Quote Originally Posted by Spino View Post
We were in it for the long haul after WW2 when we beat and occupied the largest, most powerful fascist regimes in history. True, Germany & Japan were far more technologically advanced and 'civilized' than Iraq but in the end things worked out for the best. Had we not invested in the occupation and rebuilding of those nations' governments and infrastructures they could very well have been exploited by other nations or had their population turn to radical ideologies out of desperation. The world would not be a better place if all of Germany and Japan had fallen to Communism.
Yes but this dosent adequately take into account why we were there. Those countries declared on us and were defeated, we declared on Iraq with no good reason.

Iraq is a case of 'we're damned if we do, damned if we don't'. If we pull out right now (or within one year's time) without some kind of guarantee that ensures that Iraq's security forces can provide some semblance of stability the entire region will turn into a free-for-all and is guaranteed to go up in flames.
I am pretty sure you and i have discussed this before, I personally dont care if they are floating down the tigris with crumbled up mcdonalds wrappers, face covered in grease singing "I'd like to buy the world a coke". We made a mistake going in, and everyday we are there we spend more treasure and blood to correct the mess we made. You and i disagree, Im all for letting it go down the crapper, that dosent make me right but 5 years in Im done.

Iraq is NOT Korea... or Vietnam for that matter. Korea was a question of one race of people divided sharply over ideological lines and an infamous line of latitude. Iraq is a question of race, ethnicity, religion, ideology and regional/tribal squabbles. You cannot simply divide up Iraq into two neat parts and save one while isolating and discarding the other.
It was at the time of invasion, but Korea has become an expense for the U.S. that should be borne by the south. Essentially the way I see this is we are entering tnto the long term negotiated base leases we did in korea to provide deterence for the region. It worked for the south koreans but economicially we arent in the position to go down this road again.