[Check_Your_Premises]

Thoughts?

[JennysCool]

Going wobbly, are we?

[cripplecreek]

Perspective.

[68skylark]

I'm glad we never took advice like this when things got tough during the Revloutionary War, or the Civil War, or WWI, or WWII, or . . . .

Well you get the idea.

[bcoffey]

Thoughts?

I suggest your do as your screen name says.

[PolitBase]

I agree. People who want freedom should fight for it themselves. I admire President Bush, but I think he was too optimistic about Arab modernity.

[dirtboy]

Thoughts?

Yeah, you contradicted yourself:

Why not? We have succeeded at such things in the past. We transformed post war Germany and Japan into thriving and peaceful democracies ... The one problem I had with liberating Iraq from Saddam's clutches is that we were removing one of the most important steps to the forming of a successful democracy. The successful overthrow of tyranny is a process that produces the type of leaders that are required to bring the successful transition from tyranny to liberal democracy...

So in one breath you mention Japan and Germany as successes, and in the next you state that one of the most important steps is an action that never happened with Japan and Germany.

[Lunatic Fringe]

how can we possibly win there?

We already have. The old regime is dead.

[william clark]

Just ask yourself two questions:

Would I rather we waited until these battles were brought onto our soil?

Would I rather have the terrorists more widely dispersed, as opposed to seeing many of them concentrate in one region where they can be eliminated in greater numbers?

[dawn53]

The number of casualties seemed to reach a "critical mass" for me.

Get a grip and start reading some history of WWII. When we start to lose over 700 in one day from a training accident, or 19,000 in one battle that lasts about 5 weeks, then we can talk about "critical mass."

[UB355]

"In the same sense we seem to care more about the freedom of the Iraqi people than they do themselves"

How did you come to this conclusion ? How many Iraqi people have you talked to ?

[counterpunch]

A few tough days and you're ready to go all Walter Cronkite on us?
Geez. Remember, we only "lost" Vietnam because of people taking on that attitude. And in Vietnam at least it took a good 5 or 6 years for that to happen.

[onedoug]

"It's my nerves, Sir."

[dyed_in_the_wool]

1) we care more about the freedom of the Iraqi people than they do (something we could only have known in hindsight)

No. Most Iraqis seems to enjoy the idea of being able to marry whoever they want and go wherever they want. Liberty is not an idea that we have a copyright on. Note the numbers of insurgents is somewhere in the neighborhood of @5K. Considering how many million inhabitants there are, this is nothing. What's more, they're openly tring to hide behind women and children and in mosques. That will not help their cause.

2)we are not willing to wage total war until all opposition is removed

I think the military and the President are. I keep pointing out that nobody thought we could beat the Germans or the Japanese in WWII. Eventually we killed enough of them so that they stopped trying to kill us. Why do you think there's a truce in Fallujah? You don't think we're scared, do you?

[68skylark]

If you want us to pull out in defeat, maybe you'd like to send a campaign donation or John Kerry, or maybe volunteer for his campaign.

I hear they need good helpers, and you'll meet many like-minded people there.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Thoughts? Yes. My critical mass was reached on 9/11.

We already have captured MANY terrorists INSIDE OF IRAQ. Others have confessed as using Iraq as a training ground and "safe house".

[Alberta's Child]

Welcome aboard.

My opposition to this war in Iraq, which dates back to 2002, is based on the following:

1. The voters of this country are not focused, intelligent, or disciplined enough to support a long-term war like this.

2. The civilian leadership in the Defense Department has proven itself to be untrustworthy, incompetent, or corrupt . . . or any combination of these three.

3. It was clear to me even in 2002 that this was nothing more than a veiled attempt at "nation-building," by a President who had promised as a candidate in 2000 not to engage in nation-builing.

[UB355]

43,220 deaths on our highways last year according to NHTSA, now that's a mass

[onyx]

I don't doubt your sincerity,
but you have been listening to the Bush-hating press.
This is an election year:
our media wants him defeated
at any cost, including the deaths of our soldiers.

[JeepInMazar]

Screw 'em.

US foreign policy makers said the same thing about Afghanistan. That policy created the power vacuum which enabled the Taliban and Al-Quada to florish.

Do the same thing again in Iraq, and wait another 10 years (or less) and the US will have worse problems.

Also, pull out of Iraq now and the fight comes to us. Pick your battle ground: there or here.

[Lance Romance]

Call Whine-1-1 and get a Wahhh-mbulance. Why do you think Terrorist attacks are down 30%?