Petraeus: Partial Iraq troop exit possible in ’08

[leatherneck]

That's a real concern for me also. My heart wishes we would just pack up and leave, but my head says that would be a very bad decision.

If we pull out of Iraq, it will cease to exist within a year. This will either further destabilize the Mideast, give much more power to the Mullahs, create even more anti-Americanism, or all of the above.

 

 

Kind of my way of thinking also HHSDad. We can complain, criticize, and take political jabs forever about all the bad decisions that may have been made in the past, but not one bit of it is going to help resolve the situation. If nothing else, this country coming together and stating that regardless of our differences as to the decision to invade, we are united to see the job get finished will actually help the situation get resolved quicker and better.

[H]

What do you think happens in Iraq if we withdraw suddenly? Will it embolden Iran to invade Iraq? Will the terrorists develop a safe haven to conduct their operations? Will it enable the terrorists to use the Iraqi oil to fund their operations? Will there be civil war with even more civilian deaths than the likes of what we've seen?

 

I know what you feel about our decision to invade Iraq. But I'd like to know how you think things will develop if we leave now. I think it will be catastrophic and within 5 years we'll be back over there fighting an even bigger mess and we'll get even less cooperation from the Iraqi people than we are getting now since we will have pulled out on them in the past.

 

If we were to withdraw suddenly, Iraq's security situation would deteriorate quickly. I'm not advocating that we leave suddenly, but that we begin to re-task our military presence there and begin to draw it down. The Iraqis have to see that we're not going to stay there to hold their country together forever. They're emboldened to screw around indefinitely because we have taken the stance that we won't leave until they get their country in order. I think we need to tell them they'd better get their country in order on our schedule or we're leaving. And I think we should follow the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group. The ISG has as much foreign policy intellectual horsepower as anyone (certainly more than the Bush Administration). Iraq is such a mess that it undoubtedly defies a perfect, blemish-free solution. The ISG report is no exception to this rule--it is not perfect and its hoped-for outcomes are not guaranteed. I just think it represents the best hope available for salvaging the mess.

[SPORTS MAN]

If we were to withdraw suddenly, Iraq's security situation would deteriorate quickly. I'm not advocating that we leave suddenly, but that we begin to re-task our military presence there and begin to draw it down. The Iraqis have to see that we're not going to stay there to hold their country together forever. They're emboldened to screw around indefinitely because we have taken the stance that we won't leave until they get their country in order. I think we need to tell them they'd better get their country in order on our schedule or we're leaving. And I think we should follow the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group. The ISG has as much foreign policy intellectual horsepower as anyone (certainly more than the Bush Administration). Iraq is such a mess that it undoubtedly defies a perfect, blemish-free solution. The ISG report is no exception to this rule--it is not perfect and its hoped-for outcomes are not guaranteed. I just think it represents the best hope available for salvaging the mess.

I think you would all be suprised at how much of the country we already have turned over. Most of the city of Ar Ramadi now belongs to the Iraqi National Guard or Iraqi Police. There on every corner. Down south where the British control is also being turned over to the ING and IPs very quickly. It will take time and we must support these brave Iraqi nationals to assure they are not comprimised. Its an entirely different mind set here amongst their citizens and that will slow things down. But for the most part they have decided the enemy is the terrorist and not the Americans.