Can we talk politics?

[Brad]

Originally Posted by smacklan

Where do you get 1.2 million dead? What we have done, is free the Iraqi's from Saddam so they can exterminate each other...lotta love between those muslim brothers over there.

Agreed.

Removing a leader (no matter how awful) does no good if you don't have a plan for his people after he leaves (or is killed). If you go back through history you'll see the results of doing that time and time again.

I don't support a "pull out" because it's the worse thing we can do at this point. It'll take years and years to fix and I don't have all the answers but we need to do something to resolve the issues in Iraq.

Our goals should be:

1) Removal of US troops over time. If we are doing the things we should be in Iraq we should be able to remove a number or troops over a period of years. Removing them all tomorrow would be useless (the warlords in the area would just fight with each other after we leave in an attempt to control resources). Leaving them over there for an extended time (5 - 10 more years) in full force is also a bad option.

In other words we need a smooth, steady, withdraw from Iraq.

2) The Iraqi people must be able to Govern and protect themselves from outside threats and threats from within their own country. If we do not achieve the goal of putting a stable government in place all of this was for nothing.

Of course this all goes out the window if things don't go perfectly. Am I the only one that thinks Iraq will no longer be a country years from now? I honestly think it'll split itself into smaller countries over time if the Iraqi people can't agree on (and accept the workings of) their new government.

Our goal should be to repeat the success in Japan after WWII.

edit- I should mention that I never agreed with or supported going into Iraq in the first place. IMHO we did a bad thing by going in no matter how much people talk about removing "Saddam and his evil empire".

We've screwed up and now it's up to us to make it *right*. That's why I *do* support staying there until things are stable, no matter how long that takes.