War is Imminent

[Jedieb]

Thousands of people are going to be dying within a matter of hours. This is making me sick.

I have a bad feeling that our casualties will be much higher than those of Desert Storm. Saddam wasn't faced with removal then, just the loss of an invaded territory. When faced with a no-win scenario, I don't see any reason why he WOULDN'T use WMD. He's going to lose, he knows it. He'll probably try to take out as many people as he can. I believe he'll directly target Israel and do whatever he can to American or British targets.

Bush now has the war he wanted. I hope he can live with the results.

[Sanis Prent]

Casualties will no doubt be higher, but the benefits to all much greater. The people out there on the front lines know exactly what they're fighting for.

[ReaperFett]

I look at it this way. Casualties in Desert Storm were lower due to the job not being finished. This is only happening due to this. At the very least Saddam should be under war crimes for what he did in '88, bare minimum.

[Sanis Prent]

Maximum would be him drawn & quartered by his own people in Baghdad. One can hope.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah but the American people probably won't be happy they will think the higher casuality rate is Bush's fault. I am also afraid of things like happening in Somalia we might see several cases of what happened there.

[Sanis Prent]

What, Americans fighting with the most one-sided loss rate in any military conflict of mankind's history?

[Jedi Master Carr]

We had a lot of casualities in Somalia, of course Somalia was a mess and is still a mess and might be a different situation than Iraq.

[Sanis Prent]

Um...our casualty ratio in Somalia was the best any force has ever had in any military operation. Yes, we lost people. They lost far, far, far more. Ounce for ounce, the US soldiers on the streets of Mogadishu fought harder than nearly anybody, in any war, ever.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah but Somalia is still a mess we didn't accomplish anything there.

[Sanis Prent]

Yes, but to call it a tactical loss is a mistake.

[Jedieb]

The people out there on the front lines know exactly what they're fighting for.

The people out there on the front lines are doing their jobs. They don't all support this war. Don't think that for a second. I can guarantee you many of those Reservists were not happy with being called up. But that's not a soldier's option. You serve because it's your job. But to imply that they'll do their job better because they all support the action is a mistake. There have been plenty of former military commanders who've been critical of this war and the way it's being handled. Not everyone wearing a uniform believes in this.

[Sanis Prent]

If they don't, there's always applying for "concientious objector" status, or hey...DON'T SIGN UP IN THE FIRST PLACE.

What gripes me is these guys who "did it for the college money" and are *gasp* shocked that they are now being asked to fight.

[Jedieb]

How many of those "guys" have you spoken to? Do you have ANYTHING to back that gripe up? Grab a clue. They signed up for a variety of reasons. None of which apparently grabbed your attention and compelled you to sign your name on the dotted line. But they STILL serve, irregardless of whether they agree with the decision to invade. And believe me, many of them do. You don't pick and choose which order you feel like following. Just as you don't pick and choose which elected officials to follow or which laws to obey.

[Sanis Prent]

How many of those "guys" have you spoken to?

Seven

Do you have ANYTHING to back that gripe up? Grab a clue.

See above

None of which apparently grabbed your attention and compelled you to sign your name on the dotted line.

As already stated ad nauseum, I am signing up for reserve duty upon graduation in one year.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah but if we didn't gain anything out of Somalia then I say the war or conflict was a loss, so what we killed more men, we killed more Vietnemese I don't consier that a victor either.

[Sanis Prent]

Both Somalia and Vietnam had murky parameters of victory. Iraq does not. In such a situation, I do not doubt that we'll have overwhelming success.

[Wei Wu Wei]

I could never sign up for the military. I just don't feel like that's where I would be best serving my country, you know? But big kudos to the ones that do put on the uniform.

[JMK]

At what point is a war succesful? How many casualties will happen before you say it wasn't worth the effort, that the losses were too great?

[Jedi Master Carr]

That is hard to say WW 2 the casualities didn't matter because of the possibility of Hitler winning was worse. Now WW 1 for example was a complete waste of lives, nothing was accomplished from that war. This one who knows, I think we will win easily probably take 3-4 months at the most, but its the afterwards I am worried about there are a lot of problems and this could blow up into worse problems.

[Dutchy]

I was wondering, if Bush is sure Saddam has weapons of mass destruction, wouldn't attacking Saddam actually MAKE him use them?