I'm a little confused...

[vc1111]

...maybe you'se guys can help me out.

We've been hearing from some rather eloquent board members on the subject of Bush and Iraq. This question concerns those whose mantra is "Bush is doing a great job in Iraq. It's going great. Give it time"...or words to that effect.


Of late, Bush himself describes Iraq as "a gradual failure" and says we had "a lousy year" in Iraq.

Now, I'm perplexed and puzzled. Maybe you can help me out. because you can't both be right.

So who's right, you guys, or our president?

[Buster T]

I speak out at last ........

GW and the United States have failed in Iraq. WE succeeded in killing Saddam and Co. but setting up a Democracy or similar govt has failed. Stability has failed. Rooting out the insurgents - failed. Gaining the Iraqi trust - failure. Less people killed ? Failure. Gradual withdraw ? Failure. Cost to americans ? Failure.

I mean, WHAT is the success so far ? Nothing since the first few weeks of the war that I can tell.

We can't move out, that would be another Korea / Vietnam wouldn't it ?


We should have never went to Iraq in retrospect. Afghanistan ? Maybe. Syria ? Maybe. Even blast some of Iraq in the name of killing terrorists ........ maybe.

GW is all but admitting a slow and gradual defeat. I support the troops, I suppor the fight against terrorism ........... somehow Iraq has become the focus though and it shouldn't have been. If somehow a democratic govt could be seeded there .......... it would be a milestone. I don't think it can be though, and a failure we have trying to do it.

[Canuck_Buck]

failure in some decisions maybe, but over all, it's a kick ass extravaganza !

to be fair my opinion doesn't really count...

there's many stories of the good being done over there too.

[Champlain Islander]

The harbinger of our future in Iraq came after we defeated the regime and saw the people bring down the statues. Up to that point we were batting 100% and there is nothing like success to get others in the world on your side. Then we allowed the looting to ratchet up out of control. That was a fundamental error that came from the command/ administration. It was a needless blunder and caused the civil unrest to develop. The rest just went down the tubes until you are at the impasse we are looking at right now. Total lack of planning has put this event in peril right from the beginning. The inevitable cut and run will happen sooner or later. That is just the way it is and spending more time over there will only change one thing....... Our Killed or wounded in action. We can't win a war there because it isn't a war it is an occupation.

[Lanse couche couche]

The sad thing is that, in Iraq, we managed perhaps unwittingly, to create an enormous kill zone for would-be jihadist from throughout the Muslim world. Then instead of letting the troops do that job, we saddle them with rules of engagement that a meter maid in Des Moines Iowa would find difficult to follow. All wars are political, but the minute this one shifted to politicized that pretty much did it. Every time the military charges a Marine for returning fire at a mosque or shooting an enemy combatant who is down, but still moving and posing a threat (at least to a 19 year old who has been in house-to-house fighting for a week), we might as well be pissing on the graves in Arlington cemetery. Nuff said[:@]

[ricoace]

In short, the ends became the means, the means became the ends...just a vicsious cycle. Its all too apparent to many of us...This so called liberation of a nation by the Bush Administrationhas become self serving and corrupt

[Aught Six]

Bush is accurate. People have different opinions from one another, and so you hear some dead on claims and some unrealistic claims. Predicting the future is the one thing that no one seems to have a definite advantage in.

We have begun to drag in Iraq because we began to focus less on military action simply because the Hussein regime collapsed. We should remained on the offensive. We dealt with werewolves in Germany, and ***anese hold outs in the Pacific. We faced all kinds of civilians with guns and grenades and bombs in Vietnam. We should have never stoppedrollingaround with gunsready.

What we have been doing isfocusing on the democracy building despite the Iraqi political factions on-going reluctance to cooperate with each other for a united Iraq. For all of the anti-U.S., anti-imperialism rants out there, we really have not ruled much of anything except ourselves. Being an conquerer and being a protector are two separate things. We should be running the show for everyone's sake.

[CalHunter]

Wow, you're finally admitting you're confused. [8D][8D]

[Robb92]

The sad thing is the media in the US only prints what they want to hear, you never hear about any of the good that goes on in Iraq, all you hear about is what the media want you to hear. Lets face it the truth doesn't make them money. Everyone in the US gets their opinions from the media instead of doing the research for themselves and making their opinion.
One of the problems in Iraq is the amount of control that is being pushed on the military from here in Washington D.C. Everyone want to have a hand in the cookie jar, and the people that suffer are the military members who are on the ground in the AOR. I thkn we did the right thing going into Iraq but take the harness off the military and let them do their jobs instead of putting the handcuffs on them and leading the around like little babies. The politicians in washington need to get a backbone and tell the rest of the world to piss off and let us get on with it instead of waiting to see what the rest of the world thinks first, so as not to upset the delecate nature of things,

[kevin1]

I don't honestly believe that any of us armchair pundits are even qualified to assess what's going on over there, none of us have the total picture or the complete knowledge of whatever plans may be in the works as Bush does. On the surface it just looks like Viet Nam,jr. to us, but then we aren't the ones who initiated it or decided the actual goal(s) of it. Until somebody can give concrete evidence that we're just spinning our wheels for nothing I'm inclined to let the situation ride until it reaches some sort of resolution.