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Stopping the next war
WorldNetDaily ^ | September 14, 2007 | Patrick J. Buchanan

Posted on 09/14/2007 9:02:25 PM PDT by NapkinUser

President Bush has won the Battle of September.

When he turns over the presidency on Jan. 20, 2009, there will likely be as many U.S. troops in Iraq as there were when Congress was elected to bring them home in November 2006.

That is the meaning of Gen. Petraeus' recommendation, adopted by President Bush, that 6,000 U.S. troops be home by Christmas and the surge of 30,000 ended by April. Come November 2008, there will likely still be 130,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Will this make America safer, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., asked. "I don't know," answered the general. An honest answer. None of us knows.

The general did know, however, that "a premature drawdown of our forces would likely have devastating consequences."

So we are trapped, fighting a war in which "victory" is not assured and perhaps not attainable – to avert a strategic disaster and humanitarian catastrophe should we walk away.

While the posturing of the Democrats, using Petraeus as a foil for their frustration and rage, was appalling, it is understandable. For, as this writer warned the day Baghdad fell, this time, we really "hit the tar baby."

What has the war cost? Going on 3,800 U.S. dead and 28,000 wounded. More than 100,000 Iraqis are dead; 2 million, including most Christians and much of the professional class, have fled. Millions have been ethnically cleansed from neighborhoods where their families had lived for generations.

(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...


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KEYWORDS: buchanan; buchananeditorial; mullahpat; patbuchanan
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1 posted on 09/14/2007 9:02:27 PM PDT by NapkinUser
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To: NapkinUser

I don’t tend to agree with Buchanan very often but he’s dead on here. We are seriously bogged down in a mess that was allowed to become that way due to the administration’s bumbling and denial. War is messy but funny thing is that the war was over in three weeks. This is something else that has cost too many American lives and affected too many families.

Tar baby is right...


2 posted on 09/14/2007 9:07:34 PM PDT by misterrob (One down, 18 more til the Pats win the SB again.)
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To: NapkinUser
Pat loves to cite the negatives.....Well, in WWII one could cite the negatives happening throughout the war until the cows came home.....But the reality is, it was a war that had to be fought and won......And not all that happened during it was going to be rainbow and butterfly's......

But the serious, understood it was a war that had to be fought. That is exactly where we are today in this WOT. Iraq is (and has always been) essential in this war.

3 posted on 09/14/2007 9:08:48 PM PDT by SevenMinusOne
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To: NapkinUser
More than 100,000 Iraqis are dead; 2 million, including most Christians and much of the professional class, have fled. Millions have been ethnically cleansed from neighborhoods where their families had lived for generations.
Well it's good to see Buchanan has finally admitted the horrors of Saddam Hussein's regime. He's about 4 years too late, though.
It's also good to see him finally denouncing ethnic cleansing. Pat's making real progress.
 
4 posted on 09/14/2007 9:13:40 PM PDT by counterpunch (Ron Paul is gearing up to be Hillary Clinton's Ross Perot.)
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To: DevSix
It is a crucial front but that’s because it was allowed to become that way. We can blame the American left for undermining the effort but accountability has to go to the guys who planned this thing and managed the aftermath.
5 posted on 09/14/2007 9:15:00 PM PDT by misterrob (One down, 18 more til the Pats win the SB again.)
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To: NapkinUser

“So we are trapped, fighting a war in which “victory” is not assured”

Pat you jackass, since when is victory EVER “assured?”

This guy USED TO be intelligent.


6 posted on 09/14/2007 9:17:35 PM PDT by Grunthor (Lazy Like a Fox)
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To: misterrob

War is hell.


7 posted on 09/14/2007 9:18:35 PM PDT by Jim Robinson (Our God-given unalienable rights are not open to debate, negotiation or compromise!)
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To: NapkinUser
Ok Pat, we know that the war is a drag, most of us have figured that out, and in fact Bush said it would be long and hard from the outset. What so annoying about articles like this is that there is no discussion that compares the consequences of what we are doing now to the consequences of doing nothing at all. What's your suggestion, Pat?
8 posted on 09/14/2007 9:19:54 PM PDT by Thudd
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To: misterrob
"So we are trapped, fighting a war in which "victory" is not assured and perhaps not attainable – to avert a strategic disaster and humanitarian catastrophe should we walk away."

I don't agree with him at all. We aren't trapped, we are where we should be, and we SHOULD be using this position to "stop the next war". In fact, we need to be in this position in order to do just that. The "cut and run" idiocy will be far more costly than the Democrat sponsored "cut and run" Vietnam blunder, it will cost far more lives that the millions lost by the Democrat ordered Vietnam withdrawl, blood that still stains the hands of many a Democrat senator today. A "cut and run" now will cost the entire world, hundreds of millions of lives and an end to freedom where ever it exists in the world today. It will be a return to the pre Christian era darkness from which this world will never again emerge from. It will die there.

9 posted on 09/14/2007 9:22:38 PM PDT by Nathan Zachary
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To: NapkinUser
"War is hell....there is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over."
-William Sherman

So why is this war being fought like Vietnam? Fight for real or get out.

10 posted on 09/14/2007 9:23:09 PM PDT by NapkinUser (Tom Tancredo or Ron Paul in 2008!)
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To: Thudd
You got it -

Ugly fact is no one likes to remember...CinC GWB was very clear...this was going to be a long war...one that would outlast his Presidency.....

11 posted on 09/14/2007 9:26:27 PM PDT by SevenMinusOne
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To: Jim Robinson
War is hell.

Yes it is. And war legitimately ends when the enemy is beaten and surrenders. That's why full out commitment and force is always necessary. Halfway wars do not work.

12 posted on 09/14/2007 9:27:22 PM PDT by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Elections have consequences.)
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To: Thudd
What's your suggestion, Pat?

Wasn't Pat an isolationist?

13 posted on 09/14/2007 9:28:37 PM PDT by Snoopers-868th
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To: Snoopers-868th
Wasn't Pat an isolationist?

No. Too many people confuse non-intreventionalist with isolationism.

14 posted on 09/14/2007 9:30:02 PM PDT by NapkinUser (Tom Tancredo or Ron Paul in 2008!)
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To: Jim Robinson
But nation building should not be and that’s really what he have gotten ourselves in for. I am in no way shape or form saying we should hand over Iraq to the Iranians. My displeasure here comes from a situation that was allowed to spiral out of control and there were plenty of folks who said that we would be opening a can of worms. They were laughed at, dismissed, called all sorts of names and marginalized by the leadership. They turned out to be right in many cases. If the Admin wanted to take on the job of rebuilding the Middle East then they took on a fool’s errand given the culture over there.
15 posted on 09/14/2007 9:30:12 PM PDT by misterrob (One down, 18 more til the Pats win the SB again.)
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To: misterrob
"but accountability has to go to the guys who planned this thing and managed the aftermath."

Bull. I will say that it was a MISTAKE for "the guys who planned this" to have caved into the shrilling from the Democrat TRAITORS in this country and their MSM managers, who have done NOTHING but try their best to turn sucess into failure for the sake of winning control of the white house come this next election.

People in this nation have to stop and look long and hard at the Democrats, and decide where we go from here as a nation. The wrong choice may well spell our doom as a nation.

16 posted on 09/14/2007 9:31:22 PM PDT by Nathan Zachary
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To: NapkinUser
"War is the realm of uncertainty...War is the realm of chance" - Clausewitz

"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival." - Churchill

17 posted on 09/14/2007 9:32:47 PM PDT by endthematrix (He was shouting 'Allah!' but I didn't hear that. It just sounded like a lot of crap to me.)
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To: DevSix

We are trying to fight a war while engaging in nation building in an area where that simply isn’t going to work. The disease of Islam that has infected the Middle East and Europe is going to take years to defeat and we are pretty much in this alone save for a few guys who get it.


18 posted on 09/14/2007 9:32:48 PM PDT by misterrob (One down, 18 more til the Pats win the SB again.)
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To: Nathan Zachary

Where has Iraq been a success? The military aspect was a brilliant job by our troops but the aftermath wasn’t by any stretch.


19 posted on 09/14/2007 9:34:36 PM PDT by misterrob (One down, 18 more til the Pats win the SB again.)
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To: Grunthor

“This guy USED TO be intelligent.”

When?


20 posted on 09/14/2007 9:34:55 PM PDT by rockinqsranch (Dems, Libs, Socialists...call 'em what you will...They ALL have fairies livin' in their trees.)
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