Iraq War

This picture shows a boy being burnt in the Iraq War. I guessed we can only describe the war in one word, cruel. The war was carried out as president of USA, George Bush claimed that Iraq possessed and was actively developing weapons of mass destruction, thus posing an imminent threat to US. However, I strongly believed that this war should not take place in the first place though Iraq might have possessed weapons of mass destructions. Instead talks for peace should be in place of the war as no casualties would be done. Many lives, the Iraqis as well as the Americans, were lost during this war. Yes, indeed death is inevitable in war. However what matters the most are innocent lives of the Iraqis who knew nothing about this war beforhand that were taken away in the war. Even a boy was not spared of his limbs in this war. How could we not condemn such inhumane acts? Besides the lives that were lost, the financial cost of this war is simply tremendous said to be around one trillion US dollars. This war would also trigger other terrorist events such as September 11 at the World Trade Centre. Thus I think that this Iraq War should not have taken place at all.

iraq war

War, is it necessary??? Is it a wonderful thing to see many dying (more than 600,000) during the war just because of some groundless statement made? It has been proven that Iraq is not developing any WMDs so why should there even be a war started based on this issue? Furthermore, the reasons of starting the war has been changing ever since it begins. There seems to be tons of reasons given to continue the war and i believe that there will be many more to come. But many believes that oil is the real reason behind it. Most of the surveys conducted by organisations have been narrowed down to one conclusion - US troops out of Iraq. It might just do everyone good with US troops out of Iraq's land. The amount of people dying is on the rise every single day. The amount of money spent is soon goin to reach an astronomical value. The lifes of Iraqi is affected deeply as long as the troops are still in their land. Therefore, why should US even bother to continue if ending it would benefits all. Lastly, why must war be seen as a solution to this particular issue when there are simply many more ways to solve it.

louis ang

Opinions on the Iraq War

The Iraq war, an ongoing battle led by the United States , started on the 20th of March 2003. Among the countries involved are Iraq, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, Poland and other nations. Its main reason and purpose, as given by the United States, is to stop the development of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as well as to put an end to terrorism.

I personally do not support wars, and in this case, the Iraq war. In general, yes, war produces more instant results and is a more effective method to stop conflicts, disagreements and other unhappiness between countries. War also reflects a country’s military strength, hence its outcome determines a country’s superiority among the others. However, it has with it so many disadvantages that it makes the advantages look miserably insignificant. I find that wars are not necessary as not only does it not solve the main problems, instead it creates even more unhappiness, conflicts or even misunderstandings. In other words, wars destroy peace and make peaceful solutions even harder to reach.

The disadvantages of the Iraq war are numerous, from deaths of mostly innocent people to economic disruption. One main downside is the number of deaths it caused. Since deadly, more powerful and advanced weapons are used today, the death of soldiers during a war is unavoidable. Till now, there had been an estimated of about 3920 deaths of U.S. soldiers alone with another 29395 wounded during the Iraq war. These are two huge figures and is enough to let one realize the extensiveness of the effect of the Iraq war. Furthermore there are also deaths of the innocent locals in Iraq as well as media reporters, who risked their life to give viewers the best first-hand information of the events happening during the war. One example of such death is CBS cameraman, Paul Douglas, and soundman, James Brolen, who were killed in Iraq in 2006. All these just add on to the death toll and the number of people left grieving over their loved-ones.

Apart from deaths, the Iraq war also resulted in the destruction of infrastructure as well as affecting the lives of the locals in Iraq. Take the photo above (from

http://media.commercialappeal.com/mca/content/img/photos/2007/08/23/g24end.jpeg) as an example. It shows a huge ball of flame in front of a group of army tanks. This photo only reflects what happened in a certain small part of the ‘war zone’. Imagine this level of destruction being repeated hundreds of times and one can realize the amount of damage that is left behind as the attacking troops marched past. Attacks from the opposition had destroyed homes, farms, irrigation systems, pipes carrying clean water to homes, power lines, transport infrastructure, sewerage pipes etc. Most of these are important and necessary for the locals and is also vital to the country’s economy. Without these supporting facilities, Iraq is unable to improve and grow towards success. Its resources will also be diverted for the repairing or rebuilding of these damaged facilities, sacrificing all other needs of the nation. In the end, the final effect is still felt by the locals as they continue to live in poverty and hardship.

These disadvantages which I talked about are just a small portion of a larger group. Hence with all these disadvantages, I find that wars are simply not worth it, in terms of the number of lives sacrificed and the amount of money and resources spent ‘cleaning up’ the mess the war had created. Yet despite all these, the United States alone had pumped in about $845 billion into the Iraq war while more than $4.5 billion were from the United Kingdom. Just think about it, did these countries made the right ‘investments’?

Justin aka J.T.

Opinions on Iraq War

From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tais/24762390/
The Iraq war, also known as the Second Gulf War which was initiated by United States led invasion, have resulted in many criticisms and opinions by many people from all over the world. Everyone is questioning about whether the choice made by the United States - to invade Iraq, was right or wrong. The main rationale given by the United States President George W. Bush at that time, was that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction which posed as a immediate threat to all the countries.

Using this ''convenient'' excuse, Iraq was taken over by the U.S led forces and a combination of other country's troops , which resulted in massive deaths from both sides. However, many of these deaths were from innocent civilians which were killed unknowingly by stray bullets and bombs, causing an uproar in Iraq itself by its people. This caused many insurgents to seek revenge by going on a killing spree, killing U.S soldiers and un-armed civilians nonchalantly, pushing the death tolls to a greater height every single day.

Most surprisingly of all, the so called 'weapons of mass destruction'' which in the first place caused this war to happen, did not exist at all after weapon inspectors were sent in to investigate. However, instead of pulling out the troops immediately, United States President George W. Bush increased the number of troops to be sent in as reinforcement, and also spent a huge amount of money on reconstruction, etc.

Clearly, United States President George W. Bush did not consider those soldier's feelings at all, as sending the troops there meant great risks which could cause one's life.Furthermore, the amount of money spent in Iraq itself, could have been used for greater purposes such as donating to the charity and perhaps building more schools in poor and needy countries.

To sum it all up, i feel that the choice to invade Iraq was a wrong one, and it caused serious consequences, disrupting many people's way of life, resulting in deaths of many innocent people, and caused Iraq to be terrorised by insurgents and that the people there could no longer enjoy the peace that they had before.

-Edmund
sry for the low quality pic post.

what i feel about this picture

looking at this picture just makes me sympathize with the people that are involved in the war. in america, most of the soldiers are being forced into the war, while people in iraq are being blinded by their religion into the belief that they are fighting a holy war and would be greatly rewarded with 50 virgins if they died for it. while america has modern weapons, iraq has loyal people that are willing to put their lives for the war. blind faith, as many would call it, contributes to many of the worthless killing involved. at the end of the day only one question remains. "is it worth it?"

kenneth lo

Is winning the most important thing in sports?

Winning is definitely important in sports. It is one of the factor that pushes one to his or her limits. Winning is what most atheletes have in their mindset that spurs them to achieve greater heights. With these encouragements, only can atheletes constantly improve. Sports competitions are held almost everywhere on Earth and at least once in a year. Such competitions include global ones-Olympics Games, SEA Games, Youth Olympics,Fifa World Cup which is held once every four years as well as smaller scale competitions which are held in individual countries. The definition of competition is a situation in which people try to be more successful than other people. In other words competition is a situation in which people try to win others. Thus with all these sports competitions that are organised frequently, how is it possible to say that winning is not important in sports?

One other key essense in sports is sportsmanship. To have sportsmanship means to have a behavior that is fair, honest, and polite in a sports competition or games. Playing fair and treating one's teammates and opponents politely is important in a competition. This is because one is actually competing his true skills or talents against his opponent in sports competition. Therefore there is no point to take drugs such as steroids, resort to using undermeans methods like adding laxative to one's opponent's drink, making him unfit to enter a competition and also injure someone in a game so severely that he has to be taken out from a competiton to win. If one wants to win in a competition, he should win it with glory based on his true capabilities. Next, no matter who win in a competition, one must always treat his teammates and opponents politely. One will surely feel bad if he were to lose in a competition, however that is not an excuse to put blame on others and shouting at his opponents. He should instead learn from his failure and try harder next time.

Though winning and having good sportsmanship are important in sports, however in my opinion, i would say that the most important thing in sports is having good sportsmanship. Like what I always hear from my teacher in my science practical, '' The results are not as important, what is most important is the process.''. Similarly, what is important in sports is the process to see your true abilities, at the same time to most atheletes, to pursue their interests.


Kerby =x (ShanGui)

is winning impt in sports?

Is winning important in sports? Many people have been pondering over this question for a long time. Is winning the primary goal in all competitons? Is winning the only thing that matters in these competitions? I doubt so. In my opinion, winning seconds to sportsmanship and moral values.Some thinks that winning is everything in a competition, but have they really thought about sportmanship? Sportsmanship is actually the behaviour that is fair and honest in a game or competition. If winning is that important eould everyone still care to even play fairly. They would rather use despicable means to obtain their victory, but is that really what sport is about? Would a sportman feel contented to achieve success by sheating his way through? Winning is meaningless if underhand means are utilised. Failure does not mean that it has come to an end. Failure marks the beginning of another road to success, with the knowledge of what not to do and to do to succeed - that is cheating. Does failure mean that everything is gone? Accepting failure and picking yourself up from failure is the mindset that everyone should have. It is far more important than winning. A person who fails continually but picks himself up each time he falls is far better than one who has won a thousand times but is unable to even afford accepting a single failure. If Einstein had not been able to accpet failure, we would still be living in the dark. If every scientist had not learn to take failure in his stride and persevere, we would still be communicating with letters, using raw fire to cook food and catastrophe would become disastrous as we would be in the absence of advance technology. This emphasizes that accpeting failure is an important lifeskills everyone should inculcate. Without it, success would never occur. Winning is indeed a wonderful achievement. Winning allows you to realise how high you are standing among your counterparts. Winning brings fame and glory. Winning feels great. However, in sports, there is more to it than simply winning. Skills, perseverance, sportsmanship, integrity and many more accounts for more than winning. To win without these qualities is self-denial. Therefore I conclude that winning, in sports, is not important relative to moral values.

-louis ang(to save ur eyes, copy and paste on microsoft word to read)