"NOYB" wrote in message
om...
Mark,
I think the absolute worst thing that could happen would be if a guy like
Dean won the Presidency and pulled us out of Iraq too soon. The
repercussions would be awful. "Rack up enough US casualties, get the
media
to play along, and we can control the infidels".

snip
NYOB,

There were a chorus of voices saying that we should stay the course in
Vietnam right up until the end.

While this may be a bit early to ask about Iraq, What sorts of signs would
you accept that things are not working out - at what point would you make
the call that it *is* time to cut and run?

Much of the discussion has been focused on what we *want* for Iraq - a
western style democracy, oil, a base in the middle east, a positive
political poster child for the neocon ideals, security. It is relatively
easy to frame and measure success against the goals.

The shape of the answer to my question above goes a long way towards
deciding if current actions are taking the USA towards failure.

Before you rush to answer this, do you think that the Soviets left
Afghanistan too early or too late? In perfect 20/20 hindsight, what should
have been the warning signs? Considering the eventual cost of the occupation
to the Soviet government (complete collapse of the government) this does
seem like a relevant question in this closely related situation.

Mark Browne