"John H." wrote in message
...
On Tue, 29 Nov 2005 15:26:13 GMT, "NOYB" wrote:


"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...

"NOYB" wrote in message
k.net...

"thunder" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 21:55:04 +0000, NOYB wrote:


I guess he got spanked by Uncle Ted, eh?

Maybe, but the debate has been engaged. You are also overlooking
something. The neo-con plan to have Iraq as a permanent base for
further
aggressions, is looking more, and more, unlikely. So sorry, but Syria
and
Iran are not on today's agenda.

No it's not. The scope and size of any withdrawal has never been
announced by anyone holding the authority to decide such things.



I see in the news today that the Iraqi army is being accused of abuses
which are reminiscent of Saddam's regime. If this continues, it could
lead
to a parallel conflict which your president was too stupid to predict.

Any abuses by the current regime towards fellow Iraqis is irrelevant to
the
ultimate plan of installing a US-friendly government that is willing to
allow US troops to establish bases around the perimeter of Iraq's borders.



That would make us even more unwelcome than before. The decision to leave
may not be a nice, neat one made in a conference room.

I don't think we'll ever leave.


I understand Lieberman had an article in the Wall Street Journal today. I
don't
subscribe, but if you do I'd sure like to see the article.


"In the face of terrorist threats and escalating violence, eight million
Iraqis voted for their interim national government in January, almost 10
million participated in the referendum on their new constitution in October,
and even more than that are expected to vote in the elections for a
full-term government on Dec. 15. Every time the 27 million Iraqis have been
given the chance since Saddam was overthrown, they have voted for
self-government and hope over the violence and hatred the 10,000 terrorists
offer them. Most encouraging has been the behavior of the Sunni community,
which, when disappointed by the proposed constitution, registered to vote
and went to the polls instead of taking up arms and going to the streets.
Last week, I was thrilled to see a vigorous political campaign, and a large
number of independent television stations and newspapers covering it.

None of these remarkable changes would have happened without the coalition
forces led by the U.S. And, I am convinced, almost all of the progress in
Iraq and throughout the Middle East will be lost if those forces are
withdrawn faster than the Iraqi military is capable of securing the country.

The leaders of Iraq's duly elected government understand this, and they
asked me for reassurance about America's commitment. The question is whether
the American people and enough of their representatives in Congress from
both parties understand this. I am disappointed by Democrats who are more
focused on how President Bush took America into the war in Iraq almost three
years ago, and by Republicans who are more worried about whether the war
will bring them down in next November's elections, than they are concerned
about how we continue the progress in Iraq in the months and years ahead.

Here is an ironic finding I brought back from Iraq. While U.S. public
opinion polls show serious declines in support for the war and increasing
pessimism about how it will end, polls conducted by Iraqis for Iraqi
universities show increasing optimism. Two-thirds say they are better off
than they were under Saddam, and a resounding 82% are confident their lives
in Iraq will be better a year from now than they are today. What a colossal
mistake it would be for America's bipartisan political leadership to choose
this moment in history to lose its will and, in the famous phrase, to seize
defeat from the jaws of the coming victory.

The leaders of America's military and diplomatic forces in Iraq, Gen. George
Casey and Ambassador Zal Khalilzad, have a clear and compelling vision of
our mission there. It is to create the environment in which Iraqi democracy,
security and prosperity can take hold and the Iraqis themselves can defend
their political progress against those 10,000 terrorists who would take it
from them."



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OK, liberals. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.