<font size="6"><center>Was The War Worth It?</font size><font size="4">
As the third anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War approaches, TIME asked leading thinkers around the world to weigh in on the question at the heart of the ongoing debate about the controversial conflict.</font size></center>
TIME Magazine
Posted Thursday, Mar. 16, 2006
This is the first installment of a feature that will appear in the forthcoming issue of TIME. Check back tomorrow on time.com for more excerpts.
Lawrence B. Wilkerson, Colonel, U.S. Army (ret.); former chief of staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell:
No. I'm principally a strategist and from that perspective the war has been a disaster. First, the foremost winner has been Iran: it rid itself of its greatest threat, Saddam Hussein and his military, without firing a shot; won the December 15 Iraq elections; owns the south, particularly Basra; and has felt the freedom to elect Mahmoud Amadinejad who, in turn, has felt the freedom to reclaim leadership of radical Islam, leadership Osama bin Laden claimed on 9/11. Second, the foremost loser, after Iraq itself, has been Israel, whose leaders must now fear more than ever before the new strategic maneuver room afforded Iran by America's ineptitude. Third, the general war against global terrorists has been affected greatly by the failure in Iraq. Recruiting among Muslim ranks has been aided significantly, while America has squandered the upper hand in the world of ideas, which is the real battlefield of this conflict. Lastly, if our failure in Iraq produces regional conflict, we will find ourselves expending far greater blood and treasure to stabilize the situation once it gets completely out of hand. And the odds that it will get completely out of hand if we continue on the present course are quite high.
Tommy Franks, General, U.S. Army (ret.); as chief of U.S. Central Command, Franks oversaw the invasion and the three months following it, until his retirement on July 7, 2003:
Yes. America remains very proud of, and very thankful to our sons and daughters serving in Iraq and around the world in the cause of freedom. The events of 9-11-01 taught us a valuable lesson.... ignoring terrorism will not make the problem go away. The sacrifices of our military members and their families are giving Iraqis a chance for freedom. And a free Iraq serves not only Iraqis... it will stand as a model in the Middle East. A model that represents to millions of people that there is an alternative to terrorism.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1174007,00.html
As the third anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War approaches, TIME asked leading thinkers around the world to weigh in on the question at the heart of the ongoing debate about the controversial conflict.</font size></center>
TIME Magazine
Posted Thursday, Mar. 16, 2006
This is the first installment of a feature that will appear in the forthcoming issue of TIME. Check back tomorrow on time.com for more excerpts.
Lawrence B. Wilkerson, Colonel, U.S. Army (ret.); former chief of staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell:
No. I'm principally a strategist and from that perspective the war has been a disaster. First, the foremost winner has been Iran: it rid itself of its greatest threat, Saddam Hussein and his military, without firing a shot; won the December 15 Iraq elections; owns the south, particularly Basra; and has felt the freedom to elect Mahmoud Amadinejad who, in turn, has felt the freedom to reclaim leadership of radical Islam, leadership Osama bin Laden claimed on 9/11. Second, the foremost loser, after Iraq itself, has been Israel, whose leaders must now fear more than ever before the new strategic maneuver room afforded Iran by America's ineptitude. Third, the general war against global terrorists has been affected greatly by the failure in Iraq. Recruiting among Muslim ranks has been aided significantly, while America has squandered the upper hand in the world of ideas, which is the real battlefield of this conflict. Lastly, if our failure in Iraq produces regional conflict, we will find ourselves expending far greater blood and treasure to stabilize the situation once it gets completely out of hand. And the odds that it will get completely out of hand if we continue on the present course are quite high.
Tommy Franks, General, U.S. Army (ret.); as chief of U.S. Central Command, Franks oversaw the invasion and the three months following it, until his retirement on July 7, 2003:
Yes. America remains very proud of, and very thankful to our sons and daughters serving in Iraq and around the world in the cause of freedom. The events of 9-11-01 taught us a valuable lesson.... ignoring terrorism will not make the problem go away. The sacrifices of our military members and their families are giving Iraqis a chance for freedom. And a free Iraq serves not only Iraqis... it will stand as a model in the Middle East. A model that represents to millions of people that there is an alternative to terrorism.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1174007,00.html
