President Bush has only two possible options for the US involvement in Iraq. The first option is that he brings our troop home as soon as the violence stops in Iraq or drops to a sufficiently low level to not be a major problem. The second option is that he intends to stay in Iraq forever. These are very simple options. Which of these two options do you believe is the Bush plan for Iraq? Make your choice before reading on.
For me, I want to believe the president when he says that he will bring the troops home when the mission is done. I assume that the mission will be done when the violence stops or drops to a sufficiently low level to not be a major problem, when the Iraqi constitution is in place and the Iraqi police are trained. If the insurgents want us to leave Iraq soon, all they have to do is stop the violence. Since the insurgents have not stopped the violence, we can conclude they want the US to stay in Iraq.
If the insurgents want us to stay in Iraq, the question becomes...why? There are two possibilities: one real, one unreal. The unreal possibility is that they want to fight us. Now if you wanted to fight the United States, would you choose to fight where the US has most of its troops, tanks, helicopters, jets and big guns? Every commander in his right mind would choose to fight only where their forces have an advantage.
The real possibility is that the insurgents want to make us look weak. President Bush and his intelligence team are not able to figure this out so they are staying in Iraq just like the insurgents want. By keeping us in Iraq, the insurgents get what they want by continually showing that we can not control the situation. The insurgents don't have to win. They win by showing everyone that we cannot control the situation. President Bush plays into their hands by keeping the troops in a situation that cannot be controlled.
Given that the insurgents want us to stay in Iraq, the best solution for President Bush is to leave Iraq and foil the insurgents' plan.
On the other hand ----------
I imagine that some of you think that Bush plans to stay in Iraq forever. Maybe the insurgents think the same thing. If they do, this would be a good explanation for why they don't simply stop the violence to give President Bush his moment to withdraw the troops. If the insurgents believe the US intends to stay forever, they will probably fight to the death to drive us out. Image if Mexico invaded Texas. Texas has almost the same population as Iraq. Don't you just image that 60 percent of the Texans would fight to the death to throw Mexico out of Texas. Would the Texans stop fighting in two years? Five years? Would the Texans ever stop fighting?
I challenge the president to carefully think through the options. If President Bush plans for us to stay in Iraq forever, the people of the US must be prepared to have troops fighting insurgents and dying in Iraq forever.
OK, Mr. President, do you intend to stay in Iraq forever?