In light of the most recent abduction, torture and "slaughter" of those those two American soldiers, the Iraqi solution lies in a total pullout of all troups followed by the introduction of of massive amounts of napalm.
drawdown said: "Since he seems to be the only one who's been able to keep the violence quelled - at least THIS level of daily bloodbath violence." In other words, slaughtering people and throwing them into mass graves is ok, cause it's not on tv. (how do you think he maintained order?) But, car bombs that kill a few people and are on tv is unacceptable.
We put Saddam in power in the first place. Then, he stopped doing what we wanted and started becoming a threat to U.S. interests. So, we took him out. We remain in Iraq because: (1) there is money and power to be gained by persons in the current U.S. Executive Branch, and their direct constituencies, by maintaining uncertainty and unrest in the region; (2) the current President believes that he is doing God's work in bringing Christian democracy to the region. The reality is simply that nothing has changed in the battle of ideas between the Arabs and the Christians during the past 2,000 years, and nothing will change. We could end the controversy by pulling our troops out entirely and telling the natives that we choose a different solution to the continued unrest: the next time the U.S. is attacked by an Islamic fundamentalist group, we will incinerate Mecca. Period. But, we won't do this, because we're so friggin' Christian and democratic. As for Iran, the same thing is applicable. Build all of the nuclear weapons you want -- build all the missiles you want. But, we have targeted all of your major cities and if you attempt to use a nuclear weapon we will assure your complete annihilation. Same thing for North Korea. Mutually Assured Destruction worked against the Soviets and continues to work against the Chinese, even though many fanatics would probably want to act against us. Because, in the end, the survival instinct is greater among the most powerful in a society. That is, you will never see a leader of Islam strapping a bomb to his chest -- only the ignorant masses will do this. So, if we make it clear to the powerful in the region that what they are attempting to achieve is useless, because we will absolutely destroy them if they actually try to attack us, then they won't. Of course, there are no guarantees. But, what we are currently doing is achieving absolutely nothing except the unnecessary deaths of U.S. troops, and our continued deployment in Iraq merely keeps us unable to flex any muscle anywhere else in the world. We could also, pull out of all the Iraqi cities and fortify bases around the oil fields and pipelines and then tell the people there that they can figure out their own problems, but we're keeping the oil. But, we won't do this either, because we're too Christian and democratic. Which is good for those who make big money on oil and engineering contracts. But, in the long run, it's not good for the U.S. People. The average person is just too "ignernt" to "get it." We think we can change the world without the use of the threat of extermination. History demonstrates unequivocally, that no foreign power will yield to anything less than the certain knowledge that failure to submit will result in total destruction. The "kinder and gentler", "compassionate conservative," "diplomatic" solution does not work and never has. Our success against the Soviets did not occur because of our diplomacy. It succeeded because we guaranteed their defeat and thereby ensured a stalemate. We should be spending our money putting military forces in orbit and on the moon and other planets, so we can drop bombs on our enemies from outside the atmosphere. I wonder how many people are aware that one well-placed relatively small asteroid, dropped on a city will have the same affect as a 100 Megaton nuclear device, but without any radioactive fallout? We are so incredibly dumb.
He would say something like this "the people of my region are divided by sect. And have been for many years. It is impossible to have them live together in harmony. That is why I was so very ruthless. It is the only way for some semblance of peace" I`m sad to say it as a former Marine. I`m a patriot..but this is not a patriots war. It is foolish. We do not have the staying power to accomplish what W wants. Frankly I think he knew it all along...