Don't think the problem with Iraq is the 3,000 dead. Disappointing yes...The price is too steep?...not for victory. It's the four years and 400 Billion... that's the the problem. Victory seems even more elusive now than it did three years ago. The war is certainly more geopolitically complex than it was in 2003. Is victory guaranteed?...No. is it doable. Yes. As an Iraqi democracy?...probably not. My guess is we gonna have to Diem Maliki and find us an Iraqi sheisskopf that scares the bejabbers out of ALL Iraqis , Sunni, Shia and Kurd. What we need is OUR Neo-Saddam who knows his place. I'm sure he exists. Some Iraqi secular General who is ambitious as Satan.
Only if we quit. They absolutely cannot win unless we just quit.
Yes. As an Iraqi democracy?...probably not.
Rediculous. If we can turn Imperial Japan into a democracy, it CAN happen with any country. It's just a matter of if we are willing to do what needs to be done.
My guess is we gonna have to Diem Maliki and find us an Iraqi sheisskopf that scares the bejabbers out of ALL Iraqis , Sunni, Shia and Kurd. What we need is OUR Neo-Saddam who knows his place. I'm sure he exists. Some Iraqi secular General who is ambitious as Satan.
Why? So he can do this all over again a few years down the line? So he can get power mad and murder his people and attack his neighbors? No thanks.
Our biggest problem is we didn't break enough going in. We didn't destroy enough of the Baathist, we didn't crack down on militia groups, we didn't stop Iran from making inroads. This should not have been an option. We should have disabled all roads coming in from Syria and Iran, and set up heavy aircraft cover for both borders. We should have cleaned out an entire neighborhood if one of our guys got hit.
What we need to do is establish a military dictatorship in the Sunni Triangle, and destroy anything that moves against us, and allow nothing in. Violate Civil Rights up the ying-yang? Absof*%kinglutely. But preserve democracy in the long run.