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Originally Posted by Willravel
You can use your military to impose your will if you're willing to ignore the law and morality, sure. The biggest problem with our occupation was it was impossible. The US doesn't do "occupations" anymore (at least doesn't win them) , because we can't maintain law and order in a country where the occupants don't want us there. The problem with our occupation? It was impossible. Short of having 25 million American troops on the ground, it was unreasonable from day one.
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One way of a nation imposing its will on another country is by using its military. There are other methods. We can impose our will through cultural means, which is one reason Muslim extremists dislike the West. Another method is economic, many countries have evolved strictly based on their ability to trade with economically powerful countries. Some would argue that the use of a beautiful woman (i.e.-Nefertiti) was enough to impose one nation's will upon another, at least for a brief time. Missionaries have been used to tame the "savages" in other nations as a mean of imposing one nation's will on another. The UN uses guilt to try to impose its will on the US. So, I am not sure why you would think one form of "imposing will" is better or worse than another. It is what it is. And by the way, using the military does not have to result in in more or less death than other methods. The cold war between the US and USSR was clearly military without blood. Sometimes all you need is a show of force.
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Had we marched on Baghdad in 1991, we'd be in year 17 of the occupation (as the UN wouldn't have backed us then, either) and we'd still be losing. Or Clinton would have pulled out and been considered a hero for it. George H. W. Bush would go down in history as a war criminal and W. Bush likely never would have been elected.
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If my aunt had testicles, she'd be my uncle.
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How was Saddam a threat, Ace?
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Ask the people he had killed. Ask the Kuwait, the country he attacked. Ask Israel, the country he bombed. Ask the UN, the international body that subjected him to inspections and monitoring for some reason. Ask Clinton. Ask Congress. Ask the countries who assisted us. Ask our jet pilots who were fired upon as they flew their missions. Ask the victims of suicide bombers, suicide bombers who were told they would be given money for their families. Asking me is pointless, I have already stated what I would have done and why. Everyone who ever talked to me on the subject prior to our invasion of Iraq knew my opinion. People knew Bush's opinion too, long before he made his formal case for war.