Posted on 01/30/2007 11:48:24 AM PST by presidio9
I ask for your patience, with the delays and inconveniences that may accompany tighter security; and for your patience in what will be a long struggle.
Reading it again just now, I am horrified at what has become of this country.
It is a magnificent speach.
You won't convince these clowns. "If hippies are against it, then it must be good". That's the only level of reasoning that the Sean Hannity/Limppaw/Bushbot neocon crowd can handle.
Right here...
That sticking our heads in the sand and thinking that if we ignore Iraq things will be ok?? Better there than here... Our isolationist days are over....
And what exactly was in Iraq that we needed to deal with?. After a trillion or so dollars spent, 3,000+ dead and a lot more maimed, what have we gained? Stockholders of certain companies are better off. That is it. (This is where the typical LimpPaw/Sean Vanity-listening "conservative" says something like "Shut up and support the war or you are not a GREAT AMERICAN like me".)
Wow.. Speaking like a leftist.. Well the good part is that they are blowing themselves up over than here. We would lose more people is we did nothing and the goal was before Saddam became a bigger threat....
I had a boss who was from Oklahoma back in the 70's. He hated that song. He said Muskogee was a hell hole, drug dealing, crime and prostitution were rampant there.
Anyone who looks at Iraq from only a military perspective is going to get a pinhole camera view. Yes, everything will be in focus, but it isn't panorama.
In addition to the military view, one must look at things economically as well. Would you rather invest in Zimbabwe or Iraq?
The Chinese are investing in both.
Iraq was over militarily a long time ago. It still takes time to put the forces together to control the ongoing invasion that is plaguing Iraq.
South Viet Nam stood on its own for two years before the better equipped and communist supplied North overran it.
Iraq is being overrun even now, but not in sufficient numbers to topple it. Just compare the "crime" in Iraq with the crime in California. Yet we don't hear about California being lost. Maybe we need to.
But more likely, maybe we need to adopt a more pragmatic attitude. Iraqi soldiers and policemen are doing the job more and more. They won't quit, even if we do. They may be defeated, but they don't want that outcome any more than we do.
With regards to the WOT: Communication yes, leadership no. His communication is mediocre and his PR is awful, but we had an incling of that when he was elected in 2000. His steadfastness and leadership in the WOT has been excellent.
Let's face it, BUSH is fighting a two front war, one against enemies abroad and one against enemies at home. Has any other President had such a vocal and vociferous opponent at home when America was under attack from abroad?
Al Qaeda?
Now (sans Sadam) we are (allegedly) dealing with Al Qaeda in Iraq. I bet Sadam could do better against them then we will do.
Agreed.
LOL. Is he one of those smart but dumb people?
Saddam was working with Al Qaeda.. There is saying called the Enemy of my Enemy is my friend...
Are you kidding? That poor old schlub was at the end of his rope.
You're right about one thing: your mouth is full of feathers.
Nail. Meet. Head. A power vacuum invites a 'war of succession'. When you've got different secterianism and tribe thrown into the mix, its gonna get real ugly. And we ain't gonna be there for too long to keep them apart. Hell we can hardly do that now.
Animals can only be kept in chekc with the application of brute force. The slightest sign of weakness/equivocation and they attack. Saddam had that freedom of action. We don't. All our high-tech weapons cannot undo the damage of the 'Marquese of Queensbury Rules of Engagement' we have to abide by.
I bet I'm not the only one around here who was getting a REAL uneasy feeling about what was going on over there for about an entire year before the elections in '06. Yeah, we all kept quiet, in denial, hoping that the Prez could pull another rabbit out of the hat.
Now its time to see it for what it is. An endless, and unnecessary, boondoggle.
Could it have been different? Sure. But that's water under the bridge now.
So, we'll 'surge', declare victory, turn it over to the Iraqis and go home (while they keep killing each other). Any scenario other than this one will GUARANTEE a Hitlery presidency and all that will bring, here and abroad.....
You know, when I was younger and much more brash and gung-ho, I would privately joke: "Any war. Any place. Any time."
Sadly, the Glory days of Rome and the legions are long past and I have gotten a bit older and wiser too.
We should not have gone into Iraq. We all got a bit too caught up in the frenzy of our easy beating of the Taliban. The issue never was whether we could kick Saddam's butt. The issue was 'what about after Saddam?' Too much wishful thinking there by me, you, and all of us.
Time to sober up and quit being in denial. Time to cut our losses and move on.
We are not the Roman Empire also if we leave now, they will follow us....
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