Money can't buy everything. Yes we spend a lot of money on surveillance, but we also spend a lot of money on intelligence but rampant hesitation and bureaucracy during the Clinton years failed to eliminate Bin Laden and we all know why that was a grave mistake. It's a very large planet and the US is interested in watching a lot of people and places. I don't think it is unreasonable to say that things could have just been missed. I will concede that it's possible that the WMDs weren't moved out of the country, but the fact remains that Iraq had plenty of notice before we rolled in. In that time they could have disposed of their weapons in many different ways that the US would have no knowledge of.
Pothole Research, you haven't even addressed my entire stance on this subject. If there were truly never any WMDs in Iraq, then where did Saddam get them from to attack the Kurds? Did he just place an order for a few rounds, launch them, and then decide that he didn't want to mess with them anymore? I doubt it.
You also proved my point by saying that WMDs were what the war was all about. Americans like to find one little talking point and cling to it furiously regardless of the opposition. WMDs were only part of the equation. A fanatical dictator who kidnapped, tortured, raped, and killed at will is another side of that story. You forget that some Iraqis are very happy that Saddam is gone. Why don't you ask them if it was all about WMDs?
And just because I can't end this without disputing all your points, I will say that "Shock and Awe" was anything but a "miserable failure". What was "Shock and Awe"? It was the initial bombing campaign designed to take out Iraq's military infrastructure to allow for coalition forces to enter the country and begin the ground work. Did "Shock and Awe" accomplish that mission? Yes it did. The violence in Iraq is an insurgency, not an organized military utilizing their normal command and control resources to fight an enemy. It's an ad-hoc militia that isn't based anywhere and controlled by a complicated series of roaming leaders. "Shock and Awe" could have never prevented that from happening unless we just used it to kill everyone in the region.
Money can't buy everything. Yes we spend a lot of money on surveillance, but we also spend a lot of money on intelligence but rampant hesitation and bureaucracy during the Clinton years failed to eliminate Bin Laden and we all know why that was a grave mistake. It's a very large planet and the US is interested in watching a lot of people and places. I don't think it is unreasonable to say that things could have just been missed. I will concede that it's possible that the WMDs weren't moved out of the country, but the fact remains that Iraq had plenty of notice before we rolled in. In that time they could have disposed of their weapons in many different ways that the US would have no knowledge of.
Pothole Research, you haven't even addressed my entire stance on this subject. If there were truly never any WMDs in Iraq, then where did Saddam get them from to attack the Kurds? Did he just place an order for a few rounds, launch them, and then decide that he didn't want to mess with them anymore? I doubt it.
You also proved my point by saying that WMDs were what the war was all about. Americans like to find one little talking point and cling to it furiously regardless of the opposition. WMDs were only part of the equation. A fanatical dictator who kidnapped, tortured, raped, and killed at will is another side of that story. You forget that some Iraqis are very happy that Saddam is gone. Why don't you ask them if it was all about WMDs?
And just because I can't end this without disputing all your points, I will say that "Shock and Awe" was anything but a "miserable failure". What was "Shock and Awe"? It was the initial bombing campaign designed to take out Iraq's military infrastructure to allow for coalition forces to enter the country and begin the ground work. Did "Shock and Awe" accomplish that mission? Yes it did. The violence in Iraq is an insurgency, not an organized military utilizing their normal command and control resources to fight an enemy. It's an ad-hoc militia that isn't based anywhere and controlled by a complicated series of roaming leaders. "Shock and Awe" could have never prevented that from happening unless we just used it to kill everyone in the region.