It's been over a year now since our President took our military into battle in Iraq. Over the last 20 months we have been told so many reasons for why we had to do this that it is hard to remember them all. Here is why our President said we were doing this on March 19, 2003:

Our nation enters this conflict reluctantly -- yet, our purpose is sure. The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder. We will meet that threat now, with our Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Marines, so that we do not have to meet it later with armies of fire fighters and police and doctors on the streets of our cities.

Basically for two reasons then: He possesses WMD and to preempt his attack on us. Two days earlier we were treated with the ultimatum in which many reasons were laid out. They included his current possession and prior use of WMD, his history of aggression, his hatred of America, his terror ties, he's an imminent threat, we must preempt his attack on us, he hasn't disarmed, regime change and last but not least the liberation of Iraqis. The liberation point was driven home when our President said, "And all Iraqi military and civilian personnel should listen carefully to this warning. In any conflict, your fate will depend on your action. Do not destroy oil wells, a source of wealth that belongs to the Iraqi people." These, obviously, are not the only reasons we went but the ones our President spoke about when we went in.

Now since then many of these have either turned out to be false or are just not mentioned anymore. Now all we hear about is liberation and democracy. From who/what were we liberating them from when we invaded? Saddam Hussein, right? He is now gone. So why aren't we? Take a look at what this former General in the Carter and Reagan administrations that is a conservative Republican has to say about Iraq, Looking for the exit. It is now time to stop fcusing on why we went. The question now that needs to be discussed is why are we staying?
- posted by Mom/Dad @ 12:26 PM