The United States Army is not the Department of Education. We dominate in ways that the Romans couldn't even imagine and yet idiots in this country continue to chant "failure".
If success is turning the Iraqis into Americans, then by all means, lets annex Iraq.
If success is reducing the state sponsorship of terrorism, then we have aced our first test, and need only to school Iran and Syria to get an A+ for the semester.
The fastest way out of Iraq is through Tehran and Damascus.
Amen brother! Only the ignorant claim failure. I have read the successes and failures throughout history. I look around at my fellow countrymen. They don't know what failure is. The final chapter hasn't been written yet in this fight! Everyone knows where the enemy is. Where the beast lays. We haven't confront the real enemy yet. For almost 30 years they have been fighting us. They took over our embassy, killed our Marines in Beirut, attempted to disrupt oil shipments in the Gulf in the 80's and are directly supporting attacks against our troops as we speak. I'm not stupid I know who the enemy is. Maybe this government should come to grips and realize it's under attack and the threat is serious. My entire life I have watched the mullahs in Iran do what they please against our people and never have they been fully confronted. Now is the time. Because if we don't in the end the cost will be greater than what we have suffered so to date! Your right the fastest way of of Iraq is through Tehran....... Why does our government continue to jerk around with these folks?
"The United States Army is not the Department of Education. We dominate in ways that the Romans couldn't even imagine and yet idiots in this country continue to chant "failure"."
GOOD OBSERVATION.
***Warning*** spoiler follows:
Clue: The Sunnis and Shiite militas are attacking each others' hardline clerics, extremists and paramilitary groups rather than the IA and Coalition. Those same clerics and paramilitary groups were the ones agitating against the West, the Iraqi governemtn and the Coalition!
They are attacking and killing each others' extremists. They are in effect vetting the country of the very type of hardliners and paramilitary groups they've been controlled by for hundreds of years. This is good! It shows they no longer tolerate the lies and hatred of the extremists.
It is loose confederations of Sunni and Shiite secularists who are conducting the attacks. The armed people in the streets are just that -the armed people. They are lashing out at the very religious extremism they've been shackled with for centuries. Today it's 'the other guy' tomorrow it will be their own.
This is a huge win for the government of Iraq and the Coalition. In attacking the religious hardliners of other sects the Iraqi people are striking at the insular and extremist conduct of Islam in Iraq. Many don't like it and are fed up with it. By murdering each others' clerics they are, in effect, showing their preference for pluralism and secularism over an Islamic theocracy.
This is about reducing the influence of religion on peoples daily lives and government. With the advent of pluralism it was inevitable.
The Iraqis are not fighting each other; they are not fighting the government and they are not fighting the Coalition. They are fighting against the influence of religious hardliners and secular paramilitary groups. And this is a good thing.