More Cut'n run news from the Democrats

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

So what exactly was the point of this whole exercise then?

To take out terrorists... Free the people who where under oppression in Iraq. Obviously the Sunnis don't like this new found freedom for the Kurds and Shiites.. Hence continued terror on their behalf..

The effort in Iraq is a quagmire. In our lifetime, we will never see success, as we have in South Korea.

Time to expedite Iraqi "ownership" of their country, and let go. Otherwise, the insurgency targeting the western troops will never end.

Given the tensions in that country and the history of the region its almost a guarantee that there will be a civil war, in the not too distant future. A lot of people predicted this would go south in no short order - and ####### me, if that's not exactly what has happened. Short-sighted just doesn't seem to cut it...

Bush can't turn around and say he wasn't warned. Its his mess, he wasn't able to fix it - and now others are going to have to pick up the tab.

This will likely be the defining issue in the 2008 - when:

a) we are still stuck there

AND/OR

B) there is an ongoing civil war

AND/OR

c) there is a revolution and Iraq turns into a theocratic Islamic state.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

So what exactly was the point of this whole exercise then?

To take out terrorists... Free the people who where under oppression in Iraq. Obviously the Sunnis don't like this new found freedom for the Kurds and Shiites.. Hence continued terror on their behalf..

Take out the terrorists? At what cost? 1,000 civilians / 10 terrorists? Sounds like an acceptable ratio of bad guys vs. collateral damage to you? Probably so since it ain't our civilians that die but theirs. And Bush made clear one too many times that he'd rather sacrifice other nation's civilians than ours. Whether those civilians actually ever had anything to do with the terrorists that we allegedly try to fight doesn't even matter. As long as other civilians than Americans are dying, all is well at 1600 Penn Ave. Their lives are obviously not worth as much as our own. Which sends a real sweet message into the Middle East. Just the kind of message that confirms what the terrorists have been saying all along in their recruiting efforts. Hence, Bush is the best thing that has ever happened to the terrorists - he's their top recruiter and their most precious fuel. Even the US intelligence service agree on that point.

Oh, regarding the bad Sunnis, you might want to take notice that there are plenty of Shiite death squads out there taking out as many Sunnis as they can - execution style preferrably. Whether those Sunnis are peaceful civilians or not doesn't even begin to matter to them. That sword cuts both ways in today's Iraq. Just another one of Bush's accomplishments. Now this might come as a surprise to you but we ain't gonna stop any of this by "staying the course".

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

"staying the course" is simply mindless rhetoric. And in that vein - Bush et al have shown time and again that not only do they know what track the race is on, but they don't even know what race they are supposed to be in.

[zyggy 9]

The United States should have waited for UN Security council approval for invading Iraq, as we did successfully in Afghanistan.

This is an approval that we would never gain. Thus, my point, we should have left Iraq alone, or covertly supported an insurgency to overthrow Saddam.

The loss of life is unbelievable and unforgivable.

Progress yet for Iraqi independence? nope.

Having grown up as a Republican, I am ashamed of this party.

At this stage, I am for whoever makes a wise choice for us, irrespective of party lines.

You and I feel the exact same way... I have been a life, long Republican and in the last few years, I feel as if they have turned away from its ideals... from a party of limited government and personal freedom into a party of big government and less freedom. I don't know who to support anymore, but am willing to support anyone who has a logical plan for moving ahead...

I believe that there are four possible outcomes in the near future:

Civil War

Status Quo

Dictatorship (whether theocratic or otherwise)

Partition

The partition option (a la Bosnia) would likely bring peace the quickest, but the neighbors (Turkey and Saudi Arabia) don't like it at all due to their own problems with dealing with their own minorities.

No easy fix, just hard choices and status quo is not one of them.. and most of this mess could have been prevented if Rumsfeld wasn't such a stubborn idiot.

Edited November 17, 2006 by zyggy