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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group

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To: michael97123 who wrote (183003)	3/6/2006 9:23:10 AM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) of 281500

They are far from left wing opponents but perhaps they smell the coffee over in iraq better than you do. Mike, I was over there for 1 1/2 years myself. I saw all kinds of opinions, negative and positive. It's natural for most soldiers to think negatively about deployment in Iraq. It's not a nice place to serve, especially, as you stated, for reservists. But when I would talk with soldiers and discuss the importance of what we're trying to achieve there (democratic change and regional change), most would agree that this was important to fighting the war against Islamo-Fascism. But I didn't often get a sense that American soldiers wanted to just abandon the mission, they wanted to see progress and they didn't want their lives risked needlessly by cautious decisions on the part of their leadership (especially the Marine sector). I think you need to carefully ponder the impact of that other question where 51% of soldiers would FAVOR doubling the number of troops in country and focusing on taking down the insurgency, so we could pull out within a year. That's a common psychological response amongst Americans throughout our military history.. Get the job done and go home. I wonder how the polls would have read for soldiers in post-WWII Germany who were required to perform occupation duty? Do you think they would have all agreed that we should go home by the end of 1946? I wonder how that opinion changed after the blockade of Berlin? Unfortunately, Iraq will never offer the same attractions as occupation duty in Germany or Japan. No booze.. No women.. only Army sponsored recreational activities... Little interaction with the local population except as part of official duties... Sure, it's a tough assignment. Probably one of the toughest our military has had to face. And there's a definite impatience with relying upon the Iraqis to stand up their own security apparatus and dealing with the insurgency on their own. But that poll was DEFINITELY SKEWED in the way the questions were phrased about remaining Iraq. When all of the available answers involve either a time period extending over the next 12 months, or infinite, it's PRETTY obvious that the poll can't be trusted. Hawk

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