Well, I was imprecise and you caught me on it. That came from typing the whole post and losing it, then having to try to type it in half the time!
What I should have said was that one sometimes has to make choices where available resources are not the primary factor in the decision. I did not imply that anyone ever should ignore that. And I do not believe that we did here.
One often has to make a calculation of risks versus benefits in a situation, weighing available resources (among other things) against other factors such as windows of opportunity, etc.
You do not know (or may choose not to know) that a course is doomed from the start due to insufficient resources. A pilot who takes off on a risky mission near the edge of fuel availability (say in a helicopter to rescue a downed pilot or trapped soldiers) may make a calulation that they have just enough to make it there and back. Enroute, they encounter headwinds, can't find the target, get lost, etc. A perfect example is the rescue helicopter that went down in the Perfect Storm. They calculated and lost. They did not know their mission was doomed when they made that calculation. Situational elements change fluidly (again, I am not lecturing you, you would be in a better position to lecture me on this) and you find yourself behind the eight ball due to optimistic assessments (could be the case here) or other factors beyond your control.
Even powerful, competent and responsible world powers cannot see the future and set a pre-ordained path all the time.
Do you agree that the uprising of the insurgents in Iraq is not a popular uprising?
And by the way, Semper-thank you for the reasoned and civil discussion. I found people like you on this site, that is why I started coming back, and keep coming back. Reasonable people can agree to disagree, as long as we can keep talking and not break out tin-foil hat rhetoric, blood-for-oil and the notion that Dick Cheney was steering the hijacked planes on 9/11 by remote control!
Yes. I believe that many of the insurgents are from outside Iraq adding to the radical element within. The longer we are there, however, the harder it is to get out. We are a magnet for all the radical Muslims in the region and it seems as though we have gotten into an impossible situation - we lose if we leave and we lose if we stay. I thought this war had that potential even before it started - but, I would love to be proven wrong about that.
thank you for the reasoned and civil discussion.
You are welcome. I feel about the same as you on this subject - there are too many posting here who can't seem to handle opinions contrary to their own and exhibit the immaturity of personally attacking those who express that which they don't like or can't understand.