# Will history judge it a "damn fool war"? Yes or no. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 17, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074 "2003-10-17T19:16:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ready29003](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@ready29003](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ready29003)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/1 "2003-10-17T19:16:38Z")
This is a poll. Just wondering if more people agree with [Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030411.html) now. Yes or no. This is a poll. (I hope this subject is not off limits.) ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/2 "2003-10-17T19:55:19Z")
Yes, history will reveal that it was a damn fool war, believed by damned fools, and sold by thrice-damned fools. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/3 "2003-10-17T20:01:54Z")
I’m having a hard time thinking of _any_ war that isn’t “damn fool”. This one surely will be looked at in that way, I’m sure. But it will be a minor footnote and nothing compared with World War One. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/4 "2003-10-17T20:57:52Z")
It’ll take thirty or so years to tell for certain, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/5 "2003-10-17T21:09:34Z")
Or perhaps thirty months, if Bush loses the next election and a criminal investigation is allowed to go forward unimpeded. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/6 "2003-10-17T21:42:14Z")
Yes, a damn fool war. Iraq, that is. The Afghan war sorta made sense, but the postwar program there was utterly botched, and it made the war itself a waste of time. ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/7 "2003-10-17T22:23:28Z")
No, they said there were weapons of mass destruction, so there must have been. Maybe they were sneaked out on a truck. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/8 "2003-10-18T00:34:40Z")
> [@](#): > > No, they said there were weapons of mass destruction, so there must have been. you must have heard that from the clinton admin. Anyway if iraq manages to become a free state, not only will this not be seem as a “damn fool war”? but will go down in history as one of the greatest moments of humanity. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/9 "2003-10-18T00:37:24Z")
Yes, the war will probably be judged to be based on faulty premise, but exactly how kind history judges it will depend on what the final product is. ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/10 "2003-10-18T01:42:39Z")
Yeah, as has been stated, it seems like a damn fool war, but World War 1 caused World War 2, and WW1 was based on a domino effect caused by many unecessary events going off at once. So, footnote indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/11 "2003-10-18T06:39:21Z")
I don’t know that the Kurds and the Iraqi Shi’ias would consider it a “damn fool war.” But hey, who cares about them? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/12 "2003-10-18T06:56:11Z")
I believe this war will, in the very long term, be looked back upon as a just war. I also believe, unfortunately, that it will not be looked back upon as a war, but as the first offensive in a much larger, decades-long war. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/13 "2003-10-18T08:23:57Z")
Given that this war has failed in what I’d call its main aim (stopping Saddam Hussein from using WMD he didn’t even have), the jury is still out on its secondary aim (freeing Iraq and making it a stable democracy), and it’s been a great recruitment boon to Al Qaeda, “damn fool war” may be a kind assessment indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Bluesman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@Bluesman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bluesman)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/14 "2003-10-18T09:32:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheLoadedDog \* > \*\*I believe this war will, in the very long term, be looked back upon as a just war. I also believe, unfortunately, that it will not be looked back upon as a war, but as the first offensive in a much larger, decades-long war. \*\* Absolutely right, **Dog**. “Damn fool war” is definitely the Hussein family’s view of it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/15 "2003-10-18T09:57:35Z")
I agree with Cecil that this was a “damn fool war.” Emphasis on the word “fool”. I believe that this will prove to be the trigger for further destablisation in that part of the world, all for political posturing, to make it look good for the voters. That destabilisation already in evidence may well lead to further lives lost in tragic disasters by terrorist action in the West. The insanity continues. “Damn fool war”? Definitely. ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/16 "2003-10-18T11:42:07Z")
It really wasn’t much of a war. We bombed a country into submission that was ill equipped to defend against us. Now we have literally lost more men to them in guerilla skirmishes since we have declared that we have won than in the actual war. Do these people actually want or need democratic rule? Who are we to tell them what they want? Which country will we make free for democracy next? When were we made guardians of the world? ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/17 "2003-10-18T12:06:49Z")
To continue my rant, do we set the standard for democracy? Was our current president actually elected or was it decided by the courts? ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/18 "2003-10-18T12:25:36Z")
Yes, very much so. And perchance, in hindsight, the spark that lit the fuse for WW-III. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/19 "2003-10-18T12:28:35Z")
damn fool war ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074/20 "2003-10-18T12:41:08Z")
Unfortunately, I agree. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I tend to think if they’re killin’ us, and we ain’t killin’ them, we seem to be LOSING the war. Particularly if we don’t meet our other goals while there. SADDAM GONE: Well, yeah, we did that. Unfortunately, as soon as we leave, he’ll be back. Unless we catch him. WMDs: E-yeah. Right. Ain’t found any, and ain’t likely to find any. ESTABLISHMENT OF A DEMOCRATIC REGIME: in a country with no history of democracy, no understanding of democracy, and which has never gotten a damn thing accomplished without some hardassed dictator ramrodding it and shooting folks left and right. E-yeah. Right. Does it count if we DO put a democratic regime in and it collapses within a year of our leaving? Yes, I think this qualifies as a damn fool endeavor. Unless it gets Bush reelected. Then it qualifies as “crazy like a fox.” Regardless of how many Americans die for it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-history-judge-it-a-damn-fool-war-yes-or-no/208074.md?page=2)