Consciencebound

Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

Iraq Policy and Grocery Store Packaging

This is written by a friend of mine that I thought was interesting:

The issue of Iraq is certainly on the minds of voters and politicians. Although we have not officially declared war on that nation, there is no shortage of debates among proponents and pundits of the War in Iraq. Iraq instead, is part of the War on Terror. For some, that is where the confusion begins. America waged war against Saddam and the Ba’athist Party, but America never intended to engage (least not be involved in long-lasting engagement) in a conflict with the various indigenous factions such as the Sunni and Shi’a insurgents. Against the advice of Gen. Shinseki, who called for a large number of troops to occupy Iraq after its liberation on the order of 300,000 to 400,000 personnel; the Defense Department under Donald Rumsfeld sent up to only 160,000 soldiers during the post-Saddam era.

The violence that we hear about in Iraq today are attempts by the various factions wanting to fill in the power vacuum that was created after the U.S.’s capture of Baghdad and subsequently Saddam. But the question of if America should have invaded Iraq in the first place still remains. Read the rest of this entry »