What if the US had not invaded Iraq

Submitted by Joseph Goldyne (United States), Sep 12, 2005 at 03:12

Whereas your comments re. the realative benefits vs detrimental fallout post-invasion of Iraq are presented with an inclination to fairness, you must admit that you have not taken into account the considerable loss of American Lives. After all, the emotional heart of the debate as to the worthiness of the invasion has to do with the value of young lives vs. the choice of an Iraqi invasion as the major US response to the global Terrorist threat.

In retrospect, it seems that our activity should have been enhanced in Afghanistan and the border areas where Osama was undoubtedly hiding. Saddam was a psychopath and a US-buttressed tyrant for years. His people did indeed suffer miserably, but in the Chess of global threat, the invasion of Iraq was not a brilliant move. It has stirred up other dangerous players and has made the steps to many needed victories (accords with allies, public sentiment in the Middle East, stable economies here and abroad) that much harder to achieve. The invasion, in other words, was a bad choice — a pace-setting choice, to be sure, but the wrong pace in the wrong place.

Please write an article on the probable long term consequences of this Iraqi invasion, an act of prediction, and follow it up every 6 months with an update to see how accurate you were. You do good work.

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