10 years ago today.

[Critical Recovery]

The invasion was preceded by an air strike on the Presidential Palace in Baghdad on 19 March 2003. The following day coalition forces launched an incursion into Basra Province from their massing point close to the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border. While the special forces launched an amphibious assault from the Persian Gulf to secure Basra and the surrounding petroleum fields, the main invasion army moved into southern Iraq, occupying the region and engaging in the Battle of Nasiriyah on 23 March. Massive air strikes across the country and against Iraqi command and control threw the defending army into chaos and prevented an effective resistance. On 26 March the 173rd Airborne Brigade was airdropped near the northern city of Kirkuk where they joined forces with Kurdish rebels and fought several actions against the Iraqi army to secure the northern part of the country.

The main body of coalition forces continued their drive into the heart of Iraq and met with ineffective resistance. Most of the Iraqi military was quickly defeated and Baghdad was occupied on 9 April. Other operations occurred against pockets of the Iraqi army including the capture and occupation of Kirkuk on 10 April, and the attack and capture of Tikrit on 15 April. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the central leadership went into hiding as the coalition forces completed the occupation of the country. On 1 May an end of major combat operations was declared, ending the invasion period and beginning the military occupation period.

 

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[Mackaydon]

It wouldn't take that long in Syria.
Just saying......
Don....

 

[davest]

ten years ago today, we never thought the United States would use torture.

 

[Critical Recovery]

ten years ago today, we never thought the United States would use torture.

Can't resist can you?

 

[releventchair]

Former neighbor was over there for op. Storm. Nothing i read will have the same effect as being there. He did send some snapshots sorta in vids.
One time(at least) he had supervised help opening a care package we sent. He had some tales!. L.o.l.

 

[davest]

Can't resist can you?

No I can't. Take a step back and try to remember how the world thought of the United States of America prior to the invasion of Iraq.

 

[Mackaydon]

I remember in Aug. 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait. In January of '91, the US led a coalition of countries into Kuwait and in about 60 days or less, we ousted Saddam and his regime. The US and its coalition were the envy of the free world. Did I miss something?
Don.....

 

[Backbacon]

Forces occupied oil fields and the Ministry Of Oil building while they watched Irac's Museum get ransacked. How many US troops died after W had his big victory celebration/declaration May 1st on that aircraft carrier? I'm personally not too proud about the whole thing, it was like Mike Tyson attacking a blind puppy.

 

[Critical Recovery]

as predicted, my post about a simple historical fact that happened today has turned into an opportunity to bash the US military and snipe like 12 year olds.

Good Job.

 

[releventchair]

Ehhh, easy to be brave from a safe distance. Must have been a misunderstanding and we were supposed to applaud iracs action.
Its customary after silencing opposition to stand on a fence and crow to the neighbors that they are next. No one should intervene when it happens?
Just take what you want when you can.

 

[Dave44]

10 1/2 years ago I was amazed at the flood of passivist type Dems that were lining up to tell us about the dangers of weapons of mass destruction and atrocities Sadam was engaging in. Telling us that we Had to do something.

And 14 years ago it was pretty bad too.
Clinton Iraq has abused its last chance - CNN


Now davest. Why oh why can't you see that there is a lot of info available to discredit the kind of propaganda you keep espousing? I am sure you do not want me to fill this thread with it?

 

[BosnMate]

Thanks for your service C.R. By God I'm proud of you. Don't let those guys get you down, all they are doing is repeating political dribble and talking points, nothing original.

 

[Critical Recovery]

Thanks for your service C.R. By God I'm proud of you. Don't let those guys get you down, all they are doing is repeating political dribble and talking points, nothing original.

Thanks Boats.
Yours is one of the few opinions here that matters to me.

Thank YOU for YOURS.

 

[Rawhide]

We may have won the war. But that desert will surely be the death of us all.

 

[davest]

thanks for all the replies. Could you all maybe tell me the upside to the invasion after ten years? Just exactly has it benefitted the United States and why are there so many homeless vets?

 

[Backbacon]

as predicted, my post about a simple historical fact that happened today has turned into an opportunity to bash the US military and snipe like 12 year olds.

Good Job.

I was not bashing you or the US military. I was just stating a fact as you did. The US military did not make the decision to illegally invade Irac it was the Commander In Chief who wanted to finish off what daddy started. With all the other human atrocities going on in the world during that time being mostly unchecked and with no presence of any Taliban in Irac (Sadam executed any Taliban found in Irac) at the time, the world could see that it was all about oil and not saving anyone from a dictator. If it was about saving people from tyranny the US government would have had the military stay to finish the job no? If the US government gave a dam about Irac and it's people why did they use radioactive depleted Uranium rounds? 10 years and almost 125,000 civilian casualties later are they truly any better off now that the Taliban has been enabled to flood into Irac?

 

[Dave44]

You guys are such kidders Bacon, Selective memory only works for your friends!
Human rights in Saddam Hussein's Iraq - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Under Saddam-1979-2003
According to The New York Times, "he [Saddam] murdered as many as a million of his people, many with poison gas. He tortured, maimed and imprisoned countless more. His unprovoked invasion of Iran is estimated to have left another million people dead. His seizure of Kuwait threw the Middle East into crisis. More insidious, arguably, was the psychological damage he inflicted on his own land. Hussein created a nation of informants — friends on friends, circles within circles — making an entire population complicit in his rule".[SUP][9][/SUP] Other estimates as to the number of Iraqis killed by Saddam's regime vary from roughly a quarter to half a million,[SUP][10][/SUP][SUP][11][/SUP] including 50,000 to 182,000 Kurds and 25,000 to 280,000 killed during the repression of the 1991 rebellion.[SUP][12][/SUP][SUP][13][/SUP] Estimates for the number of dead in the Iran-Iraq war range upwards from 300,000.[SUP][14][/SUP][SUP][/SUP]"
Good luck bud!

 

[Backbacon]

You guys are such kidders Bacon, Selective memory only works for your friends!
Human rights in Saddam Hussein's Iraq - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Under Saddam-1979-2003
According to The New York Times, "he [Saddam] murdered as many as a million of his people, many with poison gas. He tortured, maimed and imprisoned countless more. His unprovoked invasion of Iran is estimated to have left another million people dead. His seizure of Kuwait threw the Middle East into crisis. More insidious, arguably, was the psychological damage he inflicted on his own land. Hussein created a nation of informants — friends on friends, circles within circles — making an entire population complicit in his rule".[SUP][9][/SUP] Other estimates as to the number of Iraqis killed by Saddam's regime vary from roughly a quarter to half a million,[SUP][10][/SUP][SUP][11][/SUP] including 50,000 to 182,000 Kurds and 25,000 to 280,000 killed during the repression of the 1991 rebellion.[SUP][12][/SUP][SUP][13][/SUP] Estimates for the number of dead in the Iran-Iraq war range upwards from 300,000.[SUP][14][/SUP][SUP][/SUP]"
Good luck bud!

Did I say anything about Sadam being a nice guy or that getting him out of power was a 100% bad thing to do? I personally think that it was not handled properly and feel that the invasion set a dangerous precedent that we are all seeing manifest in the world today. Unless the Pakistani people were thrilled about illegal military operations in their sovereign nation with the removal of Bin Laden? If the Coalition of the willing wanted to do what they did then they should have removed themselves from the UN first. Yes the world is a better place with both of them gone and please don't feel that I support the tyranny that they represented. The whole shoot first and ask questions later mentality when it comes to military action could never be the reason why anyone would want to spread terror and declare Jihad, would it?

 

[Dave44]

"The whole shoot first and ask questions later mentality when it comes to military action could never be the reason why anyone would want to spread terror and declare Jihad, would it?"

Easy there baco, there is a resounding, NO. You are grossly uninformed and dangerously so if you think that could be anywhere near a reasonable statement.

 

[Backbacon]

"The whole shoot first and ask questions later mentality when it comes to military action could never be the reason why anyone would want to spread terror and declare Jihad, would it?"

Easy there baco, there is a resounding, NO. You are grossly uninformed and dangerously so if you think that could be anywhere near a reasonable statement.

That's my opinion and if it's misinformed then please feel free to inform me. I have an open mind, if I'm wrong and receive more information, thus being properly informed, I will have no problem changing my perceived misinformed opinion.