http://www.businessinside".com/us-invasion-iraq-anniversary-how-it-changed-middle-east-country-2018-3

"The US invaded Iraq 15 years ago on Tuesday.

The invasion was approved by Congress and had majority support among the American public, but is now considered one of the greatest foreign policy blunders in US history.

Former President George W. Bush's administration sold it on the pretext that Saddam Hussein had, or was trying to make, weapons of mass destruction (most notably nuclear weapons), and that Iraq's government had connections to various terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda.

While Hussein's links to terrorism and nuclear ambitions turned out to be untrue, the US occupied the country for nearly eight years before pulling out, creating a power vacuum that ISIS filled.

Two years later, the US military was back in the country — this time fighting a completely different enemy."

I was watching the coverage of it a few days ago.
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I was watching the coverage of it a few days ago.
f7iorfwcmeY

Yeah, I watched that video a few months back. It's crazy to think that technically the war is still being fought.

15 years ago, many young men who were born from 1981-1985 were told one of the biggest lies in history. It's just sad.

Unfortunately, that lie is still being told.

I was only 10 years old when this was getting underway. In many ways it was the first political event I had a heightened awareness of.

I was terrified at the prospect of war. In my mind, any war/violence was evil, so I was baffled and terrified at the sheer excitement and bloodlust Americans had in wanting to invade another country. It came across as very barbaric and black and white "evil" to me.

So throughout 2003 my parents would be watching the news, and I would catch glimpses of things a 10 year old shouldn't really see. Bombs, blood, dismemberment, parents losing their kids, kids losing their parents, people running for their lives away from air-dropped bombs or gunshots etc. And even then there were reports of those torture camps set up by the Americans that exhibited some of the worst examples of moral depravity.

The scariest part of it all though, was when Saddam was finally captured. When I saw his face and they went into his underground lair, it gave me nightmares for months. I thought ghosts were real back then, and in my mind, they would look Saddam Hussein when he was captured ;D

https://i2.wp.com/macaudailytimes.com.mo/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Saddam-hussein.jpg?resize=670%2C528&ssl=1

The war in Canada was extremely unpopular. I remember our 5th Grade teacher actually made us all sit down and watch the Congressional hearing or some kind of speech that George Bush was giving about Weapons of Mass Destruction and Nyukyular bombs, and he would scream "Lies, lies, lies!" intermittently. We were all bored out of our minds and completely uninterested, little did we know we were witnessing one of the most important events of our lifetimes.

I remember I was in school when Jean Chrétien (our Prime Minister at the time) announced that we wouldn't be going to war, and the teacher told this to us. The kids were cheering and we were all jumping up and down. We were all very relieved. I think we all had a very childish concept of what 'war' would entail. Something like our dad being driven away to go fight in combat and having bombs dropped on our houses. Of course, it wasn't really an an Iraq 'war', as much as it was an Iraq invasion. It's really only poor the Iraqi kids who would have to witness anything like that.  :\'(

I still feel like most Americans feel very justified in their invasion, or at the very least do not feel any remorse because of it. I point to movies like American Sniper, which glorifies a soldier's kill count and came out as recently as 2015. Yes, I know the movie is about the PTSD and regret the soldier suffers through, but this person is still celebrated as a hero with many medals and decorations. To me, this would be like Germany celebrating a Nazi who killed a record number of Jewish "terrorists" or people defending their country, and then give a side-mention to the emotional toll he took. Another example is the Call of Duty 4 games in 2007, which we all know is one of the best selling video games of all time in the West, which took place in generic Middle East and whitewashes how the Iraq invasion got underway and the reason for invading. You get to be an invading army and it's basically a kill brown people simulator. It's all extremely grotesque.  8-P

But onto more positive things. We had some Iraqi refugees arriving in my town sometime in late 2003, and I met one of my closest childhood friends because of it. He lived in the neighbourhood down the street. There was also a Kurdish girl a few years younger than me. She actually supported the war, and I learnt of the time Saddam committed genocide against the Kurds, and that gave me at least another perspective on the war.

Also, this was one of the biggest memes when I was in school. It's from Funnyjunk. Kids loved singing this song, it's very early 2000s ;D

SBKWQ41dpVc

I was only 10 years old when this was getting underway. In many ways it was the first political event I had a heightened awareness of.

I was terrified at the prospect of war. In my mind, any war/violence was evil, so I was baffled and terrified at the sheer excitement and bloodlust Americans had in wanting to invade another country. It came across as very barbaric and black and white "evil" to me.

So throughout 2003 my parents would be watching the news, and I would catch glimpses of things a 10 year old shouldn't really see. Bombs, blood, dismemberment, parents losing their kids, kids losing their parents, people running for their lives away from air-dropped bombs or gunshots etc. And even then there were reports of those torture camps set up by the Americans that exhibited some of the worst examples of moral depravity.

The scariest part of it all though, was when Saddam was finally captured. When I saw his face and they went into his underground lair, it gave me nightmares for months. I thought ghosts were real back then, and in my mind, they would look Saddam Hussein when he was captured ;D

https://i2.wp.com/macaudailytimes.com.mo/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Saddam-hussein.jpg?resize=670%2C528&ssl=1

The war in Canada was extremely unpopular. I remember our 5th Grade teacher actually made us all sit down and watch the Congressional hearing or some kind of speech that George Bush was giving about Weapons of Mass Destruction and Nyukyular bombs, and he would scream "Lies, lies, lies!" intermittently. We were all bored out of our minds and completely uninterested, little did we know we were witnessing one of the most important events of our lifetimes.

I remember I was in school when Jean Chrétien (our Prime Minister at the time) announced that we wouldn't be going to war, and the teacher told this to us. The kids were cheering and we were all jumping up and down. We were all very relieved. I think we all had a very childish concept of what 'war' would entail. Something like our dad being driven away to go fight in combat and having bombs dropped on our houses. Of course, it wasn't really an an Iraq 'war', as much as it was an Iraq invasion. It's really only poor the Iraqi kids who would have to witness anything like that.  :\'(

I still feel like most Americans feel very justified in their invasion, or at the very least do not feel any remorse because of it. I point to movies like American Sniper, which glorifies a soldier's kill count and came out as recently as 2015. Yes, I know the movie is about the PTSD and regret the soldier suffers through, but this person is still celebrated as a hero with many medals and decorations. To me, this would be like Germany celebrating a Nazi who killed a record number of Jewish "terrorists" or people defending their country, and then give a side-mention to the emotional toll he took. Another example is the Call of Duty 4 games in 2007, which we all know is one of the best selling video games of all time in the West, which took place in generic Middle East and whitewashes how the Iraq invasion got underway and the reason for invading. You get to be an invading army and it's basically a kill brown people simulator. It's all extremely grotesque.  8-P

But onto more positive things. We had some Iraqi refugees arriving in my town sometime in late 2003, and I met one of my closest childhood friends because of it. He lived in the neighbourhood down the street. There was also a Kurdish girl a few years younger than me. She actually supported the war, and I learnt of the time Saddam committed genocide against the Kurds, and that gave me at least another perspective on the war.

Also, this was one of the biggest memes when I was in school. It's from Funnyjunk. Kids loved singing this song, it's very early 2000s ;D

SBKWQ41dpVc

"American attitudes about the US invasion of Iraq are nearly evenly split 15 years after the war began, a new Pew poll finds.

Forty-eight percent of respondents said the US made the wrong decision in using military force in Iraq, while 43% said it was the right decision.

The poll, which was conducted from March 7-14, found that more than half of Americans (53%) believe the US mostly failed to accomplish its goals in Iraq. Only 39% said they thought it had mostly succeeded.

Beliefs about the Iraq War continue to be largely divided along partisan lines. Sixty-one percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say the US was right to use military force in Iraq, compared to only 27% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. Half of conservative Republicans and 43% of moderate/liberal Republicans said they thought the US mostly succeeded in its goals, according to Pew. In contrast, only 18% of liberal Democrats and 39% of conservative/moderate Democrats said the same."

"American attitudes about the US invasion of Iraq are nearly evenly split 15 years after the war began, a new Pew poll finds.

Forty-eight percent of respondents said the US made the wrong decision in using military force in Iraq, while 43% said it was the right decision.

The poll, which was conducted from March 7-14, found that more than half of Americans (53%) believe the US mostly failed to accomplish its goals in Iraq. Only 39% said they thought it had mostly succeeded.

Beliefs about the Iraq War continue to be largely divided along partisan lines. Sixty-one percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say the US was right to use military force in Iraq, compared to only 27% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. Half of conservative Republicans and 43% of moderate/liberal Republicans said they thought the US mostly succeeded in its goals, according to Pew. In contrast, only 18% of liberal Democrats and 39% of conservative/moderate Democrats said the same."


I know. But when you get movies like American Sniper coming out of supposedly progressive Hollywood, it feels like opinions of the Iraq invasion is more of an "Oops, that didn't go as planned" rather than "What we did was morally wrong". Even in that poll the main question asked was whether America achieved its objectives, as if that was the main concern, and not whether the actions and behaviour of the US and its army was acceptable.

I know. But when you get movies like American Sniper coming out of supposedly progressive Hollywood, it feels like opinions of the Iraq invasion is more of an "Oops, that didn't go as planned" rather than "What we did was morally wrong". Even in that poll the main question asked was whether America achieved its objectives, as if that was the main concern, and not whether the actions and behaviour of the US and its army was acceptable.

There were mutliple questions asked.

Also, the question of whether it was acceptable what the US did was asked and it got a response, it was in the paragraph I quoted: "Forty-eight percent of respondents said the US made the wrong decision in using military force in Iraq, while 43% said it was the right decision.
"

This is a good video:
BaPWlKv7n0Y

The onset of the Gulf War was Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. I remember I transited there in summer 1990 and the same flight a week later was grounded and the passengers held hostage by Iraqi forces. The last passengers were released 4 months later!? A lot of my parent's friends were on that flight and I could have been too if I booked a week later. I was going from the UK back to Malaysia from boarding school.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_149

The onset of the Gulf War was Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. I remember I transited there in summer 1990 and the same flight a week later was grounded and the passengers held hostage by Iraqi forces. The last passengers were released 4 months later!? A lot of my parent's friends were on that flight and I could have been too if I booked a week later. I was going from the UK back to Malaysia from boarding school.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_149

This is about The "Second" Iraq War in 2003, not the Gulf War ;D.

This is about The "Second" Iraq War in 2003, not the Gulf War ;D.


Lol I did wonder why it was just 15 years ago.  :D Oh well my reply was almost kinda relevant.

The onset of the Gulf War was Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. I remember I transited there in summer 1990 and the same flight a week later was grounded and the passengers held hostage by Iraqi forces. The last passengers were released 4 months later!? A lot of my parent's friends were on that flight and I could have been too if I booked a week later. I was going from the UK back to Malaysia from boarding school.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_149


My dad was actually in Kuwait when it got invaded (he was born there). Actually, long story, but if Saddam never invaded Kuwait and my dad didn't get on a boat to Bahrain, he would have never met and got married to my mom in 1991, and I would have never been born ;D

My dad was actually in Kuwait when it got invaded (he was born there). Actually, long story, but if Saddam never invaded Kuwait and my dad didn't get on a boat to Bahrain, he would have never met and got married to my mom in 1991, and I would have never been born ;D

So are you thanking Saddam? ;D :-X

Lol I did wonder why it was just 15 years ago.  :D Oh well my reply was almost kinda relevant.

LOL :D.

I was only 10 years old when this was getting underway. In many ways it was the first political event I had a heightened awareness of.

I was terrified at the prospect of war. In my mind, any war/violence was evil, so I was baffled and terrified at the sheer excitement and bloodlust Americans had in wanting to invade another country. It came across as very barbaric and black and white "evil" to me.

So throughout 2003 my parents would be watching the news, and I would catch glimpses of things a 10 year old shouldn't really see. Bombs, blood, dismemberment, parents losing their kids, kids losing their parents, people running for their lives away from air-dropped bombs or gunshots etc. And even then there were reports of those torture camps set up by the Americans that exhibited some of the worst examples of moral depravity.

The scariest part of it all though, was when Saddam was finally captured. When I saw his face and they went into his underground lair, it gave me nightmares for months. I thought ghosts were real back then, and in my mind, they would look Saddam Hussein when he was captured ;D

https://i2.wp.com/macaudailytimes.com.mo/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Saddam-hussein.jpg?resize=670%2C528&ssl=1

The war in Canada was extremely unpopular. I remember our 5th Grade teacher actually made us all sit down and watch the Congressional hearing or some kind of speech that George Bush was giving about Weapons of Mass Destruction and Nyukyular bombs, and he would scream "Lies, lies, lies!" intermittently. We were all bored out of our minds and completely uninterested, little did we know we were witnessing one of the most important events of our lifetimes.

I remember I was in school when Jean Chrétien (our Prime Minister at the time) announced that we wouldn't be going to war, and the teacher told this to us. The kids were cheering and we were all jumping up and down. We were all very relieved. I think we all had a very childish concept of what 'war' would entail. Something like our dad being driven away to go fight in combat and having bombs dropped on our houses. Of course, it wasn't really an an Iraq 'war', as much as it was an Iraq invasion. It's really only poor the Iraqi kids who would have to witness anything like that.  :\'(

I still feel like most Americans feel very justified in their invasion, or at the very least do not feel any remorse because of it. I point to movies like American Sniper, which glorifies a soldier's kill count and came out as recently as 2015. Yes, I know the movie is about the PTSD and regret the soldier suffers through, but this person is still celebrated as a hero with many medals and decorations. To me, this would be like Germany celebrating a Nazi who killed a record number of Jewish "terrorists" or people defending their country, and then give a side-mention to the emotional toll he took. Another example is the Call of Duty 4 games in 2007, which we all know is one of the best selling video games of all time in the West, which took place in generic Middle East and whitewashes how the Iraq invasion got underway and the reason for invading. You get to be an invading army and it's basically a kill brown people simulator. It's all extremely grotesque.  8-P

But onto more positive things. We had some Iraqi refugees arriving in my town sometime in late 2003, and I met one of my closest childhood friends because of it. He lived in the neighbourhood down the street. There was also a Kurdish girl a few years younger than me. She actually supported the war, and I learnt of the time Saddam committed genocide against the Kurds, and that gave me at least another perspective on the war.

Also, this was one of the biggest memes when I was in school. It's from Funnyjunk. Kids loved singing this song, it's very early 2000s ;D

SBKWQ41dpVc


Yeah, that's how I remember 2003. I remember I wanted to be patriotic and support the war, but deep down something just didn't feel right. My parents were always anti-Bush and anti war so they were depressed, but they would gladly go back to that time over now (they are anti-Trump). I was in the military at the time so I felt like I just had to go with it, and living in a military centric and conservative area, it was the "cool" thing to do. Remember when Americans hated the French and renamed "freedom fries"? That was as they said back in 2003, "the totally gnarly way to be, dude!" Anyhow, I digress. I remember those old Internet cartoon memes, like Ebaumsworld and Jib-Jab.

Yeah, that's how I remember 2003. I remember I wanted to be patriotic and support the war, but deep down something just didn't feel right. My parents were always anti-Bush and anti war so they were depressed, but they would gladly go back to that time over now (they are anti-Trump). I was in the military at the time so I felt like I just had to go with it, and living in a military centric and conservative area, it was the "cool" thing to do. Remember when Americans hated the French and renamed "freedom fries"? That was as they said back in 2003, "the totally gnarly way to be, dude!" Anyhow, I digress. I remember those old Internet cartoon memes, like Ebaumsworld and Jib-Jab.

What is your hometown?

I am just glad they got rid of Saddam and Osama.

It was a major blunder and for no other reason than because Bush wanted it. And I blame members of Congress/Senate who voted for it (including Hillary Clinton). BTW, Bernie Sanders who was in the House at the time did NOT vote for it.

Because of the Iraq war, it helped al-Qaeda and ISIS to grow and just brought massive instability to the region that is STILL a major problem. If Bush was paying attention, maybe the powers that be could have stopped 9/11 and/or captured Osama bin Laden and gotten the hell out of Afghanistan. But here we are almost 16 years since we went into Afghanistan and we are STILL THERE!  >:( >:( >:(



Cat

I am just glad they got rid of Saddam and Osama.




I am just glad they got rid of Saddam and Osama.


Bush got rid of Saddam and that was his focus. It was Osama that attacked this country and at one point Bush said that he didn't think about Osama much-which was obvious. It was Obama who got rid of him. Osama had NOTHING to do with the Iraq war-except for the excuse of going into Iraq.



Cat

The US government supported Saddam Hussein in the '80s during the Iraq-Iran War.

Also, in the '80s, the US government gave money and weapons to Islamic rebels fighters in Afghanistan (the Mujahideen) who were fighting against the Soviet Union. When the war ended in 1988 and the Soviet Union retreated, those rebels broke up into two groups (the Taliban & Al Qaeda). Osama bin Laden was one of those rebel fighters in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Those two decisions under the Reagan administration set up the "War on Terror" in the 21st Century.

However, all of these problems ultimately stem back to the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916 by the British & French Empires. European colonialism still and will probably ALWAYS affect the world unfortunately.

The US government supported Saddam Hussein in the '80s during the Iraq-Iran War.

Also, in the '80s, the US government gave money and weapons to Islamic rebels fighters in Afghanistan (the Mujahideen) who were fighting against the Soviet Union. When the war ended in 1988 and the Soviet Union retreated, those rebels broke up into two groups (the Taliban & Al Qaeda). Osama bin Laden was one of those rebel fighters in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Those two decisions under the Reagan administration set up the "War on Terror" in the 21st Century.

However, all of these problems ultimately stem back to the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916 by the British & French Empires. European colonialism still and will probably ALWAYS affect the world unfortunately.


All of the facts your guys have listed are spot on.  I would only add that there was resistance to this debacle, although not enough.  We were also promised that Iraq would pay for the war with oil.  We all know how that turned out.  As someone already said, this was the biggest foreign policy blunder in US history (so far)

All of the facts your guys have listed are spot on.  I would only add that there was resistance to this debacle, although not enough.  We were also promised that Iraq would pay for the war with oil.  We all know how that turned out.  As someone already said, this was the biggest foreign policy blunder in US history (so far)

Yep.

The public in general was so ill-informed (and continue to be...), I remember people around me being fine with it. In fact I remember feeling satisfied about it; thinking that it was a natural response to the anger and fear that we were collectively feeling. Hell, it was our PATRIOTIC DUTY to respond!
Yes, I am sad to say I was one of the ill-informed. I didn't see going to war as bad, and trusted that our leaders knew what they were doing. Looking back now, I am not proud of thinking this. And I am NOT blaming others. My ignorance was on me for not reading, researching, listening to all sides- and differing opinions.

What really opened my eyes was Michael Moore's Farenheit 9 11. I know people say Michael Moore is a leftist looney etc. etc. But isn't it funny how many times that 'looney' gets things right?

My dad was actually in Kuwait when it got invaded (he was born there). Actually, long story, but if Saddam never invaded Kuwait and my dad didn't get on a boat to Bahrain, he would have never met and got married to my mom in 1991, and I would have never been born ;D


Cool story! So you're half Kuwaiti? I'm mixed race too... half English half Malaysian.

They came to Iraq mostly for the Oil. And they also created ISIS 11 years after.

Cool story! So you're half Kuwaiti? I'm mixed race too... half English half Malaysian.


No, I'm not Kuwaiti or mixed race. My granddad was a part of the British Indian army, and after WW2/Independence he was stationed in Kuwait (which was still a British colony when my dad was born there in the 1950s).

British/Malaysian is a very interesting mix :D I went to Malaysia, in 2001. One of my favourites! ;)

What is your hometown?


My hometown is the Atlanta metro area but I was living in San Diego at the time, which back then was very conservative and pro-Bush.

My hometown is the Atlanta metro area but I was living in San Diego at the time, which back then was very conservative and pro-Bush.

Gotcha!

It's all still very fresh. The weapons inspectors, WMD, Colin Powell in front of the UN, "Mission accomplished", Uday and Qusay being killed, finding bearded Saddam in the hole.  ;D I remember W. giving the ultimatum to Saddam just like yesterday. Then a couple of days later I remember him announcing the start of the war. I remember the media coverage of "shock and awe".