Here Goes Nothing ...

well, i think the right move is to commit the proper number of troops to do what needs to be done, and we really didn't have enough on the ground compared to the deployment needs. More people is good. if the locals feel safe, they'll feel better about going on with their lives and try harder to restore iraq since they'll be less worried about, you know, not dying.

but while more troops on the ground is good, you CANNOT institute a draft. while it's nice economically, the effect on morale, combat efficiency, and conduct is terrible. Soldiers that don't want to be there aren't as likely to play nice with the locals, are more likely to do drugs, etc etc. not to mention popular support goes to zero REALLY, REALLY fast.

there's no doubt he's a bad guy, but there are lots of bad guys out there, and its convenient that we go after this one and do NOTHING about the others.

Hate to differ again, but I do not think that we do "nothing" about the other "bad guys." In the past decade or so we've gone into the Balkans (twice), Somalia, Haiti, and now Iraq.

Plus Monterey, CA is a pretty cool place to go to linguist school.

I have an idea, from now on, why don't we leave it to the oppressed people of the world to overthrow their own dictators?

There's not ONE American soldier, airman, marine, or sailor that is worth dying to protect the schlums who won't stand up to protect themselves.

Everybody gets the government/dictator they deserve.

I have an idea, from now on, why don't we leave it to the oppressed people of the world to overthrow their own dictators?

There's not ONE American soldier, airman, marine, or sailor that is worth dying to protect the schlums who won't stand up to protect themselves.

Everybody gets the government/dictator they deserve.
I think we'd be the united states of germany in the 1940's with this kind of thinking.

I think the point your trying to get at is that we shouldn't be the world police anymore. That's too much of a burden, takes too many resources, and quite frankly isn't working.

I was just having a couple of drinks with my good friend who just got back from a year long tour in the worst part of Iraq, and believe me, he feels the same. He see's alot of hope for the people, but is really fed up with alot of the political reasons given for the start of the war now.

He was telling me that he thinks we need to finish this war, hand the nation of Iraq a feasable nation back, and then stay out of the middle east.

It's really a mess out there and wasn't worth it. At this point though, we need to set up Iraq's economy and then leave, thats the most important thing.

I think we'd be the united states of germany in the 1940's with this kind of thinking.

I think the point your trying to get at is that we shouldn't be the world police anymore. That's too much of a burden, takes too many resources, and quite frankly isn't working.

I was just having a couple of drinks with my good friend who just got back from a year long tour in the worst part of Iraq, and believe me, he feels the same. He see's alot of hope for the people, but is really fed up with alot of the political reasons given for the start of the war now.

He was telling me that he thinks we need to finish this war, hand the nation of Iraq a feasable nation back, and then stay out of the middle east.

It's really a mess out there and wasn't worth it. At this point though, we need to set up Iraq's economy and then leave, thats the most important thing.

Self-Appointed World Police would be more correct.

As far as Germany goes, certainly the argument could be made that our involvement in WWII was necessary since Germany took the time to declare war on us first. Not only that, German U-boats wrecked havoc on U.S.-British shipping lanes in the North Atlantic prior to our intervention in Europe.

I have a question for anyone to answer:

So a lot of people think it is almost comical that the Bush administration has failed to recognize that Iraq is in the midst of a full-blown civil war. I certainly agree that Iraq is in a full-blown civil war (albeit one international actors on both sides). Iraq's civil war consists of ethnic cleansing on highest scale - Shia killing Sunni, Sunni killing Shia, neighborhoods being "cleansed," etc. However, isn't this the same kind of civil war that many wanted us to get involved in in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Kosovo? If so, what accounts for saying that we should get out of Iraq because they are in a civil war and saying that we should get involved in those other places?

Again, I don't have anything to add besides a comment. I think it's a lot on the insane side that people can be convinced to kill their countrymen over the slight difference between Shia and Sunni. That's like Methodists fighting Baptists. While one might argue that even a minute difference in a religion is HUGE to each side, it's still a LOT of crazy and not worth killing over.

Again, I don't have anything to add besides a comment. I think it's a lot on the insane side that people can be convinced to kill their countrymen over the slight difference between Shia and Sunni. That's like Methodists fighting Baptists. While one might argue that even a minute difference in a religion is HUGE to each side, it's still a LOT of crazy and not worth killing over.

Seriously. What is even sadder is that we watch music videos here, in Iraq videos of beheadings, attacks on Iraqi Police and U.S. forces, and other generally sadistic sh-t are extremely marketable. When you're country is getting its rocks off on beheadings, you know you're headed straight down the toilet. If you have ever seen one of those videos, you will think very differently about what kind of enemy we are facing and how far we have to go to turn the place into a stable democracy.

Again, I don't have anything to add besides a comment. I think it's a lot on the insane side that people can be convinced to kill their countrymen over the slight difference between Shia and Sunni. That's like Methodists fighting Baptists. While one might argue that even a minute difference in a religion is HUGE to each side, it's still a LOT of crazy and not worth killing over.

tell that to the people of ireland :/.