What are your thoughts on this fine man.

He is coming over loud and clear here.
Ron Paul

I didn't watch that whole video because just the first few quotes were bull.
The US did not do anything illegal going into Iraq. Congress voted on a military action and has continued to fund the war since the beginning. The fact is that most of the US did support the war in Iraq before things went down the toilet. Most of the democrat senators voted for the war too.
(BTW the US hasen't declared war since WWII. We have had tons of wars since then but in actuality they are "police actions". What a crock right? Thats how the world works though.)

Believe me I don't think the war has been a success but I find it scary that the most popular position right now is to just pull out(that worked so well for us in Vietnam didn't it? ) . I don't think the US should be there forever but we need to at least provide some sort of stability before we leave.

Oh and I don't like Paul but I would vote for him before any of the democrats(I don't see one single moderate democrat running right now.. at least now one that could win). I already kind of talked about this a little bit here too:
http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=10591

Congress voted to give Bush war powers based on faulty intelligence for sure, and hogwash and lies perhaps. It's sad that many Americans were led to believe that the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9-11 were the responsibility of Saddam Hussein and Iraq. Trumped up accusations coming directly from the White House persuaded many Americans that invading Iraq was necessary.

I would love to see the US pull out right now. There's no end game to this silly, bloody war. We're in the middle of a civil war in Iraq, a place we need not be.

I served in Vietnam. I saw my brothers killed and injured on a regular basis, and for what? For politics, pure and simple. It pains me deeply to see our nation's leaders still using the US's military as pawns. Sadly, history was not learned. We can't pull our troops out now because our leaders would look stupid, and rightly so. So every day one, two, three, ten, how many more of our finest and bravest are killed so that our leadership can save face?

There's not a Republican or a Democrat I would vote for. I don't believe there is an independent candidate I would vote for either. Politics in the US is bleak, and the system is utterly broken and corrupted. I've always, always, always done my civic duty and voted, and yet I am seriously at the point now where I don't think voting for a President or a Congressman/woman is worth my trouble or will do any good at all. The fact that I feel that way about the country I fought for absolutely makes me sick.

I don't usually post anything regarding politics as it's generally an exercise in futility, but I'm bored today. I don't mean to debate either, I guess I was just venting.

Rridgely, I always just assumed you were British.

I can't argue with this.
The fact is that the war is a mess and we did do things hastily after 9/11. We wanted to do everything in out power to keep anything from happening ever again. I can't say that I disagreed with the iraq war at the start because I didn't. Little did I know that we were going there with absolutely no plan and that we would handy cap the troops with such ridiculous restrictions. I supported the intentions of the war(liberate the iraqi people from saddam, set up a democracy in the middle east as a model to show that its not such a bad thing and at the same time rid the region of the terrorists who were going to attack us.) but no I cant support the Bush administration's horrible handling of the war.


First off I just want to say what I always say when meeting a veteran: Thank you.
If it wasn't for the sacrifices that you and all of your fellow soldiers have made I wouldn't be living in what I feel is the greatest nation of all time.

I completely understand the sentiment that we should just leave as fast as possible and that thought has often crossed my mind. Then I go back and think about all the soldiers that have lost their lives in this struggle believing they were there to make a difference and that their work meant something. I think about all of the nights I've sat in front of the computer teary eyed as I read about soldiers who died and the messages from their families. I just can't accept that these people lost their lives for nothing and that its ok for us to go in wreck a country and just leave the people who need our help high and dry.

I still believe in the original intentions and hope and pray that we will be able to succeed even though things don't look good right now.
But I understand those who do not.


I understand your anger with the US political system and I can say that I feel pretty much the same way a lot of the time but I would still vote because for me its always been a matter of picking the lesser of two evils.(which is sad I guess) Its when you turn your head and look away that things get worse.


Nope, I'm proudly from the good old USA.