Whiskey: I can't be ashamed of the government, I'm ashamed of the people that vote for these rejects and are too blind to see what they are actually voting for. I completely believe that government has it's place but our government has taken it way to far. We are turning into a Socialist country because people are too lazy to do anything themselves. I think our founding fathers would be turning in their graves if they seen how this country has turned out. Why are we in the business of country building and being the world police? Every, and I mean EVERY world power that has done this has fallen. History will repeat itself. We can't go around the world stuffing democracy down peoples throats with the barrel of a gun. Not everyone wants it.

MPSoldier. I'm aware that they pay my salary, but don't forget I pay those same taxes. So in a way, I kinda pay own salary as well. Being a soldier doesn't give me less of a right to voice my thoughts on this country. My last comment stated why I was ashamed so I'm not going there again.

It doesn't really matter who said he had WMDs. We share intelligence with these countries, and not to mention that the Brits and Israel will always take our side. Israel has too much to loose by making enemies with us anyway. But WE were the ones who went about it the WRONG way, not the Brits or the Israelis. This has been OUR war all the way. I'm not saying I have a better way to do it. But you would think that these people who have this amazing ability to get elected time and time again would be able to figure out a better way.

I will say that this war on terrorism has guaranteed us at least another 2 decades of war. Although it is a proven fact that poverty and ignorance BREEDS terrorism. So if we are going to play "nation building" why aren't we helping these countries economically instead of kicking in the doors and saying "Do it our way or else we aren't leaving!"? Democracy does NOT work for everyone.

If I'm not mistaken we have been in a state of perpetual war since Korea. Our country seems to think it is a sport or the only way to fix things. War on Communism (luckily they weren't stupid enough to fight THAT one with guns), Drugs, now Terrorism. What gives? There are MUCH better ways to deal with your problems than throwing a hissy fit and start swinging. Seems kinda childish to me. Again, this is just my OPINION, it shouldn't hurt your feelings any. I respect your opinion and I'm not going to BASH you on what you believe. I will debate, but I won't say you are a bad person or question your morals for it.

Again, a long one, I apologize. I really hope this didn't conflict with my previous comment. Open mouth, insert foot. Double check...nope, I'm good. LoL

Geez, this post went entirely where I hoped it wouldn't go. 14, you have all the right in the world to express your opinions, but I would say this. It is one thing to be ashamed of your government, and another thing to be ashamed of your country. When I go other places outside the country, I don't hesitate to say I'm an american and I'm proud of it. At the same time, I don't agree with many of the policies that our government has established in recent years, as do many other americans. That is not a reason though to be shameful of my country though. If anything, it's a reason to fight for it. America is not perfect and we have come along way in this country, but the facts that we are free to express how we feel and that we can work hard to make it a better place are the reasons this country is great. I write so eloquently, I must say.

Unfortunately our government runs our country and the people vote for the government. Kinda seems like country and government are one in the same in the end. I never understood patriotism, in my opinion it is just another way to form hate. Think about it. To think that you are better than someone else just because of where you were born.

Of course America is not perfect, no country is. I just think it is embarrassing that our solution to everything is war and violence, secrets and lies. I think forcing congress to put a "No Confidence" vote on the ticket would open a LOT of peoples minds on what America really thinks about it's candidates. I don't want to come off as one of those conspiracy quacks but I think there is a very big "secret" that our government is keeping from us.

When I joined I had a much different perspective on the US, obviously why I joined. But after seeing everything I've seen and been the places I've been, it's just not in my heart anymore to serve this country for what it stands for. Maybe something crazy will happen with our people and government that will change my mind, but as whiskeywife suggested, I am currently looking for a new place to reside. But I don't really think I should be criticized for wanting to do that. That's part of that "freedom" you guys have been talking about.

I'm not trying to tick anyone off here, I just wanted to present a different side than what is normally posted on here.

You guys are ridiculous. He was working on WMDs, he just wasn't as far along as we thought he was. He had yellow cake from Nigeria (the stuff we took out and was delivered to Canada not to long ago?), had centrifuges (remember the scientist who had them buried in his back yard?), had anthrax (warehouses full so he could do legit testing?), mobile weapons labs (either that or high tech ice-cream trucks huh?), ect. Talk about 2 second memories! Go back to the cool aid and add some sugar, you seem a little soured.

Edited: for spelling.

The "Yellow Cake" they found was predated 1991 and there was no evidence of any yellow cake dating after '91. It was alleged he TRIED to buy more from Nigeria but no proof was ever found. The Israelis originally bombed that site in 1981. Yellow Cake is traditionally used for use in power production. It CAN be used for weapons with high tech machinery that Saddam did not have.

The Centrifuge Program was originally started in 1987 with the help from a GERMAN company called H+H Metalform GmpH which in 1994 was found guilty of violations of German export control laws. 1987, hey, that was only 5 years after the city of Detriot gave him the key to the city. Wasn't such a bad guy back then, eh.

The Anthrax? In 1994 The Riegle Report confirmed that when US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was a member of the President’s General Advisory Committee on Arms Control in the 1980s, biological materials were being exported to Iraq under license from the US Department of Commerce. These included botulinum toxin and anthrax, later identified as major components in the Iraqi biological warfare program.

Following the invasion of Iraq two trailers were found and initially declared as the alleged mobile labs. Subsequently after testing it was revealed that the trailers were not mobile weapons laboratories.

Most of these things predate the first gulf war. We KNEW they were already there. The info you put out is nothing new and not any defense for the war in Iraq. My memory does extend past 2 seconds. Maybe yours is just stuck in the past.

I think one thing can be said about the war in Iraq. There was some level of idealogy placed into the decision to go to war. Personal vendetta, no bid contract for halliburton, etc.. Bush was quoted as saying he hoped that the first gulf war would have resulted in a second presidential term for his father, or that it was unfortunate that they didn't capatalize on the popular gulf war to retain the white house back in '92. Ironically, it was Bush Sr. who knew what would happen if we had went all the way into Baghdad. I think dubya though saw Iraq as an easy target, as well as it's regime. He hoped to capatilize politically. I would say it was unfortunate how they linked 9/11 to Iraq as part of their fear tactic, when in essence Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Unfortunately, his party still tries to utilize 9/11 as a fear tactic, as they did at their convention recently. They showed a lot of class, I must say. Better yet disregard. That was really offensive to many of us who lost friends or family on 9/11. The republicans seemed to gleem in it though, as everyone applauded when the video of the 9/11 tribute ended. Way to go guys! 3,000 people dead, but atleast it helps you politicize something that happened under your watch. With regards to Iraq, it is obvious that diplomacy was not used to its fullest, nor were the weapons inspectors. This again is just my personal opinion. The fact of the matter is, and at this point I don't think anyone knows exactly what we should do to end this conflict, or how we should go about it.

So lets recap here. You are saying that he did have enriched uranium although it was not at weapons grade. He did have centrifuges, he did have botulism toxin and anthrax that was identified as major components in his biological warfare program. That alone is capable of WMD.

Put that in perspective of throwing out the UN observers and hamstringing their movements for years prior to the invasion. Looks pretty fishy huh. Lets see what else is there. Oh yeah, every other intel agency in the world said he was gearing up his WMD program. BTW, the mobile labs were not reveled that they were not mobile weapons labs it only reveled that they had not been used yet.

Looks like someone refuses to see the forest through the trees. There is no argument there, at least for objective people. Republican hating kool aid drinkers will never see this as anything other than a ploy invented by Karl Rove to boost Haliburton stock.

Obviously with my last post I'm not denying that he DID have them. We knew that he had the capability BEFORE the first Gulf War. It was not a secret then. My argument is that we went about it COMPLETELY wrong. I don't believe that we could have kept such good tabs on Russia, a super power none-the-less, during the cold war, but when it came to a tiny third world power we were clueless on where he was keeping his stuff or what he was doing. I don't believe Russia was allowing any weapons inspectors in during the cold war either.

This Yellow Cake you are talking about amazingly was only shipped to Canada in July of this year. Wow, that only took us 5 years. And it was only 15 MILES south of Baghdad. To me that is just absurd. Oh and BTW Yellow Cake is NOT enriched Plutonium. It CAN be enriched to be used in nuclear power plants. Excuse me if I was a little vague on the subject. It isn't even considered to be potent enough to use in a "dirty bomb".

Their Centrifuge Program was out dated by almost 3 decades. Old useless equipment, prolly why they found it buried in the ground. (I have yet to find anything in the news about this one anyway) Where are you getting this information? A centrifuge is no small task to bury anyways. They are elaborate, sensitive, and expensive pieces of equipment. Burying them would prove no advantage to Saddam. It would have ruined the equipment. I highly doubt that Saddam buried them in a hurry in expectation of us invading. If he would have actually expected us to invade he would have fled and went into exile in another country.

Again, the Anthrax. This predated the 1st Gulf War. Chemical weapons degrade in time. Almost 20+ some years later they wouldn't be considered as deadly of a threat. I'm no Chemist though. Rumsfield knew that they had it, mainly because he was the one who helped authorized it. We supplied him the biological weapons during the Iraq-Iran war, along with giving intelligence to both sides during the war. But there was hardly a peep about this.

These are the things that I hate about the US. We are double crossing, lying, hypocritical pricks who will do and say anything to get what we want. Not to mention we are war mongers, can you name a time period greater than 5 years we haven't been at war since the second world war? It sucks for us because much of the world is catching onto it. We need to vote these kinds of people out of the Government. It's not just one political party, it's the entire political process.