That's pretty much it. Every day the US government stays there is paid for in blood. Dawdling, committee hearings, shucking and jiving costs more lives and solves nothing.

I have a way of cutting to the heart of the matter....:D

And by the way, for everyone that says B2 is mentally, morally and intellectually inept, IMO, he dropped a huge bomb on the Democratic Congress, and did so brilliantly. He's called their bluff with his desire for 21K+ more soldiers, leaving the Dems with the decision to either:

1) Let the soldiers go, inevitably lose the war anyway, and retreat in shame.

2) Don't let the soldiers go, inevitably lose the war, and retreat in shame.

21,500 is the make or break number, and by all accounts of Abizaid and Casey, a number closer to 250,000 more soldiers are needed. But Bush, realizing 250,000 is insurmountable, has offered a carrot. Now, it's time for the Dems to make their decision, and either "yes" or "no" will be the wrong answer.

In that, a rock and a hard place find their pidgeon in '08, which the GOP might very easily take based on Dem decisions today.

Interesting, since it was the Democrats who got the U.S. into the undeclared war in Vietnam (remember John Kennedy, hero of the Bay of Pigs?), escelated the conflict under Johnson and then the Democrats who cut the funding. The guy who really did the most to get the U.S. out of the war in a somewhat upright fashion was Nixon. Love him or hate him, it was under his and Ford's watch that the US pulled out.

In the case of Iraq, Bush (who some people claim is not consulting Congress) actually got Congress to sign on the dotted line -- something that JFK never did. And mind you, the organization that is Congress did sign on the dotted line, and now is getting all weak-kneed and wanting to back out of the situation. Unfortunately in the real world there are no un-do's or do-overs. If you're in, you're in. In my book, the worst way to support the troops and cheapen the value of the 3000+ who have died so far is to just back out like it never happened. If that happens, then those 3000 died in vain, which would be the biggest tragedy in my eyes.

Looking back at the Congressional resolution which was passed in 2002, I noticed the following reasons that it was agreed were the reasons why we went into Iraq in the first place. You can read the complete verbage yourself, but the summary seems to be these two paragraphs...

WMD's were one of the laundry list of issues that the world had with SH and the Iraq at that time. It wasn't only about WMD's.

The act also stipulated...

Would the US President be in violation of this paragraph if he authorized a pull-out given the current set of enemies in Iraq?

John, you've simplified, trivialized the seeds of the Vientam war with your comments.

http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1945.html

Similarly, we tend to trivialize how badly we've screwed up the Middle East over the years.

WMD + OBL in the shawdow of 9/11 was played to garner support. B2 and company have completely ruined things there. How many times should one double down on along shot?

Jim I think you have over simplified the game of Poker.

Furthermore every time you say "B2" I think of bombers and Fuel Air Bombs.

:D

Throwing even one more life down the drain based on the previous 3000 dead is as immoral a proposal as can be imagined. Based on that justification, this war will never end. You must come to grips with the fact that this president ordered men into battle in error, and base your treatment of this president under the law accordingly.

There's only one, just one, solution with regard to Iraq to stop at least American deaths, and in my opinion it will reduce Iraqi deaths as well, and that's for the US government to start withdrawals tomorrow. Even then, some US government troops will die, that happened in Vietnam on the way out, but the levels will be lower and then stop.

LOL! B1 = George H. W. Bush, B2 = his idiot spawn.

I'm no good at games of chance. :(

Wait a minute! What about all that oil? :rolleyes:

Classic. :D

More of it will be produced, and sold, than now. Once it's on the market, it doesn't matter where it comes from, and Bush-Cheney will just have to get over the fact that India and China may, and probably will, control that oil in the long run.

That's the only plan i've seen that's more stupid than the one we've implemented.

It was refreshing to hear Newt Gingrich on Fox state we absolutely have to start making sacrifices here in the U.S. to stop funding the enemy, not to mention further research in alternative fuels. He emphasized, stop funding the enemy...

I will not accept that Pat's plan is stupider than my Fuel Air Bomb plan. Sir, please retract your statement.

Newt Gingrich is crazy. He wants to arrest opponents of the executive branch and put them into concentration camps, as but one example.

Oh yea, you're stable:D

How'd you like to go through life being called a newt? That's got to screw a person up.

http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/gingrich_considers_political_opposition_american_i nsurgency.htm
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=11829
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47501
http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/12/post_2297.html
http://othersideofmymouth.blogspot.com/search/label/Newt%20Gingrich
http://www.rollingstone.com/nationalaffairs/?p=29
http://ezraklein.typepad.com/blog/2005/08/modern_newt.html
Quote from the last link,

congress never aproved any plan after the do something point

BuSh2 went in with tooo few troops to win the peace
they had enuff to win a war that the other side mostly didnot fight
but too few to round up the iraq army
sort them by threat level or retrain any of them
too few to succure the arms eathor on the iraq troops or in dumps all over
there by arming the nuts
too few to impose the rule of law on the country
so the tribes got a running start on their war
with theo-conned punks with no skills or knowlage to run the civilian side picked by their political ties not any other qualitys
who compleatly failed to get the country up and running
water and eltric system still are NOT WORKING TODAY
and that has led to the total break down in iraq

demo's had no part in the total failure by the theo-conned civilians to do their jobs
or the top level neo-conned planners on the military side
the troops are no more to blame for bad plans then the demo's as neathor had a hand in making them

but there is a current campaine by the neo-conned to blame
the new congress for their own F-up
as spin doctoring is what the right does best
so no matter how bad they blow it someone else is at fault
and that is what this whole ''where is the demo plan'' BS is about
spin the blame on the other side
and admitt NOTHING

Staff Members Under New Defense Secretary Wondering If They Still Get Summers Off
The Onion
January 12, 2007 | Issue 43•02

WASHINGTON, DC—The recent departure of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary Of Defense has reportedly left his former staff noticeably tense and preoccupied in anticipation of the sweeping changes his successor is likely to bring. "At first I didn't care what the new guy [Robert Gates] had in mind, just so long as punch-in was still noon, shoes remained optional, and we were given plenty of time to keep up with our multiplayer online gaming," said Assistant To The Secretary Of Defense For Nuclear And Chemical & Biological Defense Programs Dale Klein, adding that he hoped Gates would not break the May 12-to-Oct. 1-summer-vacation tradition. "First thing today, though, I walk in and someone hands me a briefing on joint-transformational delivery-system initiatives that they just absolutely need me to read right away. Not a good sign." Several staffers also expressed concern that a recent memo urging them to construct a viable exit strategy for American military personnel in Iraq could affect their regular Margarita Mondays.