Iraq war started 10 years ago

[VIDEO] I was reminded while watching FOX's The Five that President George W. Bush announced the beginning of military operations to oust Iraqi President Dictator Saddam Hussein.This has been proven to be a very controversial decision and I'm sure opinion in various circles have been 50/50 in favor or opposed.

Still most would probably agree that Hussein was a bad guy who abused his people in his former nation and had engaged in some form of genocide. Which would lead to the one success of this operation at least Hussein himself was eventually captured and ultimately put to death for his crimes.

I'm not sure if there is any agreement over whether or not this action was justified. There's not entirely a lot of agreement over whether or not there were WMDs in Iraq. There may not be a whole lot of agreement as to whether or not Iraq or even the Middle East is better off without Hussein in power.

All the same it's a good thing to me that Hussein isn't in power over there. Iraq is now an experient in bringing a democratic republic to a predominantly Arab and Muslim nation. Let me just preferace that by saying that Iraq is a multi-religious society. Even in Hussein's regime he had some Christians in high level positions and at that Iraq had been described as a secular society.

If I may go backwards in time for a second. That night that this started I was home alone (yeah real scary right) and it was dark outside although it was probably 5 or so o'clock. Anyway I heard what was thought to be a thunderstorm explosion but as it turned out it was only thunder.

I began to believe the hype about how the terrorists were really going to put some American casualties on our soil. Of course to think reasonably if any terrorists were going to strike I was far away from such a target unless they had something far worse in mind. Anyway at least for the duration of our War on Terror operations in both Iraq and even Afghanistan most of the casualties suffered were over there involved our forces. A campaign point for many who supported these operations was that there wasn't another terrorist attack here on American soil.

In the future my goal is to share some examples of the hype. Some of the materials I'd like to share are reasons why I'm blogging today and of course most of them will be partisan in nature. Hopefully you will see some truth in them.

Bush Compares Iraq to Vietnam

For as long as this war was going on I've heard the "anti-war left" compare the Iraq war to Vietnam. What this means basically is that they believed this wasn't going to turn out well. I suppose it can be generally agreed that Vietnam didn't go so well for various reasons and not just because of the stubborness of the Viet Cong, but also in how the American government then conducted the war.

Anyway fast forward to 2007. President Bush takes a different track on comparisons between the war in Vietnam and the war in Iraq. From the Washington Post...

President Bush defended his ongoing military commitment in Iraq by linking the conflict there to the Vietnam War, arguing Wednesday that withdrawing U.S. troops would lead to widespread death and suffering as it did in Southeast Asia three decades ago.

"One unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like 'boat people,' 'reeducation camps' and 'killing fields,' " Bush told a receptive audience at the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention.
In Defense of U.S. Policy in Iraq, Bush Cites Conflicts in Other Places and Eras
In his address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention yesterday, President Bush discussed military history while defending his Iraq war policy. This was the latest use of historical analogies by Bush and members of his administration.

The president's decision to draw an explicit link between Iraq and Vietnam comes as he seeks to marshal support for his war policy among Republicans and to blunt calls from Democratic members of Congress for a drawdown of U.S. forces in the coming months. Although his comments played well among the veterans here -- the speech was interrupted with repeated cheers and applause -- the references to the Vietnam conflict, which remains a divisive, emotional issue for many Americans, prompted strong criticism from Democrats.

"The president is drawing the wrong lesson from history," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

Bush also offered fresh support for embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, calling him a "good man with a difficult job." On Tuesday, speaking to reporters at a North American summit in Quebec, Bush had expressed his disappointment at the lack of political progress in Iraq and had said that widespread popular frustration could lead Iraqis to replace Maliki.

But in his speech to the veterans, Bush said "it's not up to the politicians in Washington, D.C., to say whether he will remain in his position. It is up to the Iraqi people who now live in a democracy and not a dictatorship."

You notice I don't touch the news about Iraq often enough here. It's not that I'm against the conflict, it's just that it seems so depressing. Especially after what seems to be several promising stories from there.

Yeah I'm talking about the fall of President Dictator Saddam Hussein and the elections over there where insurgents wanted to prevent its success. Then Saddam gets executed for his crimes against his people. There are other little stories of our troops doing a good job and then the optimism of the Iraqi people, but to be sure there are plenty of horrible stories from Iraq.

One thing I can see is based on my understanding of Vietnam, I really don't think the scenarios are similar.

I was at the Dirksen federal plaza yesterday...

On Dearborn and Adams where there is public space besides the post office. There was a rally that was about to start and I left just before the rally started. The nature of it seemed positive towards American efforts there. Here are some examples of the signs I observed there.

Stop killing Assyrians
Stop killing our clergy
Democracy in Iraq
Iraq is for all
Jesus deliver us from evil
Many religions ONE God

Inspiring isn't it. Many of these slogans. Some could be seen as jabs against the American occupation of Iraq, but the others seems supportive of the building of a new society there as well. And to be sure, there were Christian there and a few women wearing Muslim garb.

When I saw down for a minute to write some notes on what I observed a Christian minister had walked past me across the street to join this rally. In addition there were four American flags, three Iraqi flags, and a few other flags I can't identify. Unfortunately there were only a handful of people there maybe less than 50 there at the federal plaza.

I said yesterday that I had pictures. Well I did bump this post up and make some edit, but I will. If not here over at the Eye is where you'll see pics.

Iran takes some hostages.

Today I feel like looking at the world scene. Two nations dominate the news scene of the world because they are seeking build nuclear weapons. On Friday one of those nations Iran was in the news.

What happened?

Iran has taken 15 Royal Navy personnel hostage. The breakdown is 8 Royal Navy and 7 Royal Marines. Among that group is one woman. Here's a little more of the story...

Iranian armed forces spokesman Gen Ali Reza Afshar told Iranian radio the crew were being interrogated and had admitted being in Iranian waters.

He also said they were in "sterling health" and there had been no problems.

The British government says the eight sailors and seven marines were in Iraqi waters. It has demanded their immediate release.

The Fars news agency says the group - including one woman - was flown to Iran's capital and arrived in the Iranian capital at 1200 local time (0830 GMT).

Satellite tracking systems on the British boats proved they were inside Iranian waters, it added.
...
The 15 were seized on Friday after boarding a boat in the Gulf.

They were from HMS Cornwall, based in Plymouth - the flagship of the coalition-Iraqi force which patrols Iraqi territorial waters in the northern Gulf to combat smuggling.

The Cornwall's commander, Commodore Nick Lambert, said they had been inspecting an Iraqi boat before clearing its skipper to continue with his business.

When they returned to their two small boats, they were "promptly arrested".

The helicopter then saw the British boats being moved along the Shatt al-Arab waterway to Iranian bases, Cmdr Lambert said.

There had been no evidence of fighting, he added.

When I first heard this story it conjured up images of British ships of the line getting ready to attack a nation for their trangressions. I mean this in the sense of the British Navy's status as a superpower way back when. These days a lot of diplomatic manuevering is used instead of seapower.

Right now though I don't know about Iran. It seems all a nation needs is an excuse to engage in a rather agressive over the top action such as this. We'll see how this will work out.

Senate Gridlocked on Iraq Troop Buildup

From FOXNews.com...

The Senate gridlocked on the Iraq war in a sharply worded showdown on Saturday as Republicans foiled a Democratic attempt to rebuke President Bush over his deployment of 21,500 additional combat troops.

The vote was 56-34. That was six short of the 60 needed to advance the measure, which is identical to a nonbinding resolution that Democrats pushed through the House on Friday.

"The Senate, on behalf of the American people, must make it clear to the commander in chief that he no longer has a rubber stamp in Iraq," said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in the final moments before the vote.

Republicans blasted him and the Democratic leadership for refusing to allow a vote on an alternative that ruled out any reduction in money for troops in the field.

"A vote in support of the troops that is silent on the question of funds is an attempt to have it both ways," said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the GOP leader. "So we are asking for an honest and open debate."
The vote marked the second time this winter that Senate Republicans have blocked action on nonbinding measures critical of the president's war policies. This time, however, there were signs of restlessness within the GOP.

Seven Republicans broke with their leadership, compared with only two on the previous test vote.