The People have spoken.
The People have spoken.
Yeah, and it's going to be really exciting to watch the reaction when the first suicide bomber goes off at an American mall. We'll be needing every one of those troops right here. The media won't mention the connection, but in the backs of everyone's mind will be the sure and certain knowledge that the 2006 election brought it home.
And they were.
In hindsight it's perfectly clear that Iraq was not unlike Viet Nam in that respect. This nation will not stand for ambiguity in military conflict...even Lincoln learned that lesson. We are FAR more tolerant of abject savagery.
Once we defeated the Iraqi army and deposed Saddam, we should have allowed the army to reform...and we should have been out within six months. Let whatever regime emerged sit at the UN with the CLEAR notice that we would do it again should they develop WMD or support terrorism.
The formula in the future must be: Kill the bad guys and do so conclusively. Put somebody in power who has real power (an army) with the understanding that are certain lines that cannot be crossed.
Again, in hindsight, while our (and the Presidents) motives were good...we failed. Our position vs the Jihadis is significantly diminished...they don't fear us. To top it off, there is no check on the Iranians...no competing power in the Middle East.
I think our only recourse at this point is to increase troops in Iraq to kill 1000's of bad guys while at the same time turning over REAL power to the Shiite militias and the Kurds...and real weapons to go with it. Then we have to extricate ourselves asap and let the civil war take it's course.
Sad reality.