The truth?
Nobody can state clearly what we're trying to accomplish with this war, how we're going to accomplish it and what our exit strategy is.
I hear pie-in-the-sky euphanistic dreamy terms like "building a democracy", "liberating the Iraqi people" etc. That's not reality.
The Iraqis don't want our version of liberty. They either watch us die or take part in killing us.
Who exactly are we supposed to "hand over" power to? The main factions are the Sunnis, Shiites, Baathists and the Kurds. Now we have a few thousand foreign fighters mixed in. All of these groups either hate us or are completely useless.
Even if we could take them out of the mix (which we can't) who's left to run the place?
I have heard often that the Arabs/Islamics are going to the trouble of trying to kill us all to keep western democratic ideas out of their country. Lets assume there is some truth here.
If this is the case, then Bush is pushing a big new western type of state into the heart of the Middle East. He may or may not succeed. And the country that results may or may not be a democracy. But there is no doubt that the western ideas have a toehold in the country and the message is, Keep atacking the west and you will see more of this. End result, if they are attacking us to keep us out, their attacks are bringing us in. It seems like a tit for tat policy and one we should follow. I don't agree with Pat that winning this war is not worth a few American lives, but I do agree that the number should be kept minimized and if this is what is behind Bush's current policy, I can get behind it.
As to their attitude about our help, it would appear that we underestimated the idea that people everywhere yearn for freedom. I agree that Iraq does not deserve to be free at this point.
We are trying to make the liklihood of terror -- especially on U.S. soil and against Americans in non-war zones - less than it was three years ago.
Not quite right. It CAN be stated, "what we're trying to accomplish with this war," but it would be too politically incorrect and dangerous for the Bush administration to state it. So I will: We are trying to re-shape the Middle East.
Do you not understand that the Middle East has been THE major source of instability in the world, and THE source of 99% of all terrorism? And, that had we not toppled Saddam, it would have continued to be the launching pad for Armageddon? (Now that may be slightly hyperbolic -- but only slightly.)
How we are going to accomplish it? We've already accomplished a lot: Look at what has happened with Libya. Other terrorist states will fall into line -- provided we stay the course.
Exit strategy? Exiting is going to take a long time. It took a long time in Germany and Japan, too.