Caliber
Avenger
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2005
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- 10,154
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I don't know why the hell I think about this so much. I think American culture and politics is so damn fascinating. I think this period of time is fascinating aswell. It's a sort of Vietnam and Pearl Harbour, both at the same time.
I just want to know where public opinion currently stands on certain topics. Not to come off as offensive, but it is fairly clear to alot of people now what has happened over the last few years, and I just want to know if Americans in general know it or ignore it. When you talk about it with friends, family, co-workers, etc, what do they say?
So this is the way I see things. 9/11 2001 was Bush's lucky day. The American public were understandably angry, and Bush was all too willing to stand up and say "we're gonna fight back!". And fight back you did, going into Afghanistan. But we flash forward to today. Five years later. No Bin Laden. The fighting is as bad as it ever was.
Then came the whole "Iraq has WMDs!! We know for a fact that they do!!" from the mouth of everyone on the Bush administration. Here is something funny about that - not long before 9/11, the Bush administration said there weren't WMDs in Iraq. Funny how they changed their minds.
The move into the Iraq war is especially interesting to me - because the world at large, politicians and people alike, were not convinced that a war in Iraq was a good idea, and they were not convinced Iraq had WMDs. The inspectors weren't convinced. They wanted more time to search - but the Republican party didn't wanna hear it. The American people were all for the war too. And this is why I think the American people were all for the Iraq war, when nearly every other population of the western countries were against it. You guys were still sore about 9/11. Bush was the conquering hero in Afghanistan, so in the eyes of the American public, he could do no wrong. Blair was side by side with Bush the whole time, despite the fact that the British public were completely against it.
Flash forward to where we are today. It is an accepted fact that there were no WMDs. A matter of months after the troops landed, the war was ridiculously claimed as over. And yet, the violence continues everyday over there. It is pretty much civil war in Iraq. They are worse off than when Saddam was in power. The Iraq study group has declared the Iraq war a failure. Pretty much everything was badly planned and executed. From going there in the first place, to badly equipped troops, to getting out of the country.
The Patriot Act. Guantanamo Bay. This, and others, accepted and embraced by the American people. All for the sake of combating the "war on terror".
I mean, I just want to know how many Americans accept, because it is a fact, that they were duped. That they were lied to. That their government has made fools out of them. How many Americans accept that they were wrong?
In no way intended to be an American bashing thread.
Americans find it hard to be wrong and won't accept it. The issue with the war on terror has people split in many groups. Being duped would never come to mind if they believe in things like the Iraq war or the war on terror.
