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Politics : Actual left/right wing discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (4069)	11/2/2006 4:17:37 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10087

Re: "...if we abandoned them." We toppled their Dictator for them. We tossed the Bathists (& Sunnis...) out of power. We went into debt to the tune of 1/2 TRILLION DOLLARS (and not so insignificantly, lost nearly 3,000 brave souls... with tens of thousands wounded). We turned control over to the locals who have had TWO complete sets of elections now.... So, what in the Hell is 'abandonment' about leaving now that those jobs are done?????????????? NOTE: the Shiites controlling the government did not sign a defense treaty with us. They signed a Mutual Defense Treaty with their fellow Shiites in IRAN. So... we have no more obligation to carry their water for them then we do for any other country in the world --- perhaps less. Nothing about that would be 'abandonment'! Re: "1 - I don't think there will be another million or so killed, or another decade long mass war." Good! (But, if so, then that would also argue persuasively that our job is done --- and the Shiites and Kurds are able to stand on their own against the Sunnis... perhaps even more then that, able to push them back all the way to the borders of Jordan and Saudi Arabia.) Or, they could bog down in an expensive and bloody civil war for a long period of time --- as I expect, given the near balance in the military potentials of both main sides, and the PREVIOUS example of the decade-long Iran/Iraq Gulf War. (Either way though, the West stands to benefit.) Re: "and finally and more directly 3 - I think they would indeed consider themselves as having won a victory by "forcing" our pullout, even if they suffer later losses after that." WHO? (You keep skipping over that important little point....)