Posted on 11/13/2006 4:22:00 PM PST by Tulsa Ramjet
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- With a top Democrat calling for a "phased redeployment" of U.S. troops in Iraq, President Bush met Monday with a commission studying the war and said conditions in Iraq, not politics, would dictate troop levels there.
Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, who is expected to chair the Armed Service Committee in January when Democrats take control of Congress, said redeploying troops would prompt the Iraqis to take more expeditious steps to ending the war.
"We cannot save the Iraqis from themselves," Levin said. "We've been told repeatedly by our top uniformed military leaders that there is no purely military solution in Iraq; there is only a political solution in Iraq." (Watch how Levin suggests proving U.S. troops will not be in Iraq forever -- 1:27 )
The Michigan senator said only Iraqis could determine the course for their country: "They and they alone are going to decide whether they're going to have a nation or whether they're going to have an all-out civil war."
White House press secretary Tony Snow conceded Monday that conditions in Iraq are "not getting better fast enough," but he insisted "the strategy for victory is working."
Snow further disregarded Levin's call for troops to be withdrawn in months, saying the proposal "doesn't have any meat and bones to it."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Screw Mookie! :^)
Way to bust a false dichotomy.
"Do you think we can really win this war if the country is against it?"
No. But the country would be for it, if it appeared we had a strategy to win it, or end it. To be engaged in occupation, while waiting for the shiite's give payback on the sunnis, is troublesome. Its like a traffic cop in the indianapolis 500. Let them have their civil war and hang with the kurds up north, this will clean house of the adult males between 16 and 50 years old, just like the 80s Iran/Iraq war, and in a year or two, they'll be crying uncle for a cease-fire. If Iran steps in, pop that Madinanutjob. Wow. that simple. This is completely different than vietnam. Nobody better spit on any soldier, at least not in my presence.
I am a combat experienced VietNam veteran, father of 4, grandfather of 3 with a son in uniform. I was in the TET Offensive with a platoon of 46 men and ended up the night with 7 left.
I am dead serious about bringing all out troops back NOW. We have decided not to win this war and the enemy smells blood. This country doesn't deserve the sacrifice/loss of one more soldier in uniform. We went through this after TET in Nam. History is repeating itself, as the enemy predicted. Al-Qaeda, Iran, Hugo Chavez, etc., celebrate the Democrat victory, a choice make by the majority.
It is because I love our military and know what it's like to see young men bleed, hurt and die that I say what I do. This country needs to live by what they choose and we do not need to sacrifice one more military member for their choices. I am prepared for the consequences.
Does the method of winning have to meet your approval? Does the timing have to meet your approval?
Who is the final arbiter of whether or not "we" have decided to win......YOU?
You are proposing to denigrate the sacrifice of our troops.....their blood and their lives........by demanding that we bring them home.
Do you actually WANT Viet Nam to be repeated?? Because that is exactly what you are asking for, and I reject your negativism and defeatism out of hand.
I thank you for your service, but I'm glad that a defeatist like you isn't making any decisions of consequence.
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