so by that reasoning, we should build heavily fortified bases around the oil drills, then leave the rest of iraq to destroy itself?

Rory is practical and emotionless to the extreme (i mean it as a compliment, its something i admire about your consistent political stance)

I have an open mind on Iraq, i was vehemently opposed to the war, for all kinds of reasons and i was basically right on my reasoning.... but i think once america and the uk went into iraq we had a responsibility to fix the mess we made, my position was closer to McCains than Obamas on Iraq...

what i can't decide is

1) how winnable is iraq, can we really stabilise the country from its current situation with troops and rebuilding ?

2) by having the troops there are we actually making the situation worse ?

3) if it is winnable... is it affordable ? can we keep enough troops in iraq and put enough money into rebuilding to make it successful

any answers appreciated, i have an open mind on the issue of staying or leaving being a good idea...