Victory?

[BlueStreak]

Watching Faux on my lunch break tonight, they had some guy on the screen whining about the lack of a "palpable Victory" in our withdrawl from Iraq. He wants our military to remain in Iraq, until a formal ceremony can be held transferring power back to a solid Iraqi state.

I have a simple question for everyone here;

AT WHAT PRICE?

My thought? We had no business going in the first place. So every life lost there since March 21st 2003 was a senseless tragedy. Except Sadam, of course. Screw that dirtbag.

To further explain my attitude on this issue, I'll relate a little personal history.

I was very young, eleven I think, when the Vietnam War ended. But, I remember my father telling a man that my brother John had served in Vietnam. The man responded that it was, "a damn shame that boys like John did their duty, and now we're just giving up. I say we should stay there until we can claim a solid victory for those guys". My father, a WW2 veteran, with a dead sober look on his face simply replied, "I don't.". The man recoiled a bit and asked; "Well, why do you say that, Ed?"

In a calm, steady voice, Pop replied;
"How many thousands of lives and billions of dollars do you continue throwing at a war, simply because you can't bear the thought of leaving without claiming victory, regardless of the circumstances? If that's how you really think, then next time send you own kid, or go your damn self."

I guess to some people winning is everything. I've always thought that a little assinine.

Dave

[d-ray657]

OK. Now I know where you learned to nail issues on the head. You had an excellent teacher. Great post.

Regards,

D-Ray

[merrylander]

Your Dad was right, I doubt that whiner on Faux had anyone in Iraq.

[finnbow]

Or in the words of a past presidential candidate, "Who will be the last soldier to die for a mistake?"

The trouble with Afghanistan (a justified war) and Iraq (an unjustified war) is that there would be no difference in outcome if we left a year ago, today, or a year from now. We can't create a Jeffersonian democracy out of whole cloth in a place stuck in the middle ages (without the slightest hint of democratic tradition).

[piece-itpete]

Is this PCs speech thread? I thought he came off pretty good, although 'here I am, on the road again, here I am, up on the stage...'

You guys should listen to your, um, leader lol.

Since combat operations have ceased, and combat troops are gone, I expect there will be no more combat casualties.

I can only imagine what trouble Saddam would be making for us, if we withdrew from Saudi Arabia and invaded Afghanistan with him in power.

Pete

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

I can only imagine what trouble Saddam would be making for us, if we withdrew from Saudi Arabia and invaded Afghanistan with him in power.

Pete

After his ass-whuppin' in Desert Storm, none whatsoever.

[noonereal]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

I can only imagine what trouble Saddam would be making for us, if we withdrew from Saudi Arabia and invaded Afghanistan with him in power.

Pete

what kind of trouble could he make?

even if he really had weapons of mass destruction he would never have used them against us.

this fear of Saddam has always been, peculiar.

[piece-itpete]

Let's see, invaded Iran and Kuwait, gassed his own people, had the 4th largest army in the world, threatened Suadi Arabia (why we had troops there), was a rabid student of Hitler, paid suicide bombers families, .....

Both sides knew he was a problem. But why can't you guys turn the page?

Pete

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

Let's see, invaded Iran and Kuwait, gassed his own people, had the 4th largest army in the world, threatened Suadi Arabia (why we had troops there), was a rabid student of Hitler, paid suicide bombers families, .....

Both sides knew he was a problem. But why can't you guys turn the page?

Pete

Problem solved in 1991 by the brighter Bush.

[d-ray657]

I would suggest that the ones who can't turn the page are the ones that oppose the withdrawal of forces from Iraq without what they would define as "victory."

Regards,

D-ray