Yeah, that's a defeat alright. Those carbombing terrorists from Iran and Syria are winning for sure. Nothing's been accomplished at all.
I'd love to get into the mind of someone who calls himself a conservative and can't see the forest for the trees. What blinds you to the reality of what has happened in Iraq? What does that?
If you were a leftist, I'd understand. You'd be lying because you hate Republicans, mostly President Bush, and you'd say anything to defeat us. But what makes someone on a conservative forum say the exact same thing as a liberal?
I say it because I am glad Bush is president, and I hate to see this disaster drag down his efforts at important domestic reforms that are much more important to Americans.
We may have done all kinds of good in Iraq, despite the violence, I'll grant that. But we could do all sorts of good all over the world if we wanted to, but we don't because it's impractical and we can't afford it in money or blood. We didn't belong in Kosovo, so I was against it. And we don't belong in Iraq, either. Liberals are the ones who are supposed to support do-gooder foreign adventures. We're pursuing a Wilsonian foreign policy -- I prefer the policy Bush actually campaigned on in 2000.
Reagan allowed evil to exist in some parts of the world as part of a larger strategy to promote our interests by destroying the Communist threat. And I really don't like seeing Howard Dean out there promoting a Reagan-like foreign policy at Bush's expense (although it is kind of funny, because you konw he'd never do it if it weren't just another way to bash Bush).
Our military is now totally overextended, recruitment is in big trouble, and we're suddenly finding out that the Chinese have been secretly building up their military now for years under the nose of our terrible intelligence apparatus. We've ignored the real threat while engaging in this excursion.
Don't get me wrong: Though I wish we'd never gone, I'm glad we won. I'm glad that Iraqis don't live under a tyrant. I'm also glad more of our troops didn't get killed already.
But none of this justifies the invasion from our point of view. It's fundamental justification was unsound, and it really hasn't served *our* interests much at all. Now I hope we hand over power and get out of there ASAP.