Iraq Panel

[Preechr]

Option A: Find a time machine or wormhole and go back to when the supposedly "liberal" political party in this country abandoned any thoughts of support for Liberal causes in favor of political victory for victory's sake at any cost and show Nancy Pelosi a newsreel from about five years from now.

Option B: Sit around and wait for somebody to come up with an idea that both parties can get behind so we can get this show on the road.

Of course, I'd prefer the former, but one way or another, this effort is going to fail miserably as long as we remain politically divided on the subject.

Originally Posted by mburbank

We target Al Quaeda leaders all the time, and our own army says they are the only functional civil authority in Anbar province. There was an arrest warrant for Al sadr at one point. I would far rather we left than fire another shot. But if we're staying AND we're going to go on shooting, I think shooting in Al Sadr's direction could be appropriatte.

I figure I misread that, but I think I see a much clearer distinction between foreign terrrorists and internal dissidents. Personally, I think Sadr has every right to represent his constituency, though I'd prefer he wasn't such an ass, just as I'd prefer he wasn't in Iran's pocket. His methods may be rougher, but he's no more dangerous than Sistani if a Shiite caliphate stretching across most of the greater mideast is a scary thought to you.

My "victory" would include a secure and Democratic Iraq, even if it's a bit more theocratic than our own government. I'm willing to include a more or less permanent American military presence there, much like as we have in any other country we've ever defeated in war within the last 100 years, but I'm unwilling to include a "Democratic" Iraq existing as a puppet state of Iran.

I'm also unwilling to call it victory if we have to go about whatever we wind up doing by way of including the conflict between Israel and Palestine, at least in the way the Iraq Surrender Group has asserted. That's just the traditional Red-Herring thrown into anything that ever escalates or immortalizes the state of conflict in the region. Bringing that up was just retarded.

The most honest thing Bush has said about this war was before it started. This was going to be and currently is a long, hard road, and we were and are going to have to stick with it. Do you remember him saying this would last beyond his presidency? It most certainly will, if anything we could possibly call victory is going to punctuate the end of it.

My question to you is this: What do you call defeat? Al Quaeda has declared their definition, and it involves you and me both being dead.

This is the War on Terror, and if we quit fighting it before Terror as a method of political influence is totally rendered ineffective, it will necessarily remain as a tool to be wielded by those that would find it expedient to do so. Walking away from Iraq, Afghanistan or the rest of the places where Terror is the order of the day... including the rest of the Mideast, most of Africa, Southeast Asia and most of Central, South and Meso-America... at this point would simply be postponing this conflict until those that prefer the continued existence of Terror as a political tool are better prepared to win this war.

We are on the verge of those folks having nuclear capabilities, and they have proven they are of the opinion they have nothing to lose in their jihad state of mind. It took us using what was at the time our unique ability to immolate whole cities using this technology to beat a similar sort of kamikaze attitude toward the end of WW2. We no longer have the advantage of being the sole owner of such power.

You know how they feel about people of your heritage. Those that are currently beating the drums of "peace," demanding that we consider parlaying with Iran and Syria, will be the first to demand that we comply with the request of a nuclear Iran to hand over all our Jews in exchange for the continued existence of New York or LA. It has happened before, only on a smaller scale. It will happen again if we walk away now, but only after Israel is already pushed into the sea.

This can happen in five years.