Non conformer executed

Antiquities plundered

Massive US/UK redevelopment contracts underway

Oil flowing in the right direction at the right price

Central bank established

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED !

Over 110, 000 Iraqi civilians killed
About 4500 American soldiers died
At least 2 million Iraqi civilians have been displaced


Panetta says US troops should be proud...

Particularly proud of Abu Ghraib

Good job there was only Saddam to be hunted, had there been another would the numbers have doubled?

140,000 against 1 - a typical US 'victory'.

In short, Mr Panetta should be "treated" just like Mr Hussein al-Takriti (nickname Saddam)

Good luck with that.

(It would be a profound and long-overdue trend reversal).

Just remember Panetta only ended it. He didn't start it (that was Donald Rumsfeld) and he wasn't even the first to inherit it (that was Robert Gates).

Swing Tony B'liar', I mean Blair up there with him !

Kinda depends on how you define "ended" -- with tens of thousands of Americans still there as "contractors" and thousands more to man the gargantuan US "embassy" (one of the biggest US "diplomatic" compounds ever), it's really only "ended" on paper.

Trouble will start soon ( My prediction )

In my opinion, Panetta is right in commenting the troops should be proud of their service.

Except for incidents like Abu Ghraib where soldiers acted on their own (Even with Abu Ghraib there was a silent support for the torture of inmates from the highest powers within the Pentagon), US soldiers are trained to fight and are guided by their commanders. As long as they do their duty the nature of their mission is not theirs to decide.

I don't know whether hell has a large enough space around for Donald Rumsfeld

Tony Blair, GWBjr, Panetta, Rumsfeld ........... a crowded place

In my opinion this is nothing to be proud of... Sure they were trained to follow orders and this is what they have done. In this case they have been an instrument of agression and there is no pride in it.

What about declaring neutrality while mad men try to burn the world?

One dead dictator

Mission accomplished.

Mad men? I think the world is never burnt by maniacs and mad men but by the perfectly normal people around us who feel proud and important following somebody's orders.

So the Swiss were just 'following orders' by not getting involved? It's often said that the best way evil flourishes is for good men to sit by and do nothing. I'm no fan of the Iraq conflict but I think you do a great disservice to a number of good people with your unthinking criticism of their service and deeds.

That's exactly what my grandpa told me about his time in the Nazi-German Wehrmacht...

Abu Ghraib was not a single incidence, but one of the worst. Thanks to a certain wistleblower did we learn the facts that the "embedded journalists" didn't tell us.
- the video private Manning found so shocking that he shared it with the world has shown that the US soldiers first shoot and then asked questions. As shocking as it is, I think I would have done the same if my leaders send me to some hostile country with insufficient plans what I actually was supposed to do there...
- Are you telling me that Guantanamo is also just some soldiers acting strange?
- "Blackwater" or how wars suddenly turned into a mercenary business. From an outsider standpoint probably mainly cause a regular army is controlled by the parliament while the leaders around Bush could do as they wanted with his private army... giving them a "get out of jail free" card by making them not liable under Iraqi law was the strangest thing for me. That's nothing short of fascism. And I do not even think of the religous extremists' views of their founder...
- CIA torture prisons and illegal flights

The US has thrown most of their ethical values out of the window in this war. I would never blame any low soldier for it, but I for one don't think that the death toll for US troops is very high given the size of the operation. These deaths are surely accepted in return for the oil and business by the US leaders... not sure if their families share the view and really believe that their kids died for a just cause or defending their country. I for one don't think so. They died fighting for the economical interests of a small group of powerfull people in their country. Which is in my eyes nothing I would give a child for. Looks like most US politicians did not send their kids to war either...

Sorry I am just stating my opinion and trying to understand yours...
I am not following your logic about the Swiss sorry... lets look at it later.
I am just saying that I do not belive that the world is divided to the "evil" and "good men". Most of the evil things are done by normal people who lost the ability of critical thinking.
You said that you are not a fan of the Iraq conflict but you feel that my criticism of the troops is wrong... Do you think the troops should be proud of what happened there?