Why the US Invaded Iraq

[LadyEagle]

Here, LB, the information is not that hard to find: Global Security is a non-biased source.

Iraq Coalition Troops
Non-US Forces in Iraq - February 2007
The size and capabilities of the Coalition forces involved in operations in Iraq has been a subject of much debate, confusion, and at times exageration. As of August 23, 2006, there were 21 non-U.S. military forces contributing armed forces to the Coalition in Iraq. These 21 countries were: Albania, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.
However, in the August 23, 2006 Iraq Weekly Status Report (Slide 27) the State Department listed 27 foreign countries as contributing troops to the Coalition in Iraq. The additional four countries were Japan, Portugal, Singapore and the Ukraine.

In addition, that same Weekly Status Report listed 34 countries (including the US) as maintaining personnel in Iraq (as part of the Coalition, UNAMI, or NATO). The State Department reported that Fiji was contributing troops though UNAMI and that Hungary, Iceland, Slovenia, and Turkey were assisting with the NATO training mission. However, it is unclear whether Hungary actually maintained any forces in Iraq as part of NATO or UNAMI since its government announced the complete withdrawal of troops in December 2004.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services committee on August 3, 2006, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld described the coalition in Iraq as composed of 34 allies (plus the US).

As of June 13, 2006, MNF-I reported that 27 countries (including the US) maintained responsibility over the six major areas of Iraq. Since that time, Japan has withdrawn all of its forces from Iraq.

For the purposes of this tally, only countries that contribute troops as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom are counted.

Countries which had troops in or supported operations in Iraq at one point but have pulled out since: Nicaragua (Feb. 2004); Spain (late-Apr. 2004); Dominican Republic (early-May 2004); Honduras (late-May 2004); Philippines (~Jul. 19, 2004); Thailand (late-Aug. 2004); New Zealand (late Sep. 2004); Tonga (mid-Dec. 2004) Portugal (mid-Feb. 2005); The Netherlands (Mar. 2005); Hungary (Mar. 2005); Singapore (Mar. 2005); Norway (Oct. 2005); Ukraine (Dec. 2005); Japan (July 17, 2006); Italy (Nov. 2006); Slovakia (Jan 2007).

Countries planning to withdraw from Iraq: Poland had earlier claimed that it would withdraw all soldiers by the end of 2006. It however extended the mandate of its contingent through at least mid-2007. Denmark announced that it would withdraw its troop contingent by August 2007.

Countries which have recently reduced or are planning to reduce their troop commitment: South Korea is planning to withdraw up to 1000 soldiers by the end of 2006. Poland withdrew 700 soldiers in Feb. 2005. Between May 2005 and May 2006, the United Kingdom reduced the size of its contingent by 1,300. The United Kingdom also is planning to reduce significantly the size of its contingent by the end of 2007, with an initial reduction of 1,600 troops followed by an additional 500 troops by end of 2007.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat_coalition.htm

 

[Jim1999]

You forgot to mention that whilst Canada did not join for her own reasons, but did have existing forces in Kuwait who did play an active role with the allied forces.

Cheers,

Jim

 

[Revmitchell]

I will have to do some checking but I don't recall their being 30 countries involved. The list I recall is;

US
Brits
Australia
Spain (who withdrew after the train station was bombed)
Poland and Kuwait

You say there were 30? Do you have a link?

I also don't recall many democrats voting for the war but that really doesn't matter. Let me do some checking before I respond...

First let me say that the fact that you could list more countries than the US means you clearly understood that you were giving misinformation when you said we wnt in Iraq alone. But here is a link;

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat_coalition.htm

 

[carpro]

One may not have purpose for a thread; one can, however, wallow in their confusion displaying it for all to see.

Wallowing in their ignorance and hate is another good way to put it.

The same tired refrains and lies have been hashed and rehashed.

The war that was "lost" has now been won. Obama's main task now is to let it end the way it's planned and agreed with the Iraqis or find a way to turn victory into defeat.


"nuff said.

 

[Dragoon68]

I thought it was false intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction.

Cheers,

Jim

You thought wrong!

 

[OldRegular]

You thought wrong!

Well the whacky left has been screaming for years that it was OIL. And little old me would never question the whacky left.:laugh:

 

[LeBuick]

First let me say that the fact that you could list more countries than the US means you clearly understood that you were giving misinformation when you said we wnt in Iraq alone. But here is a link;

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat_coalition.htm

If we had this much support, could have just waited on the UN... :thumbs:

 

[Revmitchell]

If we had this much support, could have just waited on the UN... :thumbs:

The UN as we know it now was taking kick backs from the oil for food program. It is an evil organization that would never had voted to end their illegal money supply.

 

[Dragoon68]

Well the whacky left has been screaming for years that it was OIL. And little old me would never question the whacky left.:laugh:

We haven't heard much from them about oil lately. I'm still looking for that ship convoy of tankers bringing all that "stolen" oil to America. They just haven't made it to port yet I guess!

 

[Dragoon68]

If we had this much support, could have just waited on the UN... :thumbs:

We "waited" ten years and then we did something about it and it seems to be working out okay. While we were "waiting" we were doing a whole lot just to enforce the outcome of the first war with Iraq. We did a lot, we do a lot, and, hopefully, we'll keep doing a lot.

 

[OldRegular]

We haven't heard much from them about oil lately. I'm still looking for that ship convoy of tankers bringing all that "stolen" oil to America. They just haven't made it to port yet I guess!

Just waiting for the price to go back up, no doubt about it!:laugh: I know! I know! They are waiting for Jan 20, then Bush can make all that money.:thumbs: Course they may have to scrape a few barnacles offen them big boats been sittin out there somewhere.:laugh:

 

[LeBuick]

We haven't heard much from them about oil lately. I'm still looking for that ship convoy of tankers bringing all that "stolen" oil to America. They just haven't made it to port yet I guess!

Not saying taking the oil out of Saddam's hands was the worst of ideas, I just think we went about it the wrong way. However, Saddam singularly controlled a large portion of the energy that fueled this country which I will agree was a scary idea. What is more scary is Iran taking control once we leave Iraq.

 

[Bible-boy]

Seems that Bush went from one reason to another.

From a speech given by Bush in October 2002:

Eleven years ago, as a condition for ending the Persian Gulf War, the Iraqi regime was required to destroy its weapons of mass destruction, to cease all development of such weapons, and to stop all support for terrorist groups. The Iraqi regime has violated all of those obligations. It possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons. It has given shelter and support to terrorism, and practices terror against its own people. The entire world has witnessed Iraq's eleven-year history of defiance, deception and bad faith.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/20021007-8.html

Well, those reasons didn't pan out as true.

What are you talking about? Everything the President said in the above quoted material is 100% true.

The Iraqi government under Saddam used chemical/biological weapons against the Kurds in Northern Iraq in 1987-88 and again against the Shiite uprising after signing the original 1991 Cease-fire Agreement with the U.S. (and a second similarly worded Cease-fire resolution with the U.N. one month later).

http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/news-2006-08-24a.html

http://hnn.us/articles/1242.html

http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2006_01-02/JANFEB-IraqSarin

The U.S. military found chemical weapons containing Sarin gas etc. and the materials and equipment used to make such weapons in Iraq.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=060622055545.07o4imol&show_article=1

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,120137,00.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4997808/

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_/ai_n14548076

The U.S. military found 550 metric tons of yellow cake uranium in Iraq.

http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2008_09/IraqUranium

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/07/the_550_tons_of_yellowcake.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/05/world/main4235028.shtml

The U.S. military found Iraqi sponsored terrorist training camps where they taught terrorists using an airline fuselage etc.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/khodada.html

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/550kmbzd.asp

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iraq/salman_pak.htm

Saddam's government offered a $25,000 payment to the families of Palestinian Suicide Bombers in Israel.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/03/world/main505316.shtml

http://www.husseinandterror.com/

http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/decade/sect5.html

http://nationalreview.com/comment/comment-kengor040103.asp

Fianlly, the mass graves and torture chambers found by the U.S. military after the fall of Saddam's government prove that Iraq under his leadership practiced terror on its own people.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/12/19/iraq.torture.complex/index.html?iref=newssearch

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7154856.stm

http://www.usaid.gov/press/mediaadvisories/2004/ma040722.html

Your opening statement and premise has been proven to be completely false which makes your entire line of argument invalid. Therefore, there is no further need to address the remaining statements in the OP or this thread in general.

 

[Dragoon68]

What are you talking about? Everything the President said in the above quoted material is 100% true.

The Iraqi government under Saddam used chemical/biological weapons against the Kurds in Northern Iraq in 1987-88 and again against the Shiite uprising after signing the original 1991 Cease-fire Agreement with the U.S. (and a second similarly worded Cease-fire resolution with the U.N. one month later).

http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/news-2006-08-24a.html

http://hnn.us/articles/1242.html

http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2006_01-02/JANFEB-IraqSarin

The U.S. military found chemical weapons containing Sarin gas etc. and the materials and equipment use to make such weapons in Iraq.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=060622055545.07o4imol&show_article=1

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,120137,00.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4997808/

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_/ai_n14548076

The U.S. military found 550 metric tons of yellow cake uranium in Iraq.

http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2008_09/IraqUranium

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/07/the_550_tons_of_yellowcake.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/05/world/main4235028.shtml

The U.S. military found Iraqi sponsored terrorist training camps where they taught terrorists using an airline fuselage etc.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/khodada.html

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/550kmbzd.asp

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iraq/salman_pak.htm

Saddam's government offered a $25,000 payment to the families of Palestinian Suicide Bombers in Israel.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/03/world/main505316.shtml

http://www.husseinandterror.com/

http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/decade/sect5.html

http://nationalreview.com/comment/comment-kengor040103.asp

Fianlly, the mass graves and torture chambers found by the U.S. military after the fall of Saddam's government prove that Iraq under his leadership practiced terror on its own people.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/12/19/iraq.torture.complex/index.html?iref=newssearch

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7154856.stm

http://www.usaid.gov/press/mediaadvisories/2004/ma040722.html

Your opening statement and premise has been proven to be completely false which makes your entire line of argument invalid. Therefore, there is no further need to address the remaining statements in the OP or this thread in general.

I'm glad we did what we did to stop Saddam before he had the chance to do more harm to his own people, to his neighbors, and to us. What our warriors have accomplished was not in vain and despite all the naysayers they've done it very well. Thanksgiving was a great time to have given thanks for this blessing and to remember the price paid to accomplish what's been done. I greatly respect those that have the courage, determination, and resolve to see a plan through and to "do what has to be done" despite the odds, despite the complaining, despite the doubting, and despite the set backs and failures along the way.