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I abhor political debates because they start and end nowhere, but I just wanted to get people's opinions on the big subject of discussion around the country, with the "anniversary" of 3 years in Iraq, and peoples thoughts on the war.

Although I think there is still a big split in people's current thoughts on the continued execution of the war, I just wanted to know if there are still people out there that believe the U.S. was absolutely right in going to war.

My original viewpoint (way back in March 2003) of it all was that we should go to war, but not when we did. I think we needed to build more global support for the issue and gather much more solid evidence of Saddam's WMD programs than we did. It just seemed to rushed, and in retrospect that seems to have proven true.

Bush and his administration has made a ton of mistakes up to this point, and no point rehashing them right now. But I htink the biggest mistake he is making is not beginning to adopt a timetable for pulling out of Iraq. I'm not one of those people that believes in 9 months, the U.S. can be gone and all things hunkydory. But I do believe that even if it's a 2 or 3-year timetable, we should be making plans at least about how we want to leave the country. Bush's refusal to do this is a really strong indicator that they are flying blind with this thing.

Ultimately, I think in historical retrospect, this will be another case (Vietnam is perhaps another) of how to poorly execute a war and foreign policy. It would seem that in the past 50 years, the U.S. has forgotten how to fight.

Thoughts?

for the record, i'm for it. i was when i was in the Marines then, and still am now that i'm out. the one thing i will add in that is that i believe we should be bringing people back a little faster than we are. Iraq needs to learn that we aren't always going to be there to support them, and they need to begin stepping up at a faster rate. as far as the efforts to bring them back now and a timetable to pull out...we don't know what is being said behind closed doors. i have all the faith in the world in George Bush, and i think it is easy to judge when you aren't in the position he is in. he may not come across as the brightest bulb in the pack, but it's not just him making every decision on how this country and the military is run. there is no absolute power in our country, and that's the way it was set up from day one when our forefathers fled England and all the other countries to set up shop here.

the fact is, we can't just get up and walk out. it took us how many years to perfect our government, without help?? over 200, and we are still working at it every day. we can't expect to have theirs set up in just a couple. i think now that we are pacing ourselves in order to get to the point we won't have to go back years down the road and repeat what we have. there is no way anyone will ever convince me Saddam needed to be in power any longer. most people forget the tricks he was pulling before the war about not allowing inspectors in and refusing to hand over proof he didn't have nukes. why should we wait any longer on the chance that he may sell his hidden stock- if he has it- to someone that would commit a crime against u as heinous as Osama did?? without them, he had our country in terror...imagine if he could get just one what would happen.

was the war a perfect score??? no. things could have been handled better, but we were also in a position we have never been in. we were weak, and fearing an even worse possible outcome. i think that Bush going against the flow- who also was fairly tainted, ala the oil for food program- and stepping up to say, "we mean business, and no matter how vulnerable we are, we aren't going to take sh!t from anybody" was the right stand to take.

i was thinking about this very subject tonight on my way home from work. the day the planes hit the towers, i was stationed in Kansas City. over the next few MONTHS, we spent extra hours daily- even instituting shifts to cover the phones 24 hours a day- just taking calls from people wanting to put their names on the list to go anywhere overseas and kick some a$$...regardless of whose it was and where. i personally took calls from people saying if i put them at the top, and they would bring their own guns and ammo. but, i believe, the problem today is the nation has forgotten the fury it once had. the media has over-hyped everything that is done today, and frankly burned people out on what is going on over there. every station you turn to talks about the negatives and how many of our troops have died today. after changing 5 stations, your brain begins to think "wow, we've lost 20 people just today," when in reality it was 4. i hate that troops- some close friends of mine- won't be back to see their kids birthdays, or spend Christmas with loved ones. they are out fighting for their lives, and the lives of all of us...for one cause...FREEDOM. they fight for the right for us to live with it without fear. i've handed flags to wives and mothers, and i've seen the pain war and the deaths of service members causes to families. i don't like it, but today, it's reality. we signed the contract and knew the risks. nothing come for free in this world, and some pay the price. the question i ask though is, are you grateful for the present that has been given to you on their expense?? we are lucky we live in a country you can speak your mind, and live another day without persecution from the government. some people don't have that, and the way i see it is we are trying to give some people that right, while protecting ourselves and our own confidence.

you can crucify me if you like, but that's how i feel.

I don't want to sound like one of "those" people, but who's freedom are our soldiers dying for? It's definitely not American freedom. It's Iraqi freedom. And there's nothing wrong with that, and whatever you need to tell yourself to keep you alive over there is okay.

In hindsight, it seems very obvious that Saddam Hussein was in no way a direct threat to American freedoms anytime in the near future.

I'm sure things are going on behind closed doors, but why keep the American people in the dark? The American people want to know when their sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers are coming home.

It's not a threat to national security if they give us a very rough timetable to how we are planning on handing complete control over to the Iraqis.

I will post a more detail;ed post on this later as I am about to go to school to take a mid term.

But I feel I must comment on the "timetable for withdrawal".

I strongly believe that we d have a plan for withdrawal but the President has made it clear that he does not want to make this public because he feels it will give insurgents/foriegn fighters an advantage. Just because the President has not made public his war strategy does not at all mean he has one. If that is the case then FDR & Churchill had no plan for WWII.

Remember the turnver of soverignty? They publicaly said it was going to be X date but they always intended it it to be Y date.

If you read between the lines and read Pentagon briefings and Brittish military briefings our troops will start to come home 08-09.