critics have never shown any credible interest in the Iraqi people.

Let us also never forget that the reason the occupation was so bloody is that the fascist thugs from Saddam's regime and various religious cults wanted to keep on dominating, killing, and stealing from the Iraqi people. Let us also never forget that Iraq war critics always place all the blame for the occupation deaths on Bush, and never on the murderous psychopaths America was attempting to liberate the Iraqi people from.

I've been a liberal Democrat since the sixties, and would never vote for Bush, or any Republican at this point. But that's not going to stop me from seeing and saying that many Iraq war critics are full of baloney.

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I ‘ve done some research into the allegation that Colin Powell was involved in the My Lai coverup. What I’ve learned is that Powell was a staff officer assigned to MACV headquarters with responsibility for reviewing incoming battle reports. When the report of the My Lai “battle" reached him, consistent with the coverup that began with Lt. Calley’s company commander, Capt. Ernest Medina, predictably contained little to no indication that an extensive massacre had taken place at My Lai. Many battle reports crossed Powell’s desk, and it’s unlikely that he gave the whitewashed My Lai battle report any more attention than the other many battle reports he reviewed. Powell’s cursory review of a battle report, in all probability written by Capt. Medina, hardly qualifies as Powell being part of the My Lai coverup.

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DECEPTIVE WARS US military personnel invaded Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction and al Qaeda, only to realize that these reasons for war were false. In the past year, journalists have reported that some Russian soldiers complain that they did not find the expected Nazis in Ukraine, and so realized that this reason for war was false.

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I remember the night the bombing of Bagdad started. Two friends and I had met to have dinner at a restaurant, but instead we stood outside and decided not to. It didn't seem right to go about our lives while our country had started on the terrible path of war against another country. We all spoke of how helpless we felt, having attended earlier a rally against this latest government fiasco. When will men stop seeing this as a viable response to anything? Those White House thugs were and still are international war criminals, who should be tried in the Hague. Instead one of them happily splashes paint on canvases, and the others, who are still living, go on in their ignorance and arrogance probably not even thinking about the carnage they left in their wakes. True sociopaths all.

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One way to not forget is to formally charge Dick Cheney, George Bush Jr. and Donald Rumsfeld with Crimes Against Humanity. Especially Dick Cheney who even today croaks a laughter reminiscent of the worst horror film villains when asked about military "collateral damage"!

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Stupidest, saddest war! Now we welcome the true perpetrators here, for a fun round of LIV golf…,

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And why did we decimate Iraq when it was Saudi Arabia that funded the whole thing? Hmmm? Oh yeah oil, oh yeah Saddam threatened Bush I when he was president. What a mess and what do we have now? A stupid president goes to SA and is entranced by a sword dance and does nothing about their murder of a journalist and Biden does nothing either. We are going to be sinking underwater very soon, overcome by hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons and droughts due to climate change but keep driving those cars folks...and keep SA’s royal family rolling in their billions...

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You had to be extraordinarily brave and clear-eyed and steady in those days to speak against the drumbeats of war, to see Bush and Cheney and Rice and Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz and "General" Ashcroft, et al. for who they really were. Liars. Just another common gang of thugs. You would be viciously attacked and labeled the worst possible way, as unpatriotic. The press really let us down, it's true. Shame.

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