The #1 reason why I don't like Hillary Clinton

[davidthegnome]

157. Some hard truths here.

Some times the truth is just plain ugly. I don't know what Clinton's motivations were for voting in favor of the IWR - and later the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Does anyone here recall how harsh our sanctions and years of bombing already were? We had thousands of children already being born deformed. We had thousands of people already sick, dying, dead, or living in misery. We had already brought that Nation to it's knees.

They did not want to fight. They were not responsible for 9/11 - Saddam and Bin Laden hated each other. There were no ties proven, there were no weapons of mass destruction... folks, there was NO smoking gun - and the available documentation at the time indicated that. The inspectors asking for more time indicated that. The millions of us here and abroad protesting indicated that. Those of us who knew what was already going on in that Country... the massive suffering already taking place... we knew this wasn't just a bad call, but let's call it what it is, a crime against humanity. The slaughter of people who didn't want to fight us, who didn't even have the power to effectively work against us or harm us... who were already suffering from the results of a massive military and economic defeat.

We took a place like hell... and somehow, we made it even worse. We looked at a people who were already suffering - and inflicted still greater suffering upon them. There is no excuse, no rationale, no justification that makes sense. The only thing I believe we can do here is apologize... profusely and create a government that focuses on diplomacy and humanitarian efforts over ignorance, hatred, war and threats of war.

Freedom... ultimately, must be earned - and it must be earned by those desiring it. It cannot be given, for what can be given can be taken away. The absolute worst thing we could have done was precisely what we did. You cannot "create freedom" in a sovereign Nation by invading it and forcing the issue of so called democracy, when our own democracy is so deeply flawed it is an honest question as to whether it is actually an oligarchy, or, simply put, a Nation truly owned and governed by the 1%, corporations, and the power of the almighty dollar.

Everyone who voted in favor of the IWR, who voiced support for that war, who promoted it... they did not perform their due diligence. They did not know what the hell was going on - if they had, there is no way they would have voted to do it, I can't honestly believe they would have. Not if they were actual human beings who bled and cried and cared. The saddest thing of it is - the same people who were ignorant then are ignorant now.

What happened there was not freedom. It was, and remains a deep tragedy. It remains a crime committed by one sovereign Nation against another - yet there is no powerful coalition of Nations, nor a super power to hold us accountable.