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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: michael97123 who wrote (145064)	9/8/2004 11:07:30 AM
From: GST	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Our presence in Iraq galvanizes resistance to our military occupation. This will not end until our military occupation ends. Iraq is descending into the chaos that most thoughtful people anticipated -- there being few if any thoughtful people in the current Administration, this did not cause much concern, as evidenced by the astonishing lack of planning. A "strategic" retreat? Most will now say we have to stay -- you break it, you own it. But the fact of the matter is that our presence in Iraq is half the problem, the other half being the fact that the people who will likely end up running Iraq are not nice people and not our friends. Things that begin screwed up have a tendency to stay screwed up -- Iraq was screwed the moment we decided to invade under the American flag.

To: michael97123 who wrote (145064)	9/8/2004 11:11:29 AM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

I have always been prepared for it to take several years before we could think of leaving. Although the situation was worse than I anticipated, it has not be a shock. What did you think would happen if we took the fight to the terrorists? They were always going to blow things up, and generally cause trouble. What did a severe risk of civil war mean?: that there would be factions who would like nothing better than to torpedo the constitutional process. It is only the order of magnitude and the relative organization of the insurgents that has been a surprise. The same considerations operate against them: they are very vulnerable to decapitation (figuratively speaking), the disruption of assets, infiltration, and surgical raids. But it is necessary for there to be improved human intelligence, and therefore the recruitment and training of Iraqis..........