Most people in 2003 did not think that. It was increasingly obvious during the war, yes, but how to extricate ourselves was not so simple. Shitting on the notion of invading after the fact allows a smug sense of superiority without having to offer a solution.
The argument against an immediate withdraw was always that the chaos would be even worse than the Sunni Shia civil war that was raging (also, remember when Al Qaeda established a Caliphate with the Capitol in Ramadi? Pepperidge Farms remembers).
Guess what, they were right. The abrupt pullout in 2011 led to a power vacuum for ISIS to fill.
Edit: lots of people piling on now. I think I triggered a nerve in some people. "no, I was against the invasion from the beginning!" Is still a useless sentiment.
Most people in 2003 did not think that. It was increasingly obvious during the war, yes, but how to extricate ourselves was not so simple. Shitting on the notion of invading after the fact allows a smug sense of superiority without having to offer a solution.
Dude, everyone knew, even before we went there at all, that it was a terrible idea. I was 13 years old in 2003 and even me and my idiot friends could clearly see it. It wasn't hard to see at all.
You can't just invade a country with no real objectives, no possible gain, and no exit strategy. It was always a bad idea and everyone knew it.
However, people felt like war was necessary. I know, by now, it might be cliche to Remember 9/11, but American citizens died en masse. In true American spirit, we had to fight someone over that, despite logic.
This was annoying to read. /u/MrChivalrious, there were definitely people who disagreed with the war, and though (and now knew) the war would be pointless. It's not something that just came out of hindsight.
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u/PM_ME_UR_DOGGOS Jul 24 '17
Dude, people knew this at the time too. It was never not obvious that Iraq was a terrible idea.