Headlines with today's date, from http://icasualties.org/oif/: And by the way... U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 2278 Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 6 Total 2284
July 2003 "stay the course" http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2003/n07102003_200307101.html Sept 2003 "stay the course" http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/07/iraq/main571967.shtml April 2004 "stay the course" http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040413-20.html November 2005 "stay the course" http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/11/20051130-2.html This is what passes for leadership. Our course f-cking sucks, primarily because we don't really have one 3 years later, and didn't have one going in - which is egregious and inexcusable.
Sammy, when the going gets tough, I am not counting on the war hawks such as basso and hayes, but I do look forward to my good Tibet debate nemesis and your ideological ally Sishir sharing his thoughts.
Although I was never for war invading in the first place, I feel we cannot leave because we started it. We have an obligation to fix as much as we can. I think it will be really jacked up if, because of us the country (IRAQ) goes into civil war. Maybe it is a necessary evil though. As an American, I just hate being the cause of some other nations misfortunes. I just hate that the rest of the world will see it as "The American's" are pulling out of Iraq. I hate that a certain someone put us in the situation in the first place. I cant complain too much cause in an indirect way, I am gainning from it. However I would much rather the invasion never happened in the first place. Again just my opinion....
That's a moral reason - not a practical reason. To that same end, while "finish what you start" is a good principle - I think if you have reason to believe that, in trying to finish whay you start - on a net basis you end up making things even worse, you're obligated to NOT try to finish whay you start.
It has been right around 1029 days since Bush had his triumphant "Mission Accomplished" landing on the aircraft carrier. Mission Accomplished, indeed.
I totally agree. In essence we are in between a rock and a hard place. I just hate that its our fault thats all....
If we leave now, who will be the balancing force against any force that rises there? Do we really want some strongman to gather a force and take over the country, killing the nascent democracy and putting them right back where they were under Saddam? Right now the most powerful faction in Iraq is the United States military, we should not leave until the new power will be the Iraqi Army, not some inurgent militia or terrorist organization.
So, I guess if Louisiana, Alabama, and Texas all broke out into Civil Holy war, we should just put barriers around them and let them fight it out? Please. What we need to do is put together a fully operational policing force that sets laws on what is and isn't acceptable. When an infration occurs, you have a penalty, just like any other area. If the infractions continue, you beef up the police force until control is established.
You're not in Iraq anymore, Dorothy. Seroiusly. A comparison does not compute. What an unbelievable mess. The country truly is at the very brink of all out, sectarian civil war, with us smack dab in the middle, and a bullseye on every one of our men and women in country by both sides. Keep D&D Civil.
My comparison is only hypothetical. However, it would always be possible for something to happen like this over here. I know for a fact that we wouldn't just bail our army and policing forces out if it did. What we would do would be to keep sending in reinforcements until order was restored. IMO, we need to send a crapload more stuff over there to let all of these uprisings know what they are truly up against. Right now, I'm not sure they know what we can do.
Fatty I agree to an extent. But politics has decided that we will never send more troops or equipment. Hell we can't even up armor the troops that are there now. We have made our bed.
While that may be the case, politicking is not the way to go in this battle. We need to stand United against these terrorists and insurgents and let them know there will be hell to pay if they don't knock this off. Hell, I'd be fine with a Democrat in Office the next 8 years if it meant we could stand together against this. If we lose control and back out, the consequences will be felt for decades to come. This has to be something we win.
It's the response of someone who's sick and tired hearing people say we just need to go kick some more ass, when their ass will never be on the line.
This country's military answers to the people, not the other way around. To say that one cannot advocate for military actions without joining the military themselves is anti-American.
