I think this spawned originally from Timber's Rant "What pisses me off about this forum." He'd mentioned that several aspects of the war had caused a change in his viewpoints, and it got me thinking about how my own views have changed, and how this war has affected me. I've noticed during the past few months that many posters have changed their views slightly, so I'll share mine.

I have no political allegiance. I am neither right nor left, but support the right things for the majority of the people. Always have been always will be.

I do not believe that G.W. Bush is doing the right thing for the US at this time, but I'm not a US citizen so it doesn't matter. One thing that has changed is my views of Bush as a person. I don't trust him, never have and never will after watching him and his control over the world in general, I must say he is VERY charismatic, a true politician.

I began thinking this war was for oil or revenge and although I still don't know exactly what it was about, I now know that oil and revenge certainly weren't in Bush's Top 10 reasons.

I am still torn as to whether or not Bush and co. have Iraqs best interests at heart. There were too many lies and half truths to fully trust the direction that they are headed in now, so only time will tell.

I now feel that Iraq is better off without Saddam, and although in my eyes the ends still don't justify the means, the removal of Saddam can be considered a good thing. I don't agree with a US controlled Iraq at any time though.

Most of my views have remained intact, and though it may not seem like much of a change, the discussions and debates that I've had with some on this forum have opened my mind slightly to other lines of reason.

I too think that Iraq is better off without Saddam, hell, the whole world is better off without him. But there was no way he was gonna go just because we'd ask him nicely. So there were casualties, as always in war, but not the numbers estimated by the UN. If i recall correctly they said that in the first week of bombings, there would be a number of 50.000 casualties. Boy, were they wrong. Precision bombings DO make a difference, that much is obvious now.

The war had no effect on me personally. I felt that coalition forces were doing the right thing. The forum hasn't changed much either because of all this, i think, although some members may look slightly different at eachother now. But hey.... you can't be friends with everyone. :D

[ 04-22-2003, 08:14 PM: Message edited by: johnny ]

I think it has made me more aware of the world and politics in general.

Same here. [img]graemlins/check.gif[/img]

I started out thinking this was a war about WoMD but now realise it was a war to free a downtrodden people.


I am more optimistic about the future of the world now because I believe that the US and it's allies will move on to other hot spots in the world to free downtrodden people.

I look forward to the day that an Abrams tank rolls into Harare.

I became an even more of a pessimist than before.

Animal, you have basically summed it up for me as well.

It has been a refreshing experience to read other peoples ideas and views. I didn´t have many chances before to discuss these matters with people around the World.

My basic opinions hasn´t changed much though.

Forum debates rarely change anyones views... but this forum has been great at providing an international view of events that the majority of Americans rarely saw on CNN and FOX.

The war itself has depressed me and left me with a more pessimistic view of human prospects than I had before. Bush and Co's actions since the war concluded are not giving me cause to feel any better about prospects either. IMO they made their point and it's time to start including the international community in Iraq. What is the problem with letting Blix back in? Why not start to AT LEAST confer with non-coalition allies (France, Germany, Russia) about plans. Why aren't they dealing with fundamentalists that are starting to cause problems (they MUST have known this would happen and developed contingencies). Why is the Military in control of this instead of the State Department? This spat between Rummie and Powell needs to be addressed, and Powell needs to be put in a position where he can do his job. You did a GREAT job Rummie, now let Powell do his!

Thoran, have you been listening to the news stories coming out about how well the UN ran the food for oil program? Or how much stuff Blix's Blitzers missed? I say keep the UN out permanently. It f**ks up everything it tries to do.

[img]smile.gif[/img]
I tend to agree with you. Too many diplomats spoil... well, just about anything. In this case however I think the need to start rebuilding relationships outweighs the simplicity of just doing it ourselves.