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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (762289)	5/15/2007 10:17:44 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 769670

Anything is possible.... Of course, there ARE much better odds for strategic success, and much improved risk/reward ratios, lying in different approaches: Message 23541769 Message 23542554 Message 23542076

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (762289)	5/15/2007 4:55:29 PM
From: BEEF JERKEY	Respond to of 769670

"An article in USA Today reported on a Pentagon-funded study which confirms what military historians already know--an average insurgency can run for a decade, but most fail in the end." Cherry picking factoids will not win the War in Iraq. True an "average" insurgency might last ~ 10 years but the Shitte / Sunni schism has been going on (lately stronger than ever) for 1400 years!!!. What has been absent in the Bush administration is reality based thinking. Sure if you "love your country" and "support the troops" you might be willing to burn another few hundred thousand lives trying to extinguish the Sunni / Shitte rift but most now recognize that en devour as pointless. Having said that I don't support a troop pullout for two reasons. I do think we broke it and have a responsibility now not to leave the region in chaos. Leaving a broken Iraq will hurt US prestige and soft power immensely not to mention open the door to possible unspeakable horrors and instability. I also think that the Democrats pushing for withdrawal leaves the door open for the Republicans to blame them when things go south if we leave when we all know this is Bush's baby 100%. The obvious point is Iraq is a quagmire with no good answers except "don't go in there in the first place" - Too bad Chalabi told us different and we swallowed it. The thing is Bush et. al thought the war was over after 3 weeks and that the Iraqi's all were a homogeneous people wanting nothing more than to have American values forced upon them. Bush reasoned we would be greeted with flowers because everyone in the world wants to be just like the US. Now the war is in it's 5th year. Does the possible benefits (finally putting down the insurgency) warrant another 6 years in Iraq?