Iraq war worth the cost?

excaza said:
People who benefit from defense can still benefit without a war.
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This is true. Unfortunately this is not usually the case. Watch in the upcoming year for lay-offs from companies like Raytheon and GE.

angrysoba said:
Well, now the war is over the question becomes, is the peace worth it?

No? Best start another war. Sad but true, eh?
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Don't blame me for pointing this out, I never said I agree with (the reality of) this fact. War creates jobs that also creates more tax revenue from these jobs.
 
eeyore1954 said:
I was going to mention that was left out also. But the reverse is how many would have been killed in Iraq without the war under Saddam.
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Does it matter?

Most analyses I've seen indicate significantly fewer would have died under Saddam than have died under Bush and Obama.
 
DGM said:
Don't blame me for pointing this out, I never said I agree with (the reality of) this fact. War creates jobs that also creates more tax revenue from these jobs.
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Well, it is a sorry state of affairs when the only way of making money and employing people is in the... ahem!... defense industries.
 
Upchurch said:
How do you measure something that can never happen?
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I have yet to see any assessment that puts current Iraq conditions as superior in any way to Saddam Iraq conditions, but I am open to compelling evidences that anyone would care to offer.
 
DGM said:
Don't blame me for pointing this out, I never said I agree with (the reality of) this fact. War creates jobs that also creates more tax revenue from these jobs.
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That's one of the things I've been waiting on these last long years. Remember the old adage that war=prosperity?

So we're stuck in this useless war, but where's the supposed prosperity that goes with it?
 
angrysoba said:
Really? Not for us to...?

I think the idea is that when deciding to go to war decisions should be made about the relative costs and benefits. I think it is a cop out to shoot first and let the historians sort it out - to mangle and paraphrase a mixed bag of metaphors.
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How can we judge till we see the ultimate outcome. We cant know what the Iraq nation will be like in 5 years 10 years time. We may have done the people of Iraq a great service, or we may have moved than from the fat into the fire.
 
NoahFence said:
That's one of the things I've been waiting on these last long years. Remember the old adage that war=prosperity?

So we're stuck in this useless war, but where's the supposed prosperity that goes with it?
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They were talking about much larger wars. (remember when that statement was made)

:mad:
 
angrysoba said:
I don't think I understand the point you're making.

14.6 Billion dollars is peanuts compared to how much was spent on the Iraq War.
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That's the amount the US and Russia exported on 2010 alone.

I don't think the war was about money. I was pointing out that all of that money was not just "pissed away" to some other country. Most of the money spent (for better or worse) goes back into the US economy.
 
MG1962 said:
How can we judge till we see the ultimate outcome. We cant know what the Iraq nation will be like in 5 years 10 years time. We may have done the people of Iraq a great service, or we may have moved than from the fat into the fire.
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So, what you are saying is, it's too soon to tell?

Do you think the current political system in Iraq looks like it is ready to embrace liberal democracy?

In the meantime, do you think the average Iraqi would consider the last eight years worth living through for an uncertain future 5 or 10 years in the future?

I think that you're making an unreasonable demand when you tell everyone to reserve judgment.

Many people made fairly accurate predictions that the Iraq War would be a disaster and it has been pretty much like that so far. There is very little prospect of lasting gains and very tangible evidence of lasting damage. This is in pretty stark contrast to those who said various words synonymous with "cakewalk", "greeted with flowers", "slam-dunk" (WMD-related)
 
DGM said:
That's the amount the US and Russia exported on 2010 alone.

I don't think the war was about money. I was pointing out that all of that money was not just "pissed away" to some other country. Most of the money spent (for better or worse) goes back into the US economy.
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Quite a lot of money was pissed away to "some other countries" and quite a lot of it simply ended up in the hands of some people who were already pretty wealthy anyway (those who made the shiny things that go "bang bang").

Besides this is pretty disingenuous given that the war wasn't fought on the premise that this would be good for the economy. A cynic might even think that the war has been bad for the economy.
 
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