So, the longer we stay, the more bad things there are that will happen.

Not necessarily. But the longer you stay, the longer the problem will take to resolve itself. You see, the US claims by staying it gives the government of Iraq and the country the "breathing room" it needs to resolve its problems, but they fail to realise that the US presence itself is the main drive that creates the insurgencies and the other problems we are seeing today. How can you fight an insurgency when you are the very reason for that insurgency?

And since it's basically you who will be footing the bill, it's only in your best interest to get out as soon as possible. And obviously of the Iraqis as well, since prolonging the status quo is certainly very undesirable for the general population there. Not to speak that the vast majority of Iraqis, according to oppinion polls, want the US out anyways.

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ok look. Regardless of the reasons the Iraqis are my friends. literally. I would kill, die, risk my life, and my buddy would risk his life to preserve liberty.

I met many Iraqis, I know a few of them rather well. I lived with them (not in a FOB, in a hotel in Baghdad) and we stayed in the shitiest most violent area of Baghdad. and we turned it around and reduced the violence to almost nothing compared to when we first got there. MY unit, BTW, was the first unit of the surge.

I am an Army Engineer with the 82nd Airborne. My time spent there,( i spent 10 months, my unit was there 15) was spent rebuilding, from scratch, a park across the Tigris river from the Green Zone. IT cost us $10M. These people were originally too afraid of suicide bombers to go to the park, nowadays its filled to capacity.



This girl is my friend. I have known her for the the entire 10 months i was in iraq. does she deserve for us to abandon her? To let Al Queda or some other religious fanatic tell her she cant go to school, or that she has to wear a burka and cant worship the way she sees fit?



although, honestly, the little boys are bastards, does he not deserve freedom?



This is Abu Nuwas. It did not always look like this. This was at the end of the deployment. This is the result of over a year of work and over $10M worth of investment. we employed over 100 iraqis to clean the park, rebuild sidewalks, plant trees, build playground equipment, and trim and maintain the grass.

enough rambling. We cannot leave until the job is done. and it will get done, I promise you.

I thank you for your service, and I think it goes without saying that I'm with you morally as well on this topic.

Cool, but I would suggest that you resign from the US military and join the Iraqi Defense Forces if that is your position.

The fact remains that the insurgency is opposed to the US presence in Iraq and it doesn't matter if it's the Sunnis, the Shiites, or now some of the Kurds that are opposing the US presence as long as the US remains there will be an insurgency fighting the US occupation.

It is the US occupation that creates the insurgency and the insurgency will continue until the US occupation ends.

one expert i pay attention to tells me we are only doing "Doing bin Laden's Work for Him". that "bin laden wins without lifting a finger".

as Sun Tzu said if you don't know yourself and your oponent you are going to lose all the time. well we don't know muslims, and i would submitt we do not know ourselves.

Slam. As I've said numerous times, you can't solve a problem if you ARE the problem. It might seem a chivalry thing to try but it defies all logic.

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Dribble. While this is true, more the anything I see us still being there in great umbers to sort out who is going to be in it for Iraq for the long haul and not just themselves. Until we have a united Iraq we can't leave, Iraqis should be beginning to understand this themselves.

You are advocating a power vacuum that puts the whole world at risk economically and politically.

We are not the only, or for that matter even the most severe of the problems, when we are is when we should leave.

bingo ~ someone who wants to do bin ladens work for him. clearly you know squat about muslims