CJatGuy said:
With the billions of dollars invested in the seemingly endless war in Iraq, we could have invested in helping millions of people in area affected by the tsunami, and our troops and civilains wouldnt be dying.
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Okay, I tried to stay concise and keep my anal-expulsive self at bay on this one, but that statement touched a nerve.
Problem one - We did spend millions of dollars to help those people, and we will probably spend millions more. I personally think we have already spent too much. Talk about fixing things at home first!!! Whew! I wonder what the neighboring oil-producing nations are spending on them...
Sure they need help, and help we should. We should also be leaning on other nations to ante up instead of carrying the load for the rest (yes I know Japan and Austraila are exceptions in this particular incident).
Problem two - That seemingly endless war was being fought before we went to Iraq, and would be fought whether we went there or not. As JunkPile stated, they want us dead. Not the Iraqi people, the Jihad proclaiming Muslims. Those people believe us to be "the great satan", or the "Infidel" and they believe it is their duty to "Allah" to kill us. If they die doing so, it is their belief that will instantly place them in heaven with thier "Allah". In a nutshell, they would love nothing more than to die killing you and I.
Problem three - We don't need to spend any money to make friends, didn't your mother teach you that? This country has spent billions upon billions of dollars being mr. fixit in this world and it's high time we either got some respect for it or pulled the pin on that economy sucking operation. Like the lady said - plenty of things need fixing in our own backyard, and they should be in order before we go galavanting across the world spending money we do not have.
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We need to be in Iraq because we need a foothold in the middle east to fight the growing Muslim terror networks that directly threaten life as we know it. They struck first blood and don't plan on stopping until one side is completely gone. I'd rather it be them if that is what they choose. Sure liberating Iraq seems a noble cause, but just like abolishing slavery was a noble but political front for morale and justice during the civil war it is not the real reason we are there. The real reason is to avoid fighting it (Jihad) here, Saddam just opened the door for us with his bull-headed arrogance and blatent under-estimation of our country's leadership and military power. You think that this war was about Bush's Daddy or Cheney's oil? That is laughable. If that's all it was we would have gone in there and unleashed firepower unlike anyone has ever seen and it would have been over quickly. We need to be there, like it or not. Kerry said in one debate that the Iraqi war was backfiring because more terrorists were flowing into Iraq everyday - GOOD! That's right where we want them.