Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Neocon who wrote (146019)	9/20/2004 5:52:14 PM
From: michael97123	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I agree with what you say. I still would set a date after their election. The date will be out lets say a year. That gives us enough time to do what you say. If as you say iraqi insurgents get quiet, it will give us the opportunity to really build an iraqi force that can defend itself. When we do leave and they try to make a push, maybe they will find iraq not such an attractive place to operate particularly for foreigners. Mike PS Iran supporting al sadr over the long haul is far from certain. A stable iraq or at least a stable south is in their interest and making al sader PM or something absurd like that would be a disaster. They use al sadr to give us grief.

To: Neocon who wrote (146019)	9/20/2004 6:29:25 PM
From: Bilow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Hi Neocon; Re: "Much simpler: decapitate the various insurgent groups, kill or capture the remainder, rinse and repeat, until you have gotten enough for the Iraqis to manage the residual forces. Then have a skeletal "forward base" set up, send most of our people home, and submit the future of Iraq to the will of Allah." We already tried this, but the occupation has made no headway. Instead, all we have done is train a nation of 25 million to produce better and better guerilla warriors while our own military is ground down. So far, September has seen coalition casualties at the rate of 2.95 per day. August saw 2.42 per day. The corresponding figures for a year ago were 1.07 and 1.39. The past year has seen more allies bug out of the coalition, while Iraq oil production continues to deteriorate and the world price of oil sets new highs. Companies cooperating with the coalition continue to lose employees to kidnappers and then agree to pull out. The US has been unable to spend most of the money allocated to reconstruction, but has instead had to spend it on defense. We've occupied Iraq for well over a year but we're still running airstrikes against city targets there. There are well populated regions that are "no go" zones for US and coalition troops. The Shiites have joined the Sunni in revolting against us. Our armed forces are using up so much materiel that factories in the US are having to run overtime. The war is not going well, and now rumors begin to spread that we will pull out after the January election whether the insurgency is halted or not. -- Carl