The Iraq War Poll

[Viking]

So, now that the troops are leaving we (as in the west) must decide was it a win, was it a costly win, was it a pyrrhic victory, was it a defeat that we try to pretend is a victory by withdrawing, or was the war itself so corrupt that victory was impossible.

Vote away.

[Habbaku]

Broke/fixed.  We definitely won, in that our goals were to topple Saddam and leave behind an at least partially-functioning democracy.  Whether that victory will bear long-lasting results is the question.

[sbr]

Broke/fixed.  We definitely won, in that our goals were to topple Saddam and leave behind an at least partially-functioning democracy.  Whether that victory will bear long-lasting results is the question.

Pretty much what I was going to say.  We met our war goals, but it will be years until we know if what we rebuilt will stand.

[Mr.Penguin]

Broke and kind of fixed it and now it's time for the Iraqis to be on their own again, for better or worse...

[The Brain]

Victory. The odd rusty artillery shell with gas was dealt a fatal blow before it could make its 45 min attack.

[Josquius]

Unquestionably a victory but yeah, very pyrrhic. Nothing really gained and quite a bit lost.

[citizen k]

Unquestionably a victory but yeah, very pyrrhic. Nothing really gained and quite a bit lost.

How can it be a victory when nothing was gained?

[The Brain]

Unquestionably a victory but yeah, very pyrrhic. Nothing really gained and quite a bit lost.

How can it be a victory when nothing was gained?

[Razgovory]

I voted Pyrrhic though, I'm not sure what we gained.  I'm not entirely sure what the original goal was.

[Neil]

Well, it showed us that the age of the superpowers has ended.  You can't argue that the US achieved what they meant to, but they also were diminished in the doing.

[Martinus]

I wasn't aware Iceland participated in the Iraq war.

[Iormlund]

No WMDs were found, Islamic terrorism didn't cease and the democracy-domino theory proved itself an illusion. In fact the head of the only regime that changed course since was killed by its own revolting citizens this very week.

[Maximus]

An interesting question(to me at least) is whether the Arab spring would have resulted in a chain of events similar to Libya or Syria even if we hadn't gone in. And if it had, would that be better or worse than the occupation, given that Iraq seems to have been largely untouched by the Arab spring.

For the record I voted victory. I supported the war for the purposes of removing Saddam and co and we were successful in that.

[jimmy olsen]

No WMDs were found, Islamic terrorism didn't cease and the democracy-domino theory proved itself an illusion. In fact the head of the only regime that changed course since was killed by its own revolting citizens this very week.

Tunisia and Eygpt don't count?

[Neil]

No WMDs were found, Islamic terrorism didn't cease and the democracy-domino theory proved itself an illusion. In fact the head of the only regime that changed course since was killed by its own revolting citizens this very week.

Tunisia and Eygpt don't count?

Those regimes didn't change course, they were toppled.

In any event, I'm not sure how American threats of violence contributed to the Arab Spring, except perhaps to encourage Islamists to oppose American imperialism.