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Flame » in reply to "We didn't start this war. Iraq started it by invading Kuwait."

re: "We didn't start this war. Iraq started it by invading Kuwait."
gbaikie — (archived)

"That war was over."

No it wasn't.

"This is not the same war."

Right, it's Gulf War II. The first war would have ended had Saddam followed the cease-fire agreement.

"In that war, the nation that was invaded was Kuwait, the invader was Iraq, and an international force compelled Iraq to withdraw, ending the war."
The war was ended on the condition that Iraq followed the cease fire agreement.

"In this war, the nation that was invaded was Iraq, the invader is principly the US with one main ally, and the end is not yet in sight."

Actually we had Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and other Arab and non Arab countries in the region as allies or at least taking a neutral stance, Iraq only had one country in the region which showed any disagreement with our action- that being Syria. Not only did Kuwait serve as area to launch the land invasion, but it was attacked by Iraq with missiles. Without Kuwait, we would have been forced to use Saudi Arabia, and without Saudi Arabia, Turkey was the only other option (and they ducked- one of our strongest traditional ally ducked but Kuwait and Saudi Arabia didn't.) The countries in the region were really the ones who dictated whether we could do this invasion. They were also the ones that stopped us in Gulf war I. The only explanation is they changed their minds [though Syria apparently didn't].

"Lower casualties and the use of napalm are not synonymous unless it's possible to coat the non-targetted groups with flame retardant. Napalm is not a precision instrument. "

Nor is a machine gun.

"Setting fire to a person is a horrible thing to do to another human being. With all the precise weapons that our military have at their disposal, the choice to use an instrument of torture for its psychological effects is unconscionable."

Precision weapon is a relative term, and mostly has to do with guidance, which a napalm bomb could have. Bunker busters could called precise in other ways in addition to just guidance. But we certainly didn't just use bunker busters. The true purpose of precision guided weapons is the kill the enemy using less bombs- you hit the target instead of missing it. And yes, this also means less collateral damage and less civilians dying as a result. And since it requires less sorties it also means less of our pilots die.

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