I disagree with Dreher and Murtha. We cannot pull out immediately. We have to remain until a stable democratic regime and capable Iraqi forces. That has always been and always will be the "strategy". Things are moving in a positive direction. December 15 will be elections of a permanent government under the new Iraqi popularly approved constitution. Iraqi forces are taking over responsibilities as they get trained up. There is nothing more the President can do than he is already doing on these two fronts, and at this point to set a timetable would be counterproductive vis-a-vis the insurgency. Murtha is extremely irresponsible here, as is Dreher for praising him. Moreover, Murtha has been bad-mouthing the war effort for at least a year and a half.
http://tigerhawk.blogspot.com/2005/10/lt-gen-david-petraeus-speaks-at.html
October 1, 2005 - Keynote Speaker: "Lt. General David Petraeus"
VideoNet Real Media 56K
Real Media 350K
Speech at Princeton streaming
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Windows 350K
You should be able to see his slides, some of which were very illuminating, especially in full screen view.
We should begin pulling out around February or so and be out of there by August.
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The stated strategy has been to destabilize the ME through Iraq. That is the neo-con policy born of an undertsanding that we (and the world) can not be safe until the map in the ME has been changed. Bush reiterated as much in his speech Friday.
We are building over a dozen depot-type installations in ex-urban areas of Iraq. Each will contain enough materiel to support a RTC in the field for weeks or longer. This will eliminate the need to take months building the necessary supplies next time we need to jump ugly in the area.
This is no secret nor is it news. Bush, Rummy and Cheney have all spoken about this policy. That is what the war was about, not oil, WMD, Saddam or revenge. We needed a ME base and we had enough cause to take Iraq.
If we pull out of Iraq, then I say let's pull out of Europe as well.