iraq again

[MannyIsGod]

Is it "moral" to leave a brutal dictator in power when you have the power to remove him?

however, our country does not promote a policy of removing every brutal dictator. in fact, we have a history of placing them in power do we not/ we also support quite a few of them at the moment.

so, explain to me how that bears relevance/ if we went in to remove this dictator, why do we support others/

marcus, you know damn well that we didn't go into iraq because we wanted to save the iraqi people. don't use that stupid .

[Tommy Duncan]

Just because the US does not have a policy of removing every brutal dictator that does not mean that taking out Hussein was not "moral."

Is it "moral" to leave a threat to our national security in power just to increase one's reelection chances?

Anyways, we went into Iraq to remove a threat to our national security.

This has been covered approximately 8,493 times in this forum.

[MannyIsGod]

matt, i'm not looking for commentary.

op-ed peices are a dime a dozen

i'm interested in studies.

to be fair, some of the links you provided did have studies, such as at cato -

www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-502es.html
"Iraq: The Wrong War" by Charles V. Peña, Cato Policy Analysis No. 502, December 15, 2003.

www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-505es.html
"Can Iraq be Democratic?" by Patrick Basham, Cato Policy Analysis No. 505, January 5, 2004.

from herritage

www.heritage.org/Research.../hl844.cfm
Post-Conflict Operations from Europe to Iraq
by James Jay Carafano, Ph.D.
Heritage Lecture #844:spam2

i'm looking for in depth studies done by many people. i didn't find that at any of those sites. i'm sick of commentary, everyone has an opinion and it all means jack if it's not backed up with facts.

[Joe Chalupa]

There are plenty more countries that are a "threat" to the US.

Also keep in mind that there countries who look at the US as a "threat". I'm just glad none of them are stupid enough to think that a "pre-emptive" war against is an option.

Semper Fi!!!!

[MannyIsGod]

yeah, i'll add that to the list of reasons given in this forum, because i was responding to people saying that we went to fight the terrorists in iraq versus here.

now, i can buy that we went to remove a national security threat, as that shoudl be the justification for most wars.

however, that brings me back to my origional point that none of the supporters of the war in here are willing to acknowledge that it may not have had the desired effect, and bringing about more of a national security threat, thereby making it a mistake.

[Tommy Duncan]

You asked for reports from "conservative think tanks" and you are surprised to find "commentary"?

Beam me up.

[MannyIsGod]

initialy i asked for studies, i figured conservative think tanks would have conducted some simmilar to others that have been done.

[Tommy Duncan]

Well you just pointed out 3 "studies" from "conservative think tanks" above.

Can you provide me with some "studies" from wherever (I don't care, I'm not picky) about the impact of leaving Hussein in power?

[Whottt]

however, our country does not promote a policy of removing every brutal dictator. in fact, we have a history of placing them in power do we not/ we also support quite a few of them at the moment.

What brutal dictator did we place in power? And what were our alternatives?

so, explain to me how that bears relevance/ if we went in to remove this dictator, why do we support others/

Most others haven't violated the conditions of their surrender in war that was waged against them after they invaded another country.

marcus, you know damn well that we didn't go into iraq because we wanted to save the iraqi people. don't use that stupid .

Of course not..we went into Iraq in our own interests and defense...the fact that we are liberating them from a brutal dictator is secondary and supposed to appease the antiwar segment of the American population who value American lives below all others and think it is a crime for us to defend ourselves.

[Joe Chalupa]

I always thought it was kind of strange everytime I would hear about a tragedy somewhere in the World and they would say, "A plane went down killing all 200 aboard....no word on how many were Americans"....does it really matter?
200 PEOPLE ARE DEAD!!

But I'm all for defending America!

[Whottt]

In a plane accident I'd feel the same way. In a war environment I'm more concerned about ours than those that might be killing them. Because ours are fighting for me...not to have me praying to Allah 5 times a day.