XDA

Rog,

I can ask my father but let us examine the facts as I know them:

1. Japan attacked us. Not much choice as to whether we could do ought but declare war on that country.

2. Japan, Germany, and Italy were allies--you remember, the original Axis of Evil--and it was certainly apparent that Germany was bent on European, African, a Asian conquest all of which were manifestly against our national interests. No real choice there.

3. No matter how you perform the legal analysis or cook the books, the invasion of Iraq was definitely optional. An elective war as it were. Now an elective civil war.

So when parents question why their daughters or sons are whisked home to Dover AFB in steel caskets far from the flashes of photographers cameras as a result of being blown up by an IED, it is a legitimate question. B/c our invasion of Iraq was entirely voluntary, unless you buy the adminmistration's smoke that the war in Iraq is the central front in the war against terrorism, which I do not, some mothers and fathers may blame the president.

Regards,

T
 

You are correct about Germany and Italy but wrong about Germany and Japan. We had to fight Japan, we did not have to fight Germany (and yes I'm aware they declared war on us December 8th or 9th, 1941) Remember the phony war October, 1939--May 1940? You don't have to fight after you've declared war. You certainly don't have to invade Vichy French Africa, which is what we did first about Germany. Saddam invaded Quwait. We no longer declare war but we got a UN mandate (like with Korea) to end that war and we ceased firing with Iraq agreeing on about a dozen major points and Saddam chose to do next to none of them. We gave him an ultimatum a decade plus later to do what he promised, he didn't, war was back on. You are right to think that after a decade plus we could have kept going as we seem to be willing to do with North Korea (no matter what they do) but don't tell me we started the war or it was an elective. Given what had happened here on 9/11, a forward defense is an excellent idea and getting rid of Saddam was just a bonus, with less than 3 killed per day in a nation of 25 million. That is an insignificant butcher's bill (although each death and serious wound is a tragedy for the family friends of the soldier). I think the choice to take out Saddam was about as serious a choice as to invade Africa (which resulted in a lot more casualties than Iraq and Afghanistan combined) to fight the nation that didn't attack us.
I just wish the mothers and lefties would be more angry at the Jihadis as they are at our President, who did not cause the 9/11 attack anymore than Roosevelt caused Pearl Harbor, and is doing a fair to good job in the War the Jihadis are waging against us. Is that too much to ask? Seriously, you need to reevaluate some war values. Noscitur a sociis. Thanks for the thoughtful comment, old bud.