More MSM hogwash.
The first casualty of battle is the plan. The plan always needs to be revised in light of the developing situation on the ground.
There was indeed a plan to win Vietnam, but that plan was hamstrung by handwringing fools at home. After Tet Vietnam was in our hands, but it was stolen by politicians and journalists.
The situation on the ground in Iraq changed far more rapidly and more often than in Vietnam, but our troops and commanders faced it with tenacity and resourcefulness. Armchair generals in Congress and on editorial boards cried and whined and carped, but it is being seen throuigh without them.
What is our MILITARY GOAL?
Pretty much the same as our military goal in Nazi Germany: defeat the elements of the criminal regime as thoroughly as possible and retrain and requip the legitimate government's forces so that they are able to sustain a legitimate government.
How long will we have to be there?
The allies completed the occupation of Germany by June 1945.
Germany's full sovereignty was restored in May 1955.
I can't give you a date and a time, but historically, we are well ahead of schedule.
I can personally attest to the fact that we had NO PLAN to win in Vietnam. We were NOT allowed to go outside the bounds of South Vietnam, for any reason; we were not allowed even to fire back at artillery sited north of the DMZ. Our aircraft had their targets PERSONALLY selected by LBJ and no other targets were permitted. We could NOT go into Laos or Cambodia to target NVA supply routes and reinforcements. In a word, we were FORCED to lose, and not only because of the anti-war crowd, like Uncle Walter Cronkite.
We have the SAME situation brewing in Iraq, with rules of engagement that make criminals of those who are accused, by the “enemy,” of violating them. Look at the Haditha Marines.
We HAVE NO military goal. We “won” after deposing Saddam, which was our announced goal. Then we caught him and we should have taken the opportunity to bring him to Guantanamo Bay and hanged him ourselves. AFTER we got our folks out of that pest hole.
And maybe you aren’t paying much mind to McLame (not that I blame you much if you aren’t), but HE’S of the mind that 100 years isn’t too long to be there.
So:
Unwinnable.
No plan whatsoever.
Not even a HINT as to what constitutes victory and when we can pull out our troops.
No limits on lives lost or money spent.
All in all, Dr. Paul does have the right of it. We need to get out NOW, close our own borders to keep out terrorists as well as all the OTHER illegals, and tell the Iraqis, the Iranians and anyone else who needs to know, that if we have ONE SINGLE INCIDENT, their cities will glow in the dark for the next thousand years and their deserts will be sheets of glass. Then we need to cut off ALL “foreign aid” to the whole area (the whole world, as well) and tell Israel that we will no longer compel them to act against their own best interests when it comes to dealing with those who wish them dead. THAT is the CONSERVATIVE way of doing things, the PROPER way.
Oh, but I bet you are one of those who divides the world into two classes, the Progressives, who continually make mistakes and the Conservatives whose job it is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected. (And I cannot remember to whom I should attribute this.)
Oh, and I notice you did not bother to answer the other questions. Which is hardly unexpected. Not one of your ilk can answer them, for some reason. It’s just endless war and endless increases in government power, government spending and lives lost to no good purpose. It’s what Bush himself condemned when Clowntoon was doing it: Nation building on a grand scale.