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| Yes | 57% | 1778 votes | Total: 3124 votes | |
| No | 43% | 1346 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesOnly the most delusional, or those totally buried in their own self-serving agenda, still believe that this war is, somehow, "winnable"...or that there will be an "Iraq ready to defend it's people" based upon our continued presence.
We will be long gone, for better or for worse, before that region sorts out who the "Iraq" is in that statement...and/or defines which people they're ready to defend. We can leave now with some 3,500 dead and countless wounded...or we can leave later with who knows how many dead and how many more wounded. The results won't change by our body count.
"Mission Accomplished" is, in reality, "Mission Impossible."
When Bush and his cronies started this war with a series of big lies, the little ones simply become easier and easier. At this point, I'm not sure he knows (or cares) what the difference is. Now, his writhing about, trying to keep from becoming one of the worst...if not THE worst...president in history is costing countless numbers of young lives and dismantling this country economically, materially, emotionally and spiritually.
Bush once said: "I have a different vision of leadership. A leadership is someone who brings people together." (Yes, he actually said it that way.) But, the reality is that it is hard to remember a president who has had such a divisive impact on our nation.
Bush conspired with top members of his staff to trump up "evidence"...lies... of WMDs and Saddam's capabilities... parading it all in front of the Congress, this country and the world via the UN. The magnitude of those lies is now engraved on thousands and thousands of tombstones...with no end in sight.
Bush took his "photo-op" about the early stages of the Iraqi invasion to a carrier deck where his people flew that now infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner...and told us that, for all intents and purposes, the fighting was over. More than three years later...with thousands of American dead and many more thousands horribly maimed, we are no closer to his delusion of "winning" than we were at that moment.
Bush has twice taken an oath of office saying he would "...faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." We have made no progress in Iraq...he has been hopelessly helpless in improving our needs here at home...he has trampled over the Constitution...and, I suppose, his "out" would be to say that the oath of office only requires him to act with: "...the best of my
ability..." And we've all learned, time and time again, the desperately sad
limitations of "the best of his ability."
Maybe the most telling "statistic" of all is that in this country, it is estimated that the so-called "religious right" makes up about 27%-29% of the population. Which is approximately what his approval rating is today. Do you think that's just a coincidence? Do you think it says anything about those who are still supporting this malapropping incompetent?
He is living proof of, among other things, the desperate need to separate church and state.
Being shortsighted, arrogant and wholly ill-equipped to lead aren't crimes.
They're also, obviously, not qualifications to be President.
This nation needs to be out of Iraq now. And out from under the Bush shadow as soon as possible.
Learn more about this author, David Rackow.
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No
It would be irresponsible and even criminal for the United States to remove her armed forces from Iraq before that country regains the ability to defend itself. There are several reasons why I feel this is so.
First, the armed forces of the United States are the reason that Iraq lost its ability to defend itself. From a purely moral standpoint, we have a responsibility to our collective conscience to restore that ability, else we are responsible for their destruction should some other outside force lay them low.
Second, by leaving our troops in place we help create infrastructure and a stable economy. If you look at our enemies in World War II (Germany and Japan), they are now economic powerhouses. Yet it required no less than ten years of active military occupation to achieve this! Why should we give up now in Iraq after far less than that and lose a potential economic ally?
Third, it makes good tactical sense to do so. As of right now there are roughly 150,000 American servicemen within striking distance of two of the nastiest hotbeds of terrorist activity, namely Syria and Iran. Iraq gives us a base whereby we can launch attacks if necessary against these hostile nations, much as we used Japan as a springboard against North Korean and "Chi-Com" aggression and West Germany as a line of defense against the USSR and Warsaw Pact.
Fourth and most importantly, our national security depends upon sanitizing and stabilizing Iraq! If we leave now, Iraq will fall prey very shortly thereafter to the predations of Iran, Syria, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, and other militant Islamic extremists who will use Iraq as a springboard to threaten American interests both at home and abroad. Add to this the very real propaganda victory we would give to the terrorists that "The Great Satan is weak and defeated!". If we lose in Iraq by giving it back to the terrorists, how long until we're conducting anti-IED patrols in American cities? How long until our children ride in armored school buses? How long until our mothers, wives, daughters can recognize the sound of a mortar and are never far from their gas mask? Ask Israel.
Simply put, anyone who advocates "pulling out" of Iraq before they can stand on their own two feet is not only condemning the fledgling Iraqi democracy to death, but our own country as well.
Learn more about this author, Hess Sherrod.
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