If they’re really smart, they’ll redeploy a large chunk of the men and women they’re pulling out of Iraq into Afghanistan where they should have been to begin with. And hopefully, they’ll realize they need to do that before Afghanistan starts looking like Iraq does now.

Agreed, wholeheartedly.

Due to the terrain in Afghanistan, it is not like we can just place either a heavy brigade or a heavy division to do take the fight to the Taliban and AQ folks. The logistics to get them into the country is daunting as it is, but then the real question becomes what would we do with them when they are there? 101st, 82nd, 10th, and other infantry divisions are taking most of the duties in Afghanistan – can 4ID, 1CAV, 1AD, 2ACR, 3ACR, and others come in to do the job in Afghanistan?

I am just thinking out loud.

The problem with the ‘surge’ is that it will take years to take the insurgents to the woodshed. May be with the news coming out that the local nationals are turning against the more extreme Muslim fundamentalists, the time line may be shorter. Regardless, it is going to take a lot of time to do the work. The counterinsurgency is also dependent on other tools than the ‘cudgel over the head’ approach of sending more and more troops on to the ground – reconstruction with the various PRTs, strong local and national government on the Iraqi’s part (which just ain’t happening), and other stuff.

If we are to continue on with the ‘surge’, we then need to get more people into the military to share the burden of the conflict. More troops will be required to not only ‘win’ in the center of gravity, but also in the perpherial areas where we are continuing to play ‘whack a mole’.

I say move troops to the training side of the house and let the Iraqi folks start to fight for themselves. We cannot be in an indefinite commitment to keep the peace – it is really unfair to our military folks to ask them to continue to ‘sacrifice’ while the rest of the nation continues on as if nothing is happening.

If there was a group out there offering strategies that actually could produce results, fulfill our obligation to the American people (and to the Iraqis!), and get this war won, I’d say, by all means, let’s do it. But no one is offering such strategies, and I suspect the reality is simply that in an imperfect world, there are no perfect strategies. And Iraq is an especially imperfect part of the world at the moment. The sooner we recognize that this war cannot any longer be won, the better.

Given that, the choice we’re faced with is to continue to allow the war to be mismanaged and bungled, or we can get the hell out of Dodge, and stop having our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters die for a cause that none of us really believe in. In all seriousness, can we really afford to wait for a new administration to replace Bush, when we have the opportunity to save American lives right now? Something is terribly wrong if we honestly think the best course of action is to wait until January, 2009 and hope the next guy/gal won’t be as bad as Bush has been. The Democrat strategy may be retreat, but right now, that’s the best option we have available.

If they’re really smart, they’ll redeploy a large chunk of the men and women they’re pulling out of Iraq into Afghanistan where they should have been to begin with. And hopefully, they’ll realize they need to do that before Afghanistan starts looking like Iraq does now.

We invaded a sovereign country, and found no wmd’s.

Sadaam was hung for killing how many kurds? Pff….China kills that on a monthly basis. They are the world’s worst human rights abusers, and we sit idley by and watch….and continue to buy, buy, buy. Go find me ten things in your house that doesn’t say, “made in China”.

This war in Iraq is for profiteering and oil sharing agreements. Period.
Rove is being investigated, so is Condi, and articles of impeachment have been brought forth upon Cheney’s shoulders.

Explain why a Blackwater agent will get $80,000 a month to do the same job as one of our soldiers who gets about $25,000 doing the same task in Iraq?

Supporting our soldiers at this point means bringing them home, giving them the counseling they will be in dire need of, and going about things in a policy way, instead of being blindly lied to and led into a feverent pitch about nationalism, and spreading democracy.

We sit and watch those in Darfur die with flaming tires around thier necks, China has mobile killing vans to carry out thier death sentencing, and we are still trying to figure out wtf is going on in Iraq.

This isnt a right, or left issue. This is a human issue. Globalize human rights. Globalize women’s rights. Globalize humans where we love one another, regardless of race, creed, religion or status.

Of those objectives, which ones have been accomplished, which ones are out of reach, and which ones are still in play?

The ones that are still in play are the ones that determine whether or not the war is still worth America’s while. Is there anything more substantial for the U.S. to do, that the U.S. can reasonably do, than merely refereeing the latest in a long line of Sunni-Shi’a conflicts throughout Muslim history? Not as far as I can tell. If that’s the case, then it’s time to let the Iraqis sink or swim without us hovering over their shoulders. If they sink, well, at least that will be over with sooner rather than later.

In case you want to post a clip of today’s debate: http://www.thenewsroom.com/details/244062/US