[jwparkerjr]

I don’t find it the least bit illogical that the citizens of these areas were against us in the early stages of the war, but now are on our side. To start with we were no more than a foreign, invading force and the would-be insurgents were lying about our intentions and even more so about their intentions. Time as shown the locals that we aren’t anywhere near the danger to them that they were told we would be, and more importantly, time as shown them just how disingenuous the insurgents would be.

With a few exceptions, getting to know the American troops has been a surprisingly positive experience for the locals. The locals now realize that the threat to their lives and their way of life is the insurgency, not the American and allied troops.

The insurgents know full well that as life nears normal for the locals, with the infrastructure being restored, it will be harder and harder for their tactics to work.

Time is running out for both sides. It has really become whether we can provide them security and some semblance of a normal life, something none of them have ever enjoyed, before the insurgency can convince Congress to force us to cut and run.

[princess leah]

As I see it, our forces are there until atleast January 20th of 2009. Bush needs to point out that NO MATTER what Pelosi and Reid try to do, they don’t have 2/3rds votes to overrule ANY VETO, so Bush will VETO anything less than support for our troops. This gives our troops another 20 months to put the Iraq situation in a win/win.