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Ok, I really hate so say this, but this has hardly been the first time the US has gone into an unnecessary war. While you have also entered necessary wars, for

Ok, I really hate so say this, but this has hardly been the first time the US has gone into an unnecessary war. While you have also entered necessary wars, for which we, the other western countries, are truly grateful, you simply cannot say that with the Bush administration this is the first time something like this happens. For me, an anonymous person living in the Netherlands, it feels like these things happen whenever a republican president is elected. The world expects this, goes along with it, and personally I'm afraid of what will happen when the first republican president post-Obama is elected. Giving dr Reece this much heat is unfair and missing Grellas' very important point: just like freedom of speech is very important to a free press, freedom of political beliefs are very important in a free market.

janj 13y ago
Besides the civil war what others have the US started?
- clarky07 13y ago
  Whether we started them or not is mostly irrelevant. We've joined and extended plenty of wars, and given 9/11 I'd say we didn't "start" Iraq and Afghanistan out of the blue. We just didn't know exactly who we were supposed to be fighting. According to this [1] the US has been in ~117 wars (if I counted right) in 238 years. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_Unit...
clarky07 13y ago
Making this a R vs D thing is silly. Vietnam was Democrat president. Obama has extended our current wars. Most of our wars have had public support at the beginning, and lost them over time. And as you noted, we've also been instrumental in necessary wars to everyone's benefit. Hindsight is great and all, but sometimes whether or not a war is necessary can't be seen at the outset. If Saddam had a nuke (and believe me he was certainly trying to get one even if he didn't have one yet), everyone would have considered the Iraq war to be necessary and Bush wouldn't be universally hated. Also, I find it interesting how much sentiment has changed since 2001. After 9/11 everyone was scared, and everyone wanted to find the people responsible and anyone who helped them. 13 years later nobody seems to remember that. The Iraq war was overwhelmingly supported at the beginning. Apparently people just wanted it to be over in 2 weeks.
- stingraycharles 13y ago
  You are correct that this shouldn't be made a R vs D thing, since that completely besides the point. I agree with all other points you
  - stingraycharles 13y ago
    + make (sorry I can't figure out how to edit a post on this iOS client)
- kenrikm 13y ago
  WW2 Democrat, Korea Republican, Vietnam Democrat, Grenada and Panama Republican (if they even count), First Gulf War Republican, Kosovo Democrat, Second gulf war / Afghanistan Republican. To me it seems that there is not clear pattern, the most I can get out of it "if there is a president, then we might go to war"
  - clarky07 13y ago
    > "if there is a president, then we might go to war" That's great. According to wikipedia, we've been in 117 wars in 238 years. I'd say you're pretty much right on there.
  - nickff 13y ago
    Truman was the president when the US stepped in to help South Korea, and he was a Democrat, not a Republican.
    - kenrikm 13y ago
      Good catch, for some reason I thought Ike was in power at that point.

janj 13y ago

Besides the civil war what others have the US started?

clarky07 13y ago
Whether we started them or not is mostly irrelevant. We've joined and extended plenty of wars, and given 9/11 I'd say we didn't "start" Iraq and Afghanistan out of the blue. We just didn't know exactly who we were supposed to be fighting. According to this [1] the US has been in ~117 wars (if I counted right) in 238 years. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_Unit...

clarky07 13y ago

Making this a R vs D thing is silly. Vietnam was Democrat president. Obama has extended our current wars. Most of our wars have had public support at the beginning, and lost them over time. And as you noted, we've also been instrumental in necessary wars to everyone's benefit. Hindsight is great and all, but sometimes whether or not a war is necessary can't be seen at the outset. If Saddam had a nuke (and believe me he was certainly trying to get one even if he didn't have one yet), everyone would have considered the Iraq war to be necessary and Bush wouldn't be universally hated. Also, I find it interesting how much sentiment has changed since 2001. After 9/11 everyone was scared, and everyone wanted to find the people responsible and anyone who helped them. 13 years later nobody seems to remember that. The Iraq war was overwhelmingly supported at the beginning. Apparently people just wanted it to be over in 2 weeks.

stingraycharles 13y ago
You are correct that this shouldn't be made a R vs D thing, since that completely besides the point. I agree with all other points you
- stingraycharles 13y ago
  + make (sorry I can't figure out how to edit a post on this iOS client)
kenrikm 13y ago
WW2 Democrat, Korea Republican, Vietnam Democrat, Grenada and Panama Republican (if they even count), First Gulf War Republican, Kosovo Democrat, Second gulf war / Afghanistan Republican. To me it seems that there is not clear pattern, the most I can get out of it "if there is a president, then we might go to war"
- clarky07 13y ago
  > "if there is a president, then we might go to war" That's great. According to wikipedia, we've been in 117 wars in 238 years. I'd say you're pretty much right on there.
- nickff 13y ago
  Truman was the president when the US stepped in to help South Korea, and he was a Democrat, not a Republican.
  - kenrikm 13y ago
    Good catch, for some reason I thought Ike was in power at that point.