" Senate passes war spending bill with withdrawal deadline"

[Pitchlock]

I think I'm done debating Iraq for a while. It gets me depressed. It depresses me because so many 'experts' are claiming the cause is lost and that we are incapable of winning.

I honestly don't know sitting here in lawrence kansas if the war is winnable or not. And knowing how little I really know I have two choices: support winning or support losing. Given the choices why not support winning? And why do so many people who know as little about the reality of Iraq as I do support losing? Thats what depresses me.

over and out.

 

[Brett327]

I think I'm done debating Iraq for a while. It gets me depressed. It depresses me because so many 'experts' are claiming the cause is lost and that we are incapable of winning.

I honestly don't know sitting here in lawrence kansas if the war is winnable or not. And knowing how little I really know I have two choices: support winning or support losing. Given the choices why not support winning? And why do so many people who know as little about the reality of Iraq as I do support losing? Thats what depresses me.

over and out.

Every foreign policy decision has to be viewed in the context of cost vs. benefit. I don't pretend to know what the answers are, but at some point those things have to be weighed in an honest, sober, non-idealogical way (I know that's a tall order for the folks in DC). We obviously can't stay there in perpetuity, and unless things change in a dramatic way over there, we're going to have to decide what the best possible time/method of withdrawal will be. People throw terms around like success, victory and defeat, but we have to be honest with ourselves - Iraq is not going to be the shining beacon of democracy in the Middle East anytime soon. The challenge will be to decide at what point we want to stop throwing lives and money at a problem whose solution is beyond our reach.

Brett

 

[raptor10]

Every foreign policy decision has to be viewed in the context of cost vs. benefit. I don't pretend to know what the answers are, but at some point those things have to be weighed in an honest, sober, non-idealogical way (I know that's a tall order for the folks in DC). We obviously can't stay there in perpetuity, and unless things change in a dramatic way over there, we're going to have to decide what the best possible time/method of withdrawal will be. People throw terms around like success, victory and defeat, but we have to be honest with ourselves - Iraq is not going to be the shining beacon of democracy in the Middle East anytime soon. The challenge will be to decide at what point we want to stop throwing lives and money at a problem whose solution is beyond our reach.

Brett

Do we really need a win to win?
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003384.html

 

[Flash]

Its not about whether we made or will continue to make mistakes. What is important is that we keep trying until we get it right.

Now if it can be shown that we are not learning from our mistakes or that we have learned things that prove the situation is un-winnable then we should quit.

People pontificate on these imaginary forks in the road that would have lead to a stable Iraq. I don't see how anyone can expect any of the possible forks not to be difficult and not take time to travel.

I can't tell if the article is valid or not. It feels very biased to me. I noticed that the major players mentioned and critiqued are not interviewed.

I guess we could pull out and watch the Iraq people come together and form a stable democracy on their own. Want to take bets on that happening?

Whenever we pull out, whether it be ten months or ten years, there will be a bloodletting in Iraq. It is already happening, that is why most Iraqis are ending up dead. Not because of terrorist bombings or fighting Americans but because the some Sunnis and Shia in Iraq hate each other with a ferocity that we are unfamiliar with.

We let the cat out of the bag, it is our responsibility whether we like or not. But we canno tstop the inevitable.......