I had an extended discussion with a poster here (who shall remain nameless) over my contention that the sooner we leave Iraq, the better for all parties.
My position was categorized by this poster as "cut and run." This poster is of the "stay the course" crowd.
This is not an uncommon contention (fairly rare here) by those on the right and by the Bidens, Bayhs and Hillary Clintons of our own party.
The Democratic side of this argument revolves around the ability to paint Bush and company as dangerous incompetents when it comes to the execution of the war.
Okay, fine.
But by, on the one hand, maintaining that we must "stay the course," and on the other, attacking Bush and company as incompetents, those in our own party who decry the "get out now" crowd are, in effect, condemning us to three more years of death, destruction and a complete waste of resources in Iraq.
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So if you are of the mind that we need to stay in Iraq and that the Bushies are incompetent, what do you say to the folks who have to go off and fight and die over the next three years in this disaster?
"Just hang on. We'll (maybe) elect someone more competent in 2008."
Unlike those Democrats arguing that we must stay, I don't give a damn who takes the blame for this disaster as long as it ends sooner rather than later.
Iraq will devolve into civil war whether we stay 10 weeks, 10 months or 10 years. That's a lesson we should have learned in Vietnam.
So making the argument to stay primarily for political gain seems to me to be one of the most cynical views of life one could have.
People are dying in this tragedy that has no discernible positive outcome, either now or in the future,
So we can all for blame Bush. And we should. But that doesn't stop the killing and the incredible waste of resources so it's not an answer.
So I would like it if those who are arguing for "stay the course" from our side would at least understand that those of us calling for withdrawal are dealing from experience. We've seen this before and know the ending. And it ain't good.
Frankly, at this point, I don't care who's to blame.
Stop the bleeding...