We are not going to "win" in the sense that you seem to be indicating. That is not our mission. Our mission is to help the Iraqi government provide security and re-build infrastructure, hunt down Al Qaeda and Baathist dead-enders, and curtail sectarian violence. Ultimately, our mission is to help the Iraqis reach a political settlement among the Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds that leads to a unified nation that can defend its own borders and provide security for its people.
The reason we see all the talk about benchmarks for the Iraqis is that lots of folks don't think the Iraqis are up to the job, and they want the US to bail out if the Iraqis can't get their act together. That isn't a realistic option. We need to keep at it with the Iraqis until they can figure out how to reach a political settlement. It will not take forever, and we will not be there forever. By all appearances, it could take several more years due to the total lack of commitment by the government to getting any constitutional reform done. The downside of the lack of progress for us is that we continue to lose soldiers and spend billions of dollars. As great a price in blood and treasure as we are paying, the downside for Iraqis is far greater. Iraqi citizens are losing their lives by the hundreds every week in sectarian killings and terrorist bombings. None of that will change until they reach a political settlement, and at this point we have to stick it out and push them toward a settlement or be prepared for the entire region to descend into war. Our best option today is to help get the Iraqis to a political settlement, get everyone on board supporting the government, and get the government behind the idea of treating everyone equally, whether they were a Baathist or not. Maybe they can have a South Africa style Truth commission. Whatever they do, they all have to be on board. Once that happens, we can start to leave, because our primary mission will have been finished. We might still have people there for years doing various things, just like we have people all around the world, but nothing like the footprint we have today. On 5/8/07, Rick wrote: > > On 5/8/07, Ian Skinner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > We have a mess, a huge mess. But leaving could leave an even worse > > mess. > > so what, do we just stay there, in a country that doesn't really want > us, that we *CANNOT* control without a troop buildup of massive > proportions. > > We're not going "win" this "war" with 125,000 or 200,000 troops. > We're certainly not going to do it at those levels without > international support. > > It is a gigantic mess that I don't see improving. Ever. We'll be > stuck there forever, and in the end, more americans will die because > of our presense in Iraq than would have otherwise. > > What's the death count to now, just in americans. How about the death > count of innocent Iraqi's? > > We win this "war" with 500,000 troops, or not at all. > > Maybe I'm the democratic base. I'm usually not, but I simply don't > see how any good will come of our continued occupation of Iraq. > > We need to either re-instute the MILITARY DRAFT, or get the frak out. > > Rick > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| ColdFusion MX7 and Flex 2 Build sales & marketing dashboard RIAâs for your business. Upgrade now http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2?sdid=RVJT Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:234171 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
