it bothers me to see people lose their lives over something that I think could have been prevented.
You are not the first person I have heard say this, so understand that what I am about to say is not a personal attack.
Alot of people say "This could have been prevented."
Yet, I have not heard ONE of any of them say HOW it could be prevented.
So, since you said it here, I am asking you: How could this war have been prevented? By leaving Saddam in power and ignoring him? I said it on another thread and I will say it here. The man and his regime DO NOT THINK like we do. To them, war is the only way and is an every day thing. Even against their own people. In their own country.
I just finished watching part of Frontline on PBS - a documentary about the Gulf War. After it was over, Stormin' Norman sat down with Saddam's generals to discuss the cease fire. When we left Iraq, the Iraqi people began their own uprising against Saddam and his regime. We encouraged them too! Saddam got nervous, so his generals were told to tell Norman whatever it took to keep us from starting firing again. They told us what we wanted to hear - where the mines were, where the prisoners were, etc. We thought we were getting good info, so when they asked if they could fly their helicopters, we said yes. Then they asked if they could fly armed helicopters; mistakenly, we said yes.
They flew them alright. They flew them and they used them to shoot AT THEIR OWN PEOPLE who were rising up against them. They ran them out of their homes and their cities and our military, who was left to patrol the air, were not allowed, per orders, to do anything about it. They fled to the Turkish and Kuwait borders. Saddam's regime captured these citizens, they tortured them, and they killed them and they filmed it while they were doing it. They certainly didn't take them somewhere to do this either. They did it right on the spot. They dropped chemical weapons on them, the hospitals are full of people who still suffer from that. Eventually, James Baker flew over to see what was happening, and he called the President from the plane and told him these people need help. What did we do?
Did we go help them fight to get their country back? No. We flew over their encampments on the border and dropped them food.
Big whoop. These people were interviewed and they cried and cried. They could see OUR military jets watching as the helicopters bombed and shot these innocent citizens and they could NOT understand why we did nothing to help. Since that time, we have had meeting after meeting, convention after convention, document after document.
These people are still dying and they are still suffering and they still cry for our help.
So, tell me, if we don't destroy Saddam, as we did Hitler, then what SHOULD WE BE DOING to prevent these atrocities to these people?