Bremer: We'll Leave Iraq if Asked, Fox News - May 14

Powell Says Troops Would Leave Iraq if New Leaders Asked, washingtonpost.com May 14
... if the incoming Iraqi interim government ordered the departure of foreign troops after July 1, they would pack up without protest ...

Most polls, even before the Prison Scandal, showed 80% and more of Iraqis didn't want foreign troops there ...

So why did we waste the $300 billions?

-- Modified on 5/16/2004 1:55:38 AM

I was thinking it was a good excuse for an easy way out without any embarassment. It could work either way, whether we pull out or stay.

  "Early Withdrawl"  Exactly what the Bush admin said it absolutely would not do.  Now Wolfowitz is asking for another $75 billion.  Even the bafoons in the White House are starting to realize how much of a strategic blunder this war was, which is why you don't have WMD Bush, Cheney, Rice and the rest of the warmongering crowd immediately coming out and repeating their tired old mantra "we will not be detered, we will stay the course until there is a free and democratic Iraq."  The fact that Powell and Bremer have both made thsoe statements shows that at this point they are willing to accept some kind of stability at best.  
  So much for the Bush and the Neocon pipe dream!!

As I have written, we should have focused intensely on finishing in Afganistan.  Taking care of Saddam should have been saved for another day.  The sanctions, eventhough circumvented in some cases, had essentially defanged Saddam, he simply was not the threat that he was made out to be, that appears to be obvious now.
    But if we withdraw from Iraq without at least stabalizing the country, after starting this war in Iraq, every terrorist or wannabe terrorist on the planet will be chomping at the bit to come after us on our own soil.  We then will have no choice to to wage a fight, and it will more than likely be a fight that will see the basic liberties that we enjoy here compromised as we seek out and destroy those who will be here to harm us.        
    Reagan withdrew from Beirut after the bombing of a marine barracks and history has shown that to be a mistake, it only emboldened the type of people who were responsible for the bombing.  Clinton withdrew many troops from Saudi Arabia after the bombing of the Cobalt Towers complex and history has shown that to be a mistake.
    I am not a war monger, but I do feel that we must choose our fights carefully, time them right, resource them properly and execute them with relentless determination.  And we should never turn valuable resources away from a fight after we have been bloodied on our own soil, as we have done in Afganistan - we are using valuable military and CIA resources in Iraq now that can be better ultilizd in Afganistan.  
    Bin Laden and he key captains are moving between Afganistan and the tribal regions of Pakistan, to find them and cut off their heads would deal a major blow to people who admire tham and cannot wait to assist them.  The blow would be one which people who seek to harm us will never recover from if we follow it up with a relentless pursuit on other terrorist leaders that have harmed us.  
    The terrorist leader who was responsible for the marine barracks bombing in Beirut is still alive and from a report dated about two years ago, living in Beirut, he has survived the Reagan admistration and that of Bush I, Clinton and so far Bush II - he should not be allowed to survive much longer, but to get him will require focused resource dedication.

... isn't a whole lot of fun and doesn't always protect against "accidents".

It appears, ironically, that having a brutal dictator like Saddam in Iraq may have been the ONLY way to keep it stable.