If you don't like the war in Iraq, are you Anti-American?

[Buddy Lee]

The only true patriots are those who support this war....right?

[Gillgitter]

I support the war. I can't put my feelings into words any better then what JasonG wrote in the other thread.

I don't doubt someones patriotism for having an opposing view on this conflict. However, I doubt someone that has no view!

[JasonG]

Let me answer the question this way.

Ones patriotism is not determined by whether one opposes this war or not. I think what concerns me is the reasons that are given for not supporting this war do not represent the best of what America stands for. The reasons given for not supporting the war do not streghten America nor make us safer. In my opinion the reason for not supporting the war leads down a path of less control of our own fate and leaving ourselves at the will of the global community.

[Moron]

I supported the toppling of sadam, and don't consider those with different views unpatriotic.
What I don't support is the undefined(at least in my mind) point at which, if ever our troops will be removed.
If you measure stability by our standards, it will never happen. If you measure it by middle eastern standards, slap them silly, turn the country over to them 6/30/04, leave with your head held high and fear of having us return.:) Their chances of maintaining their freedom is much better if it's paid for with their blood not ours.

[Bucktail Butch]

Moron,

I couldn't agree with you more. We need to get out with our heads held high. Saddam is in custody, his sons are dead and it's time for the oppressed people of Iraq to take over, get rid of the radical remnants and set up a new regime. But.............

We need to do it right. I will never forget or forgive the Clinton "Bugout" from Mogadishu or the political mismanagement of the Vietnam war. If and when you fight, you had better by God fight to win and let the chips fall where they may. Rules of engagement, my *****!!!! If "innocent" civilians become casualties, it's often because they had the opportunity to better their lot in life by becoming proactive but chose sit back and wait for somebody else to do their dirty work and ended up in the way. Unfortunately, as General Sherman said, "War is all hell".

When I see pictures like those of the mobs who killed and desecrated the bodies of the the four Americans last week in Falusia or the Somalies in Modadishu dancing around and celebrating, I can't help thinking about all the good that a minigun run, a full Cobra load of fleshettes or fast movers with napalm would do. Politically correct? No. Effective and likely to deliver a message? Damn straight!! But, I digress....

Iraq is fast becoming a waste of our time and resources. We would be better advised to concentrate on the War on Terrorism, as opposed to Empire Building.

Butch

[kingfisher 11]

After to reading the choices I could not really check any of them.

I think it is OK to oppose the war. With that being said, I think why you oppose it means more then your patriotic stance. If you oppose it strictly for political party reasons this is wrong. If you oppose it because you just can't stand Bush, I think that is wrong.
On the other side if you firmly believe it is wrong for other reasons, then I don't think your unpatriotic. How you oppose it may determine your patriotic stance more then your opposition.

If your oppositon is calling the soldiers coming home baby killers, then I call you a trader.

[Ranger Ray]

If you are against the war in Iraq, are you Anti-American
Thats silly! Freedom to speak your mind is what a democracy is all about. ;)

[Kevin]

No.
Being against the war, in and of itself, does not make you patriotic either.

[Dick Graves]

I personally despise the fact that we invaded this third world country. I totally support our President and I especially, strongly support our troops & their families.

What we need is totally unbiased news reports from the people of Iraq, not just the luntaics but the honest law abiding people of Iraq. Viloence sells newspapers and T.V. ads, complacency sells nothing.

Things may change, it will take time. 4.5 million Iraq citizens left their country under Sad Mans rule, they are starting to return home. Hopefully just one of these 4.5 million people will have the courage and the brains to turn this god forsaken country around and get our people out of there. Hopefully they do it quick, like in the morning:eek:

[Moron]

Bucktail Butch
Iraq is fast becoming a waste of our time and resources. We would be better advised to concentrate on the War on Terrorism, as opposed to Empire Building.

Agreed.
Nation building has little to do with fighting terrorism, and will most likely end up creating more. I think one of the founding fathers(can't remember which offhand) was quoted as stating something to the effect that, the people of any nation deserve the government they have. We've relieved the burden of sadam from the shoulders of the iraqis, the rest should be up to them. Better to leave them with the fear of posing a threat to us than to generate the hate of an occuping foriegn power.

History is awful revealing of the fate of those nations who indulge in empire building.

[Chris_Davis]

To dissent is American, heck it's how we built our country. However, being against a war that frees millions of people, who have been oppressed for such a long time, flies in the face of the American Spirit. I realize there are a ton of countries that have ruthless dictators and it would be nice to remove them all, but we have to pick our battles carefully. Iraq is a good target, they have a resource that is in huge demand. This gives them an economic base to help with recovery. Countries like Afghanistan will have a much longer and tougher road to recovery. Their only resource is manpower, with the anti-outsoucing attitude that many Americans and Europeans have will make recovery almost impossible.

[Moron]

I realize there are a ton of countries that have ruthless dictators and it would be nice to remove them all, but we have to pick our battles carefully.

From our European "allies" to those currently on our most wanted list, I'd say we should also pick our friends more carefully.;)

[ytlabs]

No Way does it mean you are not patriotic if you do not support the war.

With that said I have been in support of the war. I was given a strange look the other evening when this latest eruption took off. We were watching the news, and My 13 year old son who is pretty sharp on world events and politics. Seen the people uprising and protesting the americans in favor of this religious leader.

I simply stated there is the perfect opprotunity to rid ourselves of some trouble. He asked "how?" I told him those people are going to be against us and plot against our troops best thing to do is shoot them all as they stand. Again as stated above, Not correct but it would help.

I am sorry to say that the religiuos leaders have now succeeded this is abotu to become a religious war. That is a war we CAN NOT WIN!! We did our job as said above hand them the government and hold our heads high. This is going to be a government that hates America. just as every other milddle east country.

Sad to say but the fact is we can not and will nto change these people or their views without changing their religious views first. It has been drilled into them since the begining of slam that they are right all others are wrong and they need not tolerate or get along with those who are not of their belief.

It just got UGLY again over their and we are about to take some casualties. I say we stick it out until June and walk away.

I also think we should let it be known as we walk away we are leaving the door open for Isreal to do whatever they feel they need to do to secure themselves and the region.

Anyone who doubts the Isrealie army severly underestimates a group of soldiers. They are amazing to watch in action.

[YPSIFLY]

We did the right thing by taking Saddam and killing his sons.

Let's let the Iraqi's settle their own problems. In the mean time, we should get some oil for our efforts. Surround and control the fields, let the urban areas take care of themselves.

[WILDCATWICK]

Ypsifly :In the mean time, we should get some oil for our efforts. Surround and control the fields, let the urban areas take care of themselves.

We should not be in colonization game! If we do take control of all their oil we are just feeding fuel into the fire. Middle east countries and terrorist will use that as a claim that we are on a quest to take over everywhere and dominate the world. I don't think using their oil is a very good idea unless we pay for it. I also don't think the country is ready to be handed over to the citizens of Iraq. To me, this is starting to get ugly quick. We are losing control of most small citys in Iraq. They are taking military and citizen hostages and it appears more and more that Iraq will be taken over by Shite Muslum extreamist. I'm not sure what is worst Sadam or Shite extreamist? Both use terror tactics on their own people but there is something extrodinary when you introduce religion in to a cause. The people of Iraq are now fighting back against americans using religion as cause and not the fear of Sadam. Can you say Iran:mad:
We have a bunch of U.S. citizens in Iraq and they are starting to be taken hostatge. How are we going to get that country on track? I smell a major religious overtaking of Iraq and we are going to be in their way.

[TheFlyfisher]

Ranger Ray said it the best!!!!

[Jackster1]

Ranger Ray said it the best!!!!

What did he say? :confused:

[MiketheElder]

I still don't think it's a religious war. My opinion, as stated in a different thread, is that the bad guys must have seen that Saddam was weak and ripe for the taking. They were getting ready to take him out themselves. We attempted to beat them to the punch. Unfortunately the U. S. stragetizers probably expected the bad guys to come out of hiding and fight right alongside Saddam's troops. Didn't happen. They stayed hidden, biding their time, and now they are just waiting for June 30. I think the June 30 return to Iraqui sovereignty will be a disaster. Our guys will become sitting ducks with no political control. Is June 30 a troop pullout? I don't think so. It's a change in politics, that's all.

I was against the invasion from the start until I saw all those kids running free from those jails. That's when I changed my mind and was glad we did it. I still feel terrible each time I hear of another U.S. GI getting killed or injured. But I shudder to think what the world would be like if the terrorists we're seeing now gain control of Iraq and it's resources. The French and Germans and other pacifist nations would continue to buy all the oil the bad guys could pump. Terrorists as rich as Saudi shieks!! Imagine the havoc they could create then.

Big Mike U.S Army 1969-1972 Lucky enough to spend my time in Japan and Thailand. Saw thousands of GI s go through the hospital.

[WILDCATWICK]

But I shudder to think what the world would be like if the terrorists we're seeing now gain control of Iraq and it's resources. The French and Germans and other pacifist nations would continue to buy all the oil the bad guys could pump. Terrorists as rich as Saudi shieks!! Imagine the havoc they could create then.
That's the direction I'm seeing this thing going right now. I don't beleive there was a good plan in place on how to deal with Iraq once we one the war. Iraq was not a big terrorist state at the time we went to war with them. It was a dictatorship state. They waged conventional war through chemical weapons on religius sects and neighborhing countries. Now that has all changed. We may have thought we were doing the right thing but this may have been a huge error in the war on terrorism. Once we hand the Iraq over to Iraqi's and the people get sick and tired of seeing our troops on the corners throughout their country it is only a matter of time before they demand us to leave or they try to take out our troops by continuing and increasing the terror tactics we are now seeing Iraqi Shite Muslimsn use. If we leave we gave in to terror tactics not conventional war tactics. They are really trying to hit us where it hurts by not mostly going after are allys to try to get them to turn their back on us. We may get what Bush wanted...forget allys, forget the U.N. it's us versus all. :banghead3

So to sum up, if we leave we lost our first battle in the war on terror but Bush will tell us we won the war on Sadam. What is more important? :Modified_

[Dick Graves]

Personally, I don't think we can win this war. We, the U.S. have never been able to win a war against "guerillas" :evilsmile Simple thought :cheeky-sm They will seek to immoblize and isolate a occupying force, the U.S. & our allies, and destroy us. Our problem, they really don't give a hoot about life. We do. This was a very bad decesion and will haunt us for years to come.

Imagine, one million people trying to disarm 80 million Americans with guns.

God bless our men in women who we have put in harms way :Modified_

The really big issue in 2004 is that it is an election year, but we cannot forget the almost 1,000 lives that have been sacrficied in this mess that we are all involved in. I dislike everything involved in this campaign. :evilsmile

I see another Viet Nam in the making, fighting a war against an unkown enemy. Much like the war on drugs. Very difficult to win, if you fail to recognize your enemy. :coolgleam :rant:

[fishin' fin]

Dick, this smells like bait, but I agree with you you to a point. :D

[dogjaw]

After to reading the choices I could not really check any of them.

I think it is OK to oppose the war. With that being said, I think why you oppose it means more then your patriotic stance. If you oppose it strictly for political party reasons this is wrong. If you oppose it because you just can't stand Bush, I think that is wrong.
On the other side if you firmly believe it is wrong for other reasons, then I don't think your unpatriotic. How you oppose it may determine your patriotic stance more then your opposition.

If your oppositon is calling the soldiers coming home baby killers, then I call you a trader.
That's EXACTLY what I was going to say. You saved me some time spell checking.