originally posted in:Sapphire
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Was it justified?
The justification most people use is that Iraq was believed (without actual evidence) of having nuclear weapons, and the fact the government was run by an evil dictator.
However, there were no nuclear weapons and nor had they the capability to launch them at the US. The war brought Al-Qaeda into the country and created a civil war between the the two main religions (granted, that was more or less unpredictable).
Still, you can't go to war over a baseless threat. There simply was no evidence Iraq had any nuclear weapons other than Saddam Hussein's threats.
And of course evil dictators must always be brought down, but not by a full blown war. There are many other countries standing right now that have evil dictators, but you solve the issue through revolutions like the Arab Spring. If the people want it, then help them, but you can't force it onto them.
What's your opinion on the Iraq War?
EDIT: I forgot to mention that this war paid on credit - one of the most unintelligent decisions ever made in US history since Hoover's inaction during the Great Depression.
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Was it justified? Interesting question actually. After 9/11, Bush stated two things: One was that the United States would retaliate against our enemies, which we did by going into Afghanistan. That was justified. Retaliation was always fair game in world politics, so there was really no problem there. The second was that the United States would preemptively strike any country that was going to attack the United States. If you believe that the Bush actually thought there were 'weapons of mass destruction' in Iraq, and if you believe Bush thought with all his heart they really were going to attack, then I'd say yes, it was justified. Personally though, I'm not sure whether or not he really did think there were WMD there or not. I haven't drawn a conclusion on that.