It's a pretty big deal if you consider that Bush picked the wrong member of the "axis of evil" to attack. Now both N. Korea and Iran have the WMD that we went to Iraq to look for. And we can do nothing about it because our troops are tied up in Iraq. The real legacy of the Iraq war is the nuclear Iran and N. Korea. We just don't know yet how serious a problem they will present.
"The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating," panel co-chairman Lee Hamilton said. "The current approach is not working, and the ability of the United States to influence events is diminishing," The anxiously awaited recommendations of the 10-member bipartisan panel suggest major shifts from President George W. Bush's policies: _A call to move U.S. troops out of Iraq in large numbers by early 2008 and let Iraq forces take over combat roles. American soldiers would shift their primary mission from combat to support and training of Iraqi forces. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/16179944.htm
It's interesting that no one has figured out what game this administration is playing. Log onto any news website and what do you see? that's right, a growing "chorus of advice" to the president "advising" him to withdraw. Bushs mind and intellect is an exact twin of the R*ghead mentality that Rearden keeps on posting about. For Bush "honor" and "face" is more important that anything else. Bush needs this "chorus of advice" to "save face" and his "honor". The end game of this "chorus of advise" is a quiet exit from the war theatres under the pretext of Bush being a "wise" president and "heeding" the "advise" of his "advisors". After the colossal failure by the neokkklowns to implement their fantasy foreign policy goals, Cheney the Dick no longer wields any power in the WH. The Dick would have been the only one who could have effectively "neutralized" this "chorus of advise".
Double down, use all available margin and ride this baby up... Pentagon wants another $100bn for Iraq: http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/12/20/war.funds.ap/
"The actual total of dead American military personnel is now over 15,000 and also rising, and the number of seriously wounded is now ca 27,000." http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a2598.htm
We can't leave Iraq now. If we do, we give Iraq to Iran. We funded Saddam Hussein for 7 years to fight Iran because of the Ayatolla Khomeni (remember the 52 hostages in Iran under Jimmy Carter?). That's why the Gulf War 15 years ago meant we fought against some of our own weapons and old trucks. 12 years later, after imposing severe trade sanctions, we go in to take our ally out... the one that did for us what we asked him and paid him to do, fight a 7 year war vs religious fanatics. Our loyal buddy and former ally Saddam. Only this time around, he's evil personified. He mistreats his people ... nevermind that there are quite a few dictators who still mistreat their people worldwide, and no one bats an eye, starting with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait's treatment of women, their inhumane hand chopping punishments, etc. Same Saddam, different US President, opposite views. Interesting. Now we stare at giving Saddam's entire nation to the nation we hated, and paid HIM to fight. We leave now, Iraq will belong to Iran, a religious freakdom. We can't even keep that mad Iran puppet Shiite religious leader from controlling a huge chunk of the Iraqi population already since Saddam's fall. Now, Iran has WMD, and very soon Iraq. Iran must be sooo happy. All this at a cost of 350 billion US tax dollars (SO FAR) and over 3000 US lives... to give Iraq, our former buddy, to our enemies, Iran, who took US hostages to the shame of Jimmy Carter's entire Presidency. Why did we fight Iraq? Because they had WMD... something that George Bush KNEW they didn't have because he had both the CIA report, as well as the UN Inspector General's report. BEFORE he told the US people that Iraq had WMD. He told us we had to take Saddam out for those WMD he already knew they didn't possess. He lied to our faces, and to this day there are people who support him. I can't fathom that either. In the meantime, the guy who bombed the World Trade Center, Osama Bin Laden, was allowed to escape when we got him cornered in Tora Bora, Afghanistan. If George Bush isn't the stupidest President in history, I can't fathom who is. It's not that he didn't do anything, it's that everything he did was wrong. Everything. HOW did anyone elect him to a 2nd term when ALL of this was known before the end of his 1st term? I will never ever understand this. HOW do we pull out of Iraq without compounding the mess we made, by allowing Iran to move in to Iraq? They very nearly are moving in, they control the Shiite muslims, or a large, and ever growing segment of them. Saddam was necessary (which George Sr. understood, which is why he did not take him out when we were at the gates of Bagdad). He was Sunni muslim... a minority in his own nation... with a Shiite neighbor, Iran... who has religious influences in Iraq. DOH! Lets replace him with SHIITES, because they are a majority in Iraq and we want democracy for a nation that doesn't have the vaguest notion what that means or how to achieve it. Can we afford Iran to own both Iran and Iraq? US statesmen have tried to prevent that since the Shah of Iran was overthrown in Reagan's time. It has cost us a lot of tax dollars to prevent. It took a US President to give Iran success where 7 years of devastating war and frustration could not. Can our nation sink lower or get dumber than under this President? I don't think it's possible.
Take a look around on this board... you will see the slimy klansmen crawling around. Due to inbreeding their genetic pools have become shallow and have reduced their analytical abilities. Scumbag politicians infesting the repugniklans take advantage of these mental midgets.