The war in Iraq, in my opinion, is the United States worst blunder.
President Bush diverted $700million from operations in Afghanistan to prepare plans of war in Iraq before President Bush talked to congress about war in Iraq and before President Bush spoke to the American people about war.
Many military strategist have concluded before the War in Iraq began, that the number of troops sent to Iraq was insufficient.
Hitler made a similiar mistake. Extending military forces too thin and leaving supply lines vulnerable to attack. The war in Iraq has demonstrated that the USA lacks superiority in Administrative capabilities, Intelligence capabilities, military equipment technology (infantry armor and infantry vehicle armor), level of training per the military budget, and in the munitions category.
The administration failed to use the United Nations in beginning the war in Iraq and now seeks shelter and safety from the United Nations after the war in Iraq has begun.
US intelligence says that Saddam was 5-7 years away from having Nuclear Weapons, if that. And the projected timeline for Saddam to have had a missile delivery system capable of reaching the United States was unforeseeable, that is he couldnt make one and probably never would.
http://www.moveon.org/censure/caughtonvideo/
US Armed Forces Gun trucks have plywood for armor. The steel is available sitting at the docks. It could be cut and and US armed forces could have some steel armor on its infantry vehicles by about May or June, if addressed now.
US Armed Forces do not have flak jackets. Basic body armor. That is pathetic.
Depleted Uranium munitions are very deadly. They are in fact so deadly they harm our troops.
Tungsten is a very hard metal. It was used in US munitions. However, China has most of the tungsten on the planet. Knowing that the United States and China have not had the best of relations at times, it would be unwise for China to sell the United States Tungsten.
There was a solution to the problem of the lack of Tungsten. Through the processing of spent fuel rods, used in nuclear power plants, Depleted Uranium munitions can be created.
Depleted Uranium munitions are extremely effective in battle, though not much better than Tungsten. The first time the deployment and use of Depleted Uranium munitions was discussed, it was concluded that the use of Depleted Uranium had too many negative affects to be deployed or used.
Any and all life (humans, other animals and plants) exposed to low level radiation over an extended period of time will become ill, if the radiation is not natural to their environment. It may be possible to find some life that can exist in such conditions on the ocean floor near vents that release toxic gases.
Upon impact Depleted Uranium Munitions pierce whatever armor the target has and so much heat is created and energy that it causes a chain reaction in which the Depleted Uranium begins to rapidly decay. The radioactive material that is introduced to the planet in from this process has a half life of at least 4.5 billion years. That is longer than I can concieve. My life and yours has been less than 100 years. This radioactive material, at least one of its many phases has a half life of 4,500,000,000 years. That is 45,000,000 times as long as a 100 year old man or woman would live. The point is once the radiation is released it is permantly in our environment. With present technology we cannot clean up Depleted Uranium after it has been used.
Any and all life (humans, other animals and plants) exposed to low level radiation over an extended period of time will become ill, if the radiation is not natural to their environment. This radiation will be on this planet for a very long time.
The Depleted Uranium munitions also release low level radiation before being used. So, the persons that create the munitions, the persons that handle and transport the munitions to military locations, persons handling and equiping/arming US military vehicles, the members of US Armed Forces deployed with such munitions, the enemy target attacked, the life in the vicinity of the enemy target, the life downwind of the enemy target will all be exposed to highly dangerous low level radiation.
Wind patterns, over time will transport such radiation to the entirety of the world and it will be there forever in relative terms to human life.
I care for every persons in the US armed forces that is why I have this concern. My best friend is in the National Guard and knowing that some National Guardsmen have been deplayed in Iraq, I am very concerned. The National Guard, weekend warriors, to the best of my understanding do not sign up for overseas action.
The National Guard has changed since George W Bush was a member. At the time he was a member the National Guard was the rich boys way out of going to Vietnam.
I care about all life on this planet. Diversity in Nature is what makes it so strong.
I also know that there are more and more talks of starting a draft.
I want there to be a planet for my kids, when I have kids. I want my children to have a planet for them to have kids. So on, and so forth.