Pssst... we're leaving Iraq

[LuckyTheDog]

It hardly matters who is president... we'll be out of Iraq by late 2009 or early 2010. The quagmire is not sustainable. And there is no military solution that will fix Iraq's political problems.

McCain would throw away a lot more money on Iraq than Obama would. But the result will be the same. We just can't keep this up much longer.

[xchrom]

1. it's always been about whether we have the money to sustain the conflict.

money -- not bodies -- will dictate the end of this nightmare.

[SteppingRazor]

2. What exactly are you saying here?

That, despite principles, in reality there's no difference between McCain and Obama on the war? I mean, really now! :eyes:

[LuckyTheDog]

7. I am saying McCain is a liar

and/or he is delusional. Obama has a MUCH more realistic idea about what is possible in Iraq and is willing to actually propose doing something that could work.

[spanone]

3. not soon enough

[atreides1]

4. Any Proof?????

Why can't "we" keep this up? If a Democrat gets into the WH then yes we'll probably be out by 2010 at the latest, if McCain wins look for the remote possibility of a draft.

[LuckyTheDog]

8. McCain's hands will be tied

We need to call him out on his bullshit "victory in Iraq" rhetoric. We need him to say how he would pay for another 100 years of war. The fact is: he can't... and won't.

[Taverner]

10. Still gotta pay soldiers, even if drafted

Still have to buy them guns, uniforms, etc...

[sinkingfeeling]

5. And when we do leave, it will explode. We've spent $billions 'buying the peace'

so that the 'surge' would appear to be working. Read this article by Chris Hedges.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022508D.shtml

The United States is funding and in many cases arming the three ethnic factions in Iraq - the Kurds, the Shiites and the Sunni Arabs. These factions rule over partitioned patches of Iraqi territory and brutally purge rival ethnic groups from their midst. Iraq no longer exists as a unified state. It is a series of heavily armed fiefdoms run by thugs, gangs, militias, radical Islamists and warlords who are often paid wages of $300 a month by the U.S. military. Iraq is Yugoslavia before the storm. It is a caldron of weapons, lawlessness, hate and criminality that is destined to implode. And the current U.S. policy, born of desperation and defeat, means that when Iraq goes up, the U.S. military will have to scurry like rats for cover.

If the U.S. begins, as promised, to withdraw troops it will be harder to keep these antagonistic factions apart. The cease-fire by the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, extended a few days ago, could collapse. And if that happens a civil war, unlike anything U.S. forces have experienced in Iraq, will begin. Such a conflagration, with the potential to draw in neighboring states and lead to the dismemberment of Iraq, would be the final chapter of the worst foreign policy blunder in American history.

[Cleita]

6. The real question here is:

After we leave Iraq, how do we make Bush/Cheney and all their PNAC enablers responsible for the American and Iraqi lives lost because of this war of greed? I want every one of them to pay in justice and in money. I want to see every one of them in prison, stripped of all their worldly assets, to make war reparations to both Iraqis and the American families of the soldiers who died and whose lives have been permanently ruined because of it.

[phantom power]

9. I think a president McCain would find a way to keep borrowing the money.

Because he's batshit insane, you see. After all, we never really had the money to begin with. We *started* the war in debt, and BushCo did nothing but cut taxes since then.

[LuckyTheDog]

11. He won't be able to

The dollar would drop like a stone. The choice now is between choosing to leave and HAVING to leave. Obama knows that we need to get out while we still have some of our dignity (and power) intact. McCain would eventually come to the same conclusion. But it could be too late by then.

[Winterblues]

12. We are not leaving Iraq no matter who becomes President

Not a single candidate that is still in the race has said we will do so. Both Obama and Hillary have said they will reduce combat troops dramatically but will keep some forces there to fight Al Qaeda and to train Iraqi troops and to guard our Embassy. We have built fourteen "enduring" bases there and those bases will house US troops for many many years to come..If you think otherwise you haven't been paying attention.

[LuckyTheDog]

14. That is the great hope of the GOP

But, the bottom line is that we simply don't have the resources to remain mired in the Iraqi quagmire for decades to come. The only question is how much and money and how many lives we will lose before reality forces a change of policy.

Obama sees that it's best to cut our losses. But he's also realistic and knows it'll take time to untangle ourselves from the mess Bush created.

[alfredo]

13. The repigs are willing to destroy this country to prevent them from

looking soft on non Christian countries.