Do you think anything could change your position/views on the war?

[Cumhail]

Whether you are for or against the current war efforts, is there anything you can imagine hearing/reading in the news or from other people (in this forum, from colleagues, or elsewhere) that would cause you reevaluate, or even change, your current position on the matter?

I'm not talking dramatic hollywood-style developments. I mean what you could realistically find out from the press, from others, etc. Please answer this honestly... be honest not only to all of us, but to yourselves. And to make it easier to answer without anyone knowing what your answer is, I'll do this as a poll so that your answers are pretty much anonymized (unless you choose to share them, of course).

[osprey4]

I'm not trying to be a pain, but now that the war is over and they're basically into reconstruction of the country, what purpose does it serve to evaluate people's positions on the war? I think most people are trying to get past the pre-war rhetoric so what's best for the Iraqi people can be accomplished. Even the French would agree with that.

[Cumhail]

I disagree with the thinking that one should stop voicing his/her concerns, disagreement, etc. pre-war, post-war, or during a war. Equating patriotism with unquestioning acceptance of authority, I believe, demonstrates a failure to understand the history of the word in American culture... for those we think of as 'the original American Patriots' were typified by their uniting together to fight against an unjust authority; not their willingness to to abide by its rule and support it as being valid, as many loyalists, at the time, chose to do.

That said... I posted this mostly because I want to see just how open-minded the people in this forum are to what those they disagree with are saying. Are we talking to each other, in other words... or just at each other?

cumhail

[Knothead]

I did change my opinionof the war, right in mid-stride. I knew that the overriding reason for it was to stimulate the American economy by pouring 100 billion dollars into the military-industrial complex, as well as ensure the re-election of GWB.

I had considered the stories of the oppression of the Iraqi people to be simply propoganda to sway the opinion of the American people...I mean, how come we don't do diddly-squat about the other nations where people are oppressed, huh?

But when these stories started proving out to be true, (it was the use of the shredding machine, as well as the accounts of Oday Hussein and the Iraqi athletes, and more) it made my blood boil, and made me change my mind.

I mean, American corporate/political criminals be damned; they will have their own Karma to deal with.

But this Hussein monster HAD to be taken out!! So I say, WELL DONE, everybody! And I'm sorry I didn't see it sooner.

And that's why I am a supporter now.

[Creatures]

nope nothing!

war is war, nobody can change this.

Creatures

[OuTpaTienT]

Yes. I'm not closed minded. As obviously some are.

[couch potato]

no

[CERuppel]

Yes, with reservations.

It would take a lot of hard facts to change my opinion that this war was one of america's lowest moments in history.

And yes, I grieve for all the people of world, and wish for them all that I have.

Neither changes the other in any way. Just as this war being a low point for america doesn't change the fact that it may well be a high point for Iraq. (I hope and pray).

Bye for now

I am still kinda sitting on the fence. But I would become more supportive of the war if information about Sadaam's threat to the rest of the world became obviously apparent.

Iraq is not the only, or even the worst IMO, tyranny. Yet the war on Iraq was forced because of the active threat he played to world security. Where is the evidence? Not available yet.

If it turns out the US was right in the reality and span of the threat, and not just theorising what could be happening, then I would support the full efforts of the allied forces.

But until they are justified in taking military action because of the present actual threat (IMO anyway), I think other steps could have been taken other than outright force.

That's my say.

Thanks for letting me have it.

Cheers
Mick

[caddmannq]

Nothing will change my mind. And I will support the men that fate has brought to lead us, for these reasons:

Everything done by our leaders is done in a cloud of circumstances.

Political motives surely enter into this.

But they alone are not enough.

The monstrosities of the Iraqi dictatorship weigh heavily.

Yet they alone were not enough.

The Arab/Israeli issue was a factor.

Again, hardly enough.

The pursuit of terrorism was a goal.

But not enough to start a war.

Revenge for the WTC attack surely entered into it.

But was not enough.

The Cole, the treachery of bin Laden, and all the other attacks & provocations of the last decades could not add up to war.

An unstable oil supply was not enough.

Iraq's obstanance in the face of sanctions couldn't do it.

Even the threat of WOMD in Iraqi hands was no inducement.

BUT:

Taken all together, these things we wanted, these things we knew, and these things we suspected added up to a sufficient and even compelling reason. Taken together, they were enough to put our fighting men and the population of Iraq in harm's way.

Without a doubt.

If, that is, you are an American, or if you share in the interests of America.

I really don't expect Europeans, Arabs, Asians, etc. to understand.

And IMHO, it's not ultimately important that they do.

It is OUR commitment, and OUR purpose, and OUR ideals that matter to us.

Oh, it's horrible to see our nation and it's leaders villified in the foreign presss, and in the UN, and especially in the hearts of those nations we have always counted as our allies and our brothers in the spirit of liberty.

But we will pay that price because this has, in the end, very little to do with America's pride.

It has to do with the morality and obligation to do what we have the capability to do, in the pursuit of evil; and the courage to do it in spite of the condemnation that befalls those that must do evil deeds to prevent or avenge some greater evil.

Man has, throughout history, hedged his responsibilities to God. And the path we travel will therefor, and thereby, never be a straight or clear one. We will always struggle with a conscience that must be satisfied by choosing the lesser of evils. We will always be saddled with the burden of killing the human monsters that need to be killed.

So that the victims of their evil might be spared.

We've been given power, and this is power's price: that our hand will ever be forced to wield it.

May God have mercy on the innocents that must fall in the wake of it's exercise.

Most sincerely,
CaddmannQ