Iraq is now a sovereign nation.

[BTs_GhostSniper]

Oh, but then you are of the French mindset that says you should be weak militarily so that you can just surrender to the enemy so they don't destroy your country.  Gotcha.[/color][/size]

and you are of the mindset that keeps a M60 gun at home just in case some russian will invade the US just to rape your wife and steal your TV !

No, not quite.  I do not, nor have I ever, owned an M60 Machine Gun (would love to have one though!).  I do, however, own a Glock 29, Remington 700, AK-47, M-4, and one other weapon that shall remain nameless.  Those are not there so that some Russian will rape my wife (that's a nice racist post...I can't wait til Cossack gets ahold of that one!) or steal my TV.  I have them in case some Socialist nut like you who can't get a job because of out-of-control inflation in your own country tries to break into my house to steal my beloved Macintosh G5 (my wife can take care of herself....bang, you're dead....One Shot, One Kill, is also her motto).

[seth]

that's a nice racist post

you still did not check the definition of "sarcasm", did you ?

[Croosch]

I do, however, own a Glock 29, Remington 700, AK-47, M-4, and one other weapon that shall remain nameless.

another gun-slinging republican

[BTs_GhostSniper]

I do, however, own a Glock 29, Remington 700, AK-47, M-4, and one other weapon that shall remain nameless.

another gun-slinging republican

w00t!  Damn straight!

[Croosch]

we know . . . the ones that give America its bad name

[BTs_GhostSniper]

we know . . . the ones that give America its bad name

I, however, will not be a statistic....

Headline:

"Ex-Felon breaks into home and kills 3 innocent [unarmed] family members"

My Headline Would Read More Like This:

"Ex-Felon dies from multiple gunshot wounds while trying to break into home with 3 innocent people inside"

[Croosch]

My Headline Would Read More Like This:

"Ex-Felon breaks into home and forgets that he does not own a gun because he's an Ex-Felon and should be under constant watch"

[BTs_GhostSniper]

My Headline Would Read More Like This:

"Ex-Felon breaks into home and forgets that he does not own a gun because he's an Ex-Felon and should be under constant watch"

Would be nice if you weren't dreaming.....This is what your headline would read with that mindset:

"This idiot thought that ex-felons don't have guns, wasn't worried, and got shot and killed in his home."[/size]

[BTs_Mysterio]

I support guns for defense that stay at home.

[alaric]

I do, however, own a Glock 29, Remington 700, AK-47, M-4, and one other weapon that shall remain nameless.

another gun-slinging republican

Hey, I personally would LOVE to own the firearms GS does, especially the one that shall remain nameless.

As for the oil stuff, GS, you can occupy a country economically and keep a light presence militarily. Which is pretty much what we're planning to do. Another couple of the reasons Iraq hasn't begun leaking oil like a sieve yet is because the saudis wouldn't like it cutting into their business, and we like the saudis remember? Also, the Iraqi resistance fighters keep blowing the damn pipelines up. But that's ok for now, this oil isn't meant for use today, it's meant for use 5-10 years from now when the oil situation gets really tough.

The other major reason the bush administration attacked Iraq was to provide a forward operating base for the middle east. Israel just wouldn't cut it if we needed to stage major military operations in the area and the saudis weren't even that excited about letting us in for the first gulf war.

In sum, the major objectives were to secure Iraqi oil reserves by installing a government that will be sympathetic to the US; and to provide a staging area for a large military force, should we ever need it. I honestly believe a lesser goal was to spread democracy to the middle east though it was not a major motivating factor.