On Tue, 08 Aug 2006 15:50:27 +0000, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:


Nobody believes that it wasn't a good thing to rid of the world of Saddam
- what ever the excuse used.

True, but at what cost? You can't overlook the cost. We have shed more
American blood ridding Iraq of Saddam, than we spent ridding this
country of the British. IMO, Iraq, nor Saddam, is worth the 2600 young
American lives.


However, I don't believe it's time to cut and run. If we can change the
paradigm, we will make progress. It's changing the paradigm that will be
the problem.

Every time I think about the current situation, I am reminded of the first
Lebanonese civil war in which kidnapping became a sport in which civilians
of all sort of Western nations were kidnapped and held for various
reasons. Two Russian diplomats were kidnapped and the KGB merely walked
up to the leader of that particular unit, explained that they knew who
they were married to, where their kids were, the names and locations of
the kidnappers extended families and that they had exactly 12 hours to
return the Russians back to the embassy.

They were back less than 3.

And I have an absolutely unimpeachable source on that.

The point of that is unless we are willing to do the same, we will be
there forever.

Apples and oranges. The Russians only wanted the return of their
diplomats. We want a stable and democratic Iraq. We have to win the
"hearts and minds". Brutality won't accomplish that, and we have a good
example as we speak. Look at Lebanon. The Israelis have been quite
accomplished in their bombings, but the situation isn't any better for
them, and they are not trying to stabilize Lebanon, only to pacify it.



What the answer is, I don't know.