America's Military Action
stevetseitz: "First of all, it isn't an "American" war on foreign soil. It's a coalition led by America who has been most vocal and active in the war on terror. There has been no significant loss of our "freedoms" here in the United States unless of course you are a radical, extremist muslim who supports terrorism. We haven't "invaded" other lands. I don't see anyone changing country names to "United States of Iraq" or "United States of Afghanistan". "
tabuno: I better start off by correcting my terminology about America's activities in Iraq. If one is to believe in the U.S. Constitution, it would probably be better to call our war a "military action" since the U.S. Congress hasn't really officially declared war on Iraq. The United States hasn't been at war since WWII if I'm reading history right.
The so-called "coalition led by America" has been pretty much a name-only phrase to make our country's action appear more legitimate. America and to a lesser extent Britain have been the most pronounced presence in Iraq with token support, reluctant support from other countries who were pulled into our military action. What one calls "no significant loss of our "freedoms" here is debatable since the national security apparatus is now keeping track of many activities of the U.S. citizens and has encroached on the rights of a few citizens and others that several Western countries, our allies have deemed illegal, particularly in arrests and torture.
So far it appears that the U.S. invasion of Iraq was not for national security interests, no weapons of mass destruction have been found or even suspected now, it appears that so far the leaders of our country misled the public into the war. Public support has fallen to below 50%. Our national security is now less than before the war. Terrorism is now up. Our world is now much more unstable and insecure. More than $87 billion and almost 2,000 American lives have been lost. For America to presume it can take over a country and be a beacon of liberty is attempting to change hundreds of years of cultural development without truly understanding that cultures evolve in certain ways and that western, technological, democracy isn't truly what military action is about nowadays - it's a cover for other covert purposes.