What exactly is the war in Iraq about? A lot of people say it is for the oil and that makes sense. But i cant believe that our soldiers are dying in Iraq for nothing more than oil thats cruel and its a waste of our army!

trying to relieve the people of iraq from the oppresssionist dictator saddam and help them establish their own government without fear of being overthrown by another dictator. many will make the arguement of oil which i can see as a side point but think about the price of gasoline before we went in now its higher obviously that wasnt a main reason, because if people just started driving vehicles that were economical to their needs then we'd cut our consumption by more than what iraq provides us with.

Saddam was a bad man, everybody agrees..... where the western world differs is why the US/UK invaded... but to be honest it doesnt matter now!!.. What matters is that the tactical mistake of invading at that time is remedied and the lid is put back on pandoros box, hopefully crushing Al Quada in the lid hinges.... Stability in Iraq is the only end game the military should have now... Rest is irrelevant... The consequences of such success are a prosperous country free of Saddam, halt to International Terrorist resource and training, and higher levels of security throughout the freeworld... including Iraq.

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"Barrel High, Powder Dry!"

"Illic est haud effrego ex Veneratio"

I was a part of operation TELIC......The overthrow of Saddam....we took our orders...and done our jobs....and we done a good job i might add....the point now though with hindsight is that it was a bad idea....and both the UK and US goverments dont want to admitt it....we forced open a can of worms.....and so it falls on our laps to close it...the surport we were expecting in the south never came true.....and now the years have passed i can point out even in the months after we could see it wasnt a liberation.....our so called "peacekeeping "mission untill june was a counter insurgency one.....and the only reason the 7th armoured got withdrew is because it would have look bad politcly and publicly if an armoured brigade stayed in an area of so called "Peace" the 19th got it bad after they replaced us IMO we should have stayed......


but now the situation in Iraq needs putting right.....and we should have the whatever to make sure it is fixed.....the rest of the world is looking and thinking....lets see if you have got the b.....s or the longrvity....to wait it/fight it out

To use the old saying "Failure is not an option"... and Iraq certainly top candidate for that one... Perserverance, good tactics and an open mind will make operations that effect closure to the insurgency a reality.. I think the Allies will do it, but it takes more take learning... before the mix will be right and keep up with the changing environment to drive the mission home to its sucessful conclusion...

__________________
"Barrel High, Powder Dry!"

"Illic est haud effrego ex Veneratio"

your right it will take more learning....and learning from mistakes is key....and we have made one or two of those(understatement)....the right mix can be found trough trial and error.....but the problem is when errors are made in war they are very costly.....humans make mistakes....but what i find unforgivable....is when the same ones are made time after time.....sometimes more is learnded from faliure rather then sucsess....its the commanders jobs to make sure the lessions are taken on board and used as a go to when a simular situation arises

Roger that!!... Its one of the highest priorities of the Officer Cadre to learn from mistakes, NOT make them and make sure the problem and solution gets circulate without any recrimination (assuming no criminal or military regulations have being breached). The Army should have a common database they can feed that kind of stuff into so it can be analyised for commonality and incorporated into mission training, etc....

__________________
"Barrel High, Powder Dry!"

"Illic est haud effrego ex Veneratio"

How is it a waste? We need oil. It's not just oil sadly, it's the juice that keeps our countries functioning.

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Humans, a renewable resource?
Bumble Bees Die to sting you

Saddam, the dictator, was our buddy untill he took his eye off Iran and looked to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Noble, would be dropping the junta in Burma. Or Myanmar if you will.

__________________
Humans, a renewable resource?
Bumble Bees Die to sting you

Agreed on the point of saddam....and i honestly belevie...with his relationship with the west especily France....he throught that no resoultion would be passed by the UN in 91...and IMO thats where the trouble started