And the DEMS think its peachy keen to just leave?

[MikeThaMachine]

I've said numerous times dude that perhaps this war was a mistake but now that we  are there, how the fuck do you think we can just leave?  The entire middle east will go up in flames.  Fuck, I don't have the damn answer to how to win, you don't have the answer to how to correctly lose either.  All I know is we can't at this point just fucking walk out, if we do the result of that will be a lot worse than continuing to fight on.
As much as I can't tell you how to win, you can't tell me how to lose either.

Stalemate.   But we can't just vanish......and you know it.

Then again, i'm not the prez, so i don't make that decision, I have to trust my leaders.
And thank god you ain't in charge of anything either.

So far I have to say on most political issues I agree with what you say. All those who constantly question and oppose what we are doing are not helping to get anything done there or here rather they are nothing more then arm chair QB's.

[240 is Back]

The war wasn't a mistake, if you look at it from longterm US energy and global position needs.  It is going exactly according to plan.  It takes 5 years to put in an oil processing system.  We're in there just over 4 years now

[Decker]

The war wasn't a mistake, if you look at it from longterm US energy and global position needs.  It is going exactly according to plan.  It takes 5 years to put in an oil processing system.  We're in there just over 4 years now

I think you are correct.  Think about it a moment.  Is the Bush administration really as incompetent as it appears? 

Or is the Bush administration just implementing national security/big business objectives while skirting (sometimes breaking) the law and simultaneously feeding the US citizenry a steady line of flag-waving, bible thumping and starry-eyed dreaming of democratizing the world.

The US is in Iraq to stay.  We may scale back the troops but the bases have been built and the business interests are vested.

How can a president claim progress in battling terrorists when: worldwide terrorism has grown exponentially on his watch, US soldiers are dying as fast as they can be 'surged' into Iraq...the US illegally attacked a Iraq w/ no substantive ties Al Qaeda and which posed no threat, Iraq has devolved into civil war which the US is now policing?

He can't.

Either that is incompetence or we are right on schedule.

[240 is Back]

there is progress - in our military strategic positioning, and energy resource procurement, goals.

we don't hear about it obviously, and the last time someone brought it up on the air (Dennis Kuscinich on MSNBC's Tucker a few months back), he suddenly developed "microphone issues" and they had to end the segment.

So yeah, it's taboo to talk about.  I think that's because once Joe Bible learns he supports a war for theft, he's gonna pull support because it conflicts his religious beliefs.  With the war teetering in public support, you lsoe the bible folks, and you're down to 10% approval rating.

[The Enigma]

OH MY!

Pulling U.S. forces from Iraq could trigger catastrophe, CNN analysts and other observers warn, affecting not just Iraq but its neighbors in the Middle East, with far-reaching global implications.

I say we stay indefinitely.........jus t send more bodybags.

[MikeThaMachine]

About the whole "what about all the dead soldiers" and stuff like that, well putting in the matter that it's the government who decides they are there and not the commanders. Having said that I was talking to a few former service men from my gym, one has been a cop since he got out the other in the FBI for a while now somewhat retired. They said to me if they were a general over there they would be very happy with the way our military is doing, casualties are really not that high at all and for the most part we are keeping the area much much safer then it would be without our presence. Fuck what the media says and all that bullshit, these guys and friends of theirs still serving may not really want to be there (for political reasons or just for the sake of being away from home) but they feel very confident that they are in control of this and got things on lockdown there. It's now just waiting for the Iraqi security force to get built up and fully trained so they can train their own people.

[240 is Back]

It's now just waiting for the Iraqi security force to get built up and fully trained so they can train their own people.

Didn't you hear the news that we are indefinitely suspending the training programs for Iraqi security forces and assuming that role?

Berserker, do you have the link you posted last week?

Bill Mauer made a huge deal about it - said it was essentially making it so they'll NEVER be able to take over.

[MikeThaMachine]

Didn't you hear the news that we are indefinitely suspending the training programs for Iraqi security forces and assuming that role?

Berserker, do you have the link you posted last week?

Bill Mauer made a huge deal about it - said it was essentially making it so they'll NEVER be able to take over.

Nah I didn't hear about that but either way the more of them we train the less of us that need to be there. I think the main goal here now is to just lower the levels of us there over the next few years, we may leave a decent number around since it is a "hot" spot.

[w8tlftr]

I say we stay indefinitely.........jus t send more bodybags.

You know, if we just start rounding up illegal immigrants and ship them to Iraq to fight for us we'll quickly take care of our illegal immigration problems. 

[Camel Jockey]

You know, if we just start rounding up illegal immigrants and ship them to Iraq to fight for us we'll quickly take care of our illegal immigration problems. 

They'll impregnate Iraqi women, chug coronas and rebuild Baghdad, all for 6 bucks an hour.

[The Enigma]

I trust that you are asking "when" in jest 240 because you know no war is fought with a end date. However I think tonight I might research the wars that were enterd into in which the end date was known going in. Somthing interesting I found out was that a couple wars conviently ended when a presidents term was up:

WWII ended in 1945 FDR's last year
Korea ended in 53, Truman's last year

Will Iraq be the third one to end in the presiden't last year?

Just more standard drivel from egj13.

[The Enigma]

What I haven't seen on here is how people think these CNN correspondents saying we can not leave will hurt the Democrats in "08 (if at all). We all know how the public is influenced by the media's opinion. How will it affect Democrats if they keep saying we have to leave, but the media says we have to stay. This could be one of the biggest stories heading into the election.

egj.....how does it feel to be associated with the 28% Americans who still believe in Bloodbath Bush?