Decision Time In Iraq
The time has come for the United States to make tough choices and make crucial decisions concerning the outcome of the Iraq quagmire. We have been trying for years now to make sustainable progress and it has yet to come close to any fruition.
There has been relatively little good news coming out of Iraq in the last couple of years. This is not because the media is biased when it comes to news. It is just that there is so much bad there that it is hard to justify the relatively small amount of good news.
The Iraq issue is not about winning or losing. It is not about staying the course or cutting our losses and retreating. It about making sustainable progress. This is what it appears we are currently unable to do. We all know that this is not being done on purpose. If the Bush administration was able to reasonably accomplish this, they would do it. The problem lies with the American peoples ability to stomach the harsh reality of the whole war. There are changes that could be enacted that would allow us to make progress there, but it could be political suicide to the politicians that choose this route.
We essentially have two real choices. We can either increase troop levels to about 300,000 soldiers or we can withdrawal to the Iraq border and control who comes and goes and what is allowed in Iraq. These appear to be the best approaches.
Increasing the troop level would allow us to train more Iraqi soldiers and police. This would allow them to be capable of self governing their country much faster. It would also give us the necessary manpower to adequately suppress the violent factions presently operating in Iraq. This would more than likely lead to more U.S. casualties but by the end of the conflict, the overall death toll might be lower than if we just continue to follow our current course of action.
The second course of action would allow the Iraq government to manage and govern itself. We would be able to focus on the border and prevent terrorists and munitions from making their way into the country. This would eventually deplete the supplies of bomb making materials that are used to create IED's and other forms of terrorist strikes. After a period of time there would be less bloodshed because of this. Once the different factions in Iraq have no more bombs to blow each other up with, maybe they will be more willing to take diplomatic approaches towards forming a more agreeable government. In the meantime our troops would be less visible in Iraq and we would be seeing fewer news articles describing how our soldiers are being killed in Iraq. It would essentially be a way to control the country as a whole without leaving our troops in harms way. This could also help reduce the number of civilian casualties. Currently there are about 100 civilian deaths reported every day in Iraq.
In the end, no matter how you look at it, it is time for a serious change of direction in Iraq. The longer we wait to do this, the more suffering there will be.
There has been relatively little good news coming out of Iraq in the last couple of years. This is not because the media is biased when it comes to news. It is just that there is so much bad there that it is hard to justify the relatively small amount of good news.
The Iraq issue is not about winning or losing. It is not about staying the course or cutting our losses and retreating. It about making sustainable progress. This is what it appears we are currently unable to do. We all know that this is not being done on purpose. If the Bush administration was able to reasonably accomplish this, they would do it. The problem lies with the American peoples ability to stomach the harsh reality of the whole war. There are changes that could be enacted that would allow us to make progress there, but it could be political suicide to the politicians that choose this route.
We essentially have two real choices. We can either increase troop levels to about 300,000 soldiers or we can withdrawal to the Iraq border and control who comes and goes and what is allowed in Iraq. These appear to be the best approaches.
Increasing the troop level would allow us to train more Iraqi soldiers and police. This would allow them to be capable of self governing their country much faster. It would also give us the necessary manpower to adequately suppress the violent factions presently operating in Iraq. This would more than likely lead to more U.S. casualties but by the end of the conflict, the overall death toll might be lower than if we just continue to follow our current course of action.
The second course of action would allow the Iraq government to manage and govern itself. We would be able to focus on the border and prevent terrorists and munitions from making their way into the country. This would eventually deplete the supplies of bomb making materials that are used to create IED's and other forms of terrorist strikes. After a period of time there would be less bloodshed because of this. Once the different factions in Iraq have no more bombs to blow each other up with, maybe they will be more willing to take diplomatic approaches towards forming a more agreeable government. In the meantime our troops would be less visible in Iraq and we would be seeing fewer news articles describing how our soldiers are being killed in Iraq. It would essentially be a way to control the country as a whole without leaving our troops in harms way. This could also help reduce the number of civilian casualties. Currently there are about 100 civilian deaths reported every day in Iraq.
In the end, no matter how you look at it, it is time for a serious change of direction in Iraq. The longer we wait to do this, the more suffering there will be.
posted by Superman @ 7/30/2006 12:06:00 PM
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