Think Progress

Three in Four Americans Support Bringing Troops Home From Iraq»

A new Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll conducted October 10-11 finds that nearly three in four Americans (73 percent) agree that U.S. troops should start to come home.

The Fox News poll asked Americans if they agreed or disagreed with this statement: “The United States has sacrificed enough for the people of Iraq, and now it is time that they take on most of the burden of their security in their country and let U.S. troops to start to come home.”

A strong majority of Americans of all ideological stripes agree with this statement — which is similar to the argument the Center for American Progress makes in the Strategic Redeployment plan released last September — that American troops have done their share, and it is time for Iraqis to take responsibility for their own affairs.

Brian Katulis




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77 Responses to “Three in Four Americans Support Bringing Troops Home From Iraq”

  1. Sharon Cox Says:

    Nothing new here…..Print’s to small….Change back please…


  2. Your+Conscience Says:

    Who is this 25% on the bottom of the bell curve? Seriously, these needs to suit up and head over to Iraq or they themselves are bloviating cowards.

    It’s time already… You need to die for your criminal chimp. If you don’t enlist because you have “other obligations” - You have no business here pushing your propaganda spam while cheering the deaths of others.

    Air Force
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    Minnesota National Guard
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    Navy
    http://www.navy.com/

    *FOR YOU BITCHES WHO LIE AND CLAIM YOU ALREADY HAVE SERVED OR YOU’RE TOO OLD, I GOT YOU COVERED TOO:

    Jobs with American Contractors in Iraq and surrounding countries Positions Currently (01-27-05) Available
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    The types of jobs available are shown on the left. But if your speciality is not on there, don’t worry, it is difficult to find a skill that is not being used in this operation.

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    BUH BYE!!!!!!!


  3. Zooey Says:

    “The United States has sacrificed enough for the people of Iraq, and now it is time that they take on most of the burden of their security in their country and let U.S. troops to start to come home.”

    I agree. We need to get out of Iraq — We shouldn’t have gone into Iraq!

    That’s a hell of a question, that is.

    We go in there and bomb the shit out of those people, for absolutely no reason, and cause a civil war — and now, they just need to let us go home, so they can get busy cleaning up our mess.

    That’s messed up.


  4. RealScientist Says:

    There isn’t enough room in Gitmo to house all these cut and run traitors. Bush will have no choice but to nuke the United States to take care of them all. Right, Steve? Right, ARA?


  5. Jake Says:

    Jonathan Schwartz at This Modern World NAILS it.

    George Bush on Darfur, May 8, 2006:

    About 200,000 people have died from conflict, famine and disease…

    Iraq:

    A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.

    George Bush on Darfur, May 8, 2006:

    …And more than 2 million were forced into camps inside and outside their country, unable to plant crops, or rebuild their villages…

    Iraq (July 16, 2004):

    Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have fled into Jordan to escape the chaos in their country…

    Iraq (February 2, 2005)

    Syrian officials say 700,000 Iraqis from various ethnic, religious and economic backgrounds have arrived since the U.S.-led invasion…

    Iraq (October 13, 2006):

    Thousands of Iraqis are fleeing the country every day in a “steady, silent exodus”…

    Up to 1.6 million Iraqis now live outside their country — mostly in Jordan and Syria, and in increasing numbers in Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, the Gulf states and Europe.

    George Bush on Darfur, May 8, 2006:

    I’ve called this massive violence an act of genocide, because no other word captures the extent of this tragedy.


  6. Jake Says:

    That Fox News question sounds a lot like they are sending it up the flagpole to see who salutes. It will be the phrase that W uses and the frame under which we will begin withdrawal.


  7. Mike Says:

    “The United States has sacrificed enough for the people of Iraq, and now it is time that they take on most of the burden of their security in their country and let U.S. troops to start to come home.”

    That’s one of the most leading poll questions I’ve seen, so I don’t take the result very seriously.

    Find me one that asks “Do you think the U.S. should begin to leave Iraq” and I’ll have some idea of how many Americans are really willing to get out now.



  8. Cheney/Voldemort 2008 Campaign HQ Says:

    Again with that 25%! So what’s the intersection between that 25% and the 24% of Americans who are bat-shit crazy(SM) enough to believe that the world was literally created in six days about six thousand years ago? Or those who are authoritarian follower enough, the 15% or so of Americans who actually approve of that barely-walking depravity known as Vice President Palatine? And then given the close correlation among these sets, isn’t it time for the rest of us to stand up and shout them down!?


  9. Pete_Bogs Says:

    what can I say? I guess we’re just a “cut and run” country…


  10. unbelievable Says:

    The intelligent thing to do would be to realize that we were right when we said that this was not a good thing to do, and then now ask us how to solve it. Too bad the neocons ego is so large that it gets in the way of reason.

    I think it explains why they have such tiny penises… And must use missiles and big guns to compensate.


  11. ForTruth Says:

    Is it just me, or did today’s thinkfast just disappear?


  12. wisedup Says:

    The bush gang will pull something ‘just before election’…as usual…


  13. Jules Says:

    think it explains why they have such tiny penises… And must use missiles and big guns to compensate.

    Comment by unbelievable — October 14, 2006 @ 12:02 pm

    Dang - and here I thought it was the vette that gave them away!!!


  14. Jules Says:

    I think wisedup is right. There is going to be an announcement of a redeployment - but they will not call it that. They will say the Iraqis are ready to stand on their own. This will take place just prior to the elections so they will not have to deal politically with the fall out of what happens to Iraq when we leave.


  15. s Says:

    That question is bogus. It assumes that we went in to Iraq for the Iraqi people instead of for Bush’s oil. We never went in for the Iraqi people. We have taken from them, given them nothing but ruined lives. The American people have sacrificed too much for GW Bush’s ego, oil, and lie…..not the Iraqi poeple……..that’s why we need to come home.


  16. WaltTheMan Says:

    #12 - ForTruth,
    I believe that today’s Think Fast never appeared.


  17. cynic Says:

    The United States has sacrificed enough for the people of Iraq…

    No wonder people hate us. The U.S. has mercilessly battered Iraq since 1991, wrecking their infrastructure, killing and maiming untold thousands, polluting with depleted uranium, ripping apart the social fabric of that sorry land. All to ‘help’ the Iraqi people, who now overwhelmingly support attacking American troops occupying their land.

    Just imagine if the roles were reversed. Out, now. The hell with the Pottery Barn.


  18. ForTruth Says:

    Thanks Walt, I think I had a brain fart.


  19. Zooey Says:

    Thanks Walt, I think I had a brain fart.
    Comment by ForTruth

    Why?

    Distracted?


  20. ForTruth Says:

    Yes Zooey, I am pretty damn distracted this am. Heh. :)


  21. Zooey Says:

    Heh. :-)


  22. El Tonno Says:

    #1: Nothing new here…..Print’s to small….Change back please…

    On Firefox, you can go to ‘View->Text Size->Increase’ to increase size. There is something similar in Internet Exploder but I can’t remember where exactly…


  23. cynic Says:

    Try View >>> Text Size. D’oh…


  24. Sharon Cox Says:

    El Tonno, Thank’s for the tip but have already done that….It’s not my computer, as usual it’s TP…….Last call T.P….going, going…….Gone..


  25. WaltTheMan Says:

    In IE, it’s View>TextSize>(Piick a size from Largest/Larger/Medium/Smaller/Smallest). The defaut is Medium.


  26. ForTruth Says:

    And on your Mac Safari browser, you can have 2 buttons on your toolbar to + - your text size,….. D’ho What’s a computer virus, D’oh!


  27. whiteyfresh Says:

    wow. 3 out 4 eh?so who are these 1 out of 4? are these the same people who recommend smoking, NOT chewing sugar free gum, NOT flossing,etc..?


  28. ForTruth Says:

    Yes the print changed on my browser too, I notice Friday. I had to adjust.


  29. cynic Says:

    I’d respond to your comment, but I can’t see it.


  30. whiteyfresh Says:

    CYNIC DO YOU THINK PEOPLE WILL THINK WE ARE YELLING IF WE USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS?


  31. ren Says:

    I like how the text issue, has been brought up like 100 times and TP keeps their mouth shut….mums the word at TP. Just like when they delete your posts, No Reason Here… Just felt like it…..


  32. Jules Says:

    wow. 3 out 4 eh?so who are these 1 out of 4? are these the same people who recommend smoking, NOT chewing sugar free gum, NOT flossing,etc..?

    Comment by whiteyfresh — October 14, 2006 @ 12:54 pm

    Especially with the question worded the way it is. If they had asked if we should sacrifice more american lives for Iraq they would have answered yes!!

    This is the remainig 25% of the country who has as large a bank account or as low an IQ as Bush!!!


  33. whiteyfresh Says:

    ooch. sorry to all. not trying to be ‘loud’. Just tired of squinting


  34. ren Says:

    By the way if you compare this font size to your microsoft turd or ‘word’ software its like a 3 or 4 size font…wtf..


  35. whiteyfresh Says:

    someone made a great comparison(forgot who) betweenDick Cheney and dentists:

    4 out of 5 dentists recommend chewing sugar free gum. that’s 20%. Dick Cheney’s approval rating is(I beleive still hovering)around 18%. THAT means that his approval rating is LESS than dentists who recommend chewing sugared gum(bad for the teeth, y’know). If Chimpy in Cheif keeps this up, we might be lookin at these kind of numbers soon.


  36. ren Says:

    The other thing is the time delay on the posts,,,,what are all the posts going through “Microsoft Swear Word 2.0″ software? Did you know that you can communicate with the Rovers on Mars faster than your post showing up at TP…. Maybe we should try the bold instead of all caps, what do you think?


  37. Qdog Says:

    The right wing nutjobs will not serve. They voted a man in office who’s dad got him out of service in Vietnam. As a matter of fact I don’t think any of them up top have served but they have no problem keeping people in that ses pool of death over in Iraq. They say if we leave it will be chaos and a civil. I’m like WTF is it now?!?!?!


  38. whiteyfresh Says:

    bold does make the words “pop”more..


  39. whiteyfresh Says:

    anyone else going to a MoveOn ‘Iraq for Sale’ veiwing today? After the film, we’re gonna call voters in Santorum’s district to find out what kinds of issues really are important to them..


  40. Zooey Says:

    Unless TP wants the subject of the comments on every thread to be font size, they probably ought to get on it.

    I’m telling you guys, progressive bifocals are great…


  41. ren Says:

    #41 yo Zoe, I tell ya, walking around the house looking like Mr. Magoo isn’t fun…Why should everyone have to go out and get freaking glasses and or adjust their font sizes and/or screen sizes… Personally I just want to know why they changed more than anything, what’s the point. And the Mars posting times concern me even more actually…


  42. Joe Sixpack Says:

    I agree about the FONT size on the posts. TP needs to get its act together. The “plus” signs and the URI crap is more than irritating enough.


  43. ren Says:

    What is the origin of the”+” sign, between the names…Jay Randall said that he is buisy fight them from getting in his name, what’s that all about?


  44. ren Says:

    Currently, the 10-member commission — headed by former secretary of state for President George H.W. Bush, James Baker — is considering two option papers, “Stability First” and “Redeploy and Contain,” both of which rule out any prospect of making Iraq a stable democracy in the near term.

    Instead, the commission is headed toward presenting President Bush with two clear policy choices that contradict his rhetoric of establishing democracy in Iraq. The more palatable of the two choices for the White House, “Stability First,” argues that the military should focus on stabilizing Baghdad while the American Embassy should work toward political accommodation with insurgents. The goal of nurturing a democracy in Iraq is dropped.

    The bipartisanship, however, is something of a dodge; as the Sun observes, “[b]ecause of the politically explosive topic of the Baker commission, the panel has agreed not to release its findings until after the November 7 elections” That would, of course, allow the GOP to run against “cutting and running” before its leaders urge the President to do just that.


  45. Zooey Says:

    yo Zoe, I tell ya, walking around the house looking like Mr. Magoo isn’t fun…
    Comment by ren

    Are you saying I look like frickin’ Mr Magoo!?

    Dude, I’ll get you for that one. Ask anyone. :)


  46. Spudge_Boy Says:

    The United States has sacrificed enough for the people of Iraq, and now it is time that they take on most of the burden of their security in their country and let U.S. troops to start to come home.

    It is about time that the question was worded correctly. And who would have guessed that Fox News would be the one to get it right.


  47. Dot+Connector Says:

    How can we square bringing troops home when aWol says they are to be there for four more years?? How many tours do they think the Guard units can stand; and the same can be asked for Regular Army and Marines?

    The only way I can support this “Cut and Run” strategy is if the elite Republican standard bearers replace the troops one-for-one!


  48. SonsofTureen Says:

    “The United States has sacrificed enough for the people of Iraq, and now it is time that they take on most of the burden of their security in their country and let U.S. troops to start to come home.”

    We’ve sacrificed enough? What the hell does that even mean when we’ve committed genocide? And we don’t even know why.

    600,000 Iraqis dead since the start of Shock and Awe. Did you cry the day the war started. You should have. Cried for your country, for the IRaqis. Now we talk about sacrifice? What a pathetic country America is. We don’t have the guts to face the truth - the truth about Bush, that he’s a war criminal plain and simple, and the truth about the American people, that they stood by and let this happen and said almost nothing. Silence. Except for a few 100,000 protestors here and there.


  49. ren Says:

    #49 chill, I was at every protest that was in Washington and in NY. “Flush out your headgear… new guy”, There were millions of people around the world protesting… I was in Philly too when Clinton and Kerry spoke just before the election and let me tell you it was moving. Republicans stole the election in Ohio and they stole it in florida. My only beef is that they conceded too early to bush.


  50. Gonnuts Says:

    It’s not over - we’re going into Iran before the November elections.

    Think I’m nuts?

    The navy is on their way there. We’ve had special ops there for months choosing targets. The military has been told to upgrade their marching orders. A friend I have in “deep cover ops” was just deployed to be briefed of 3 weeks and will be deployed to IRAN.

    Still think I’m crazy?

    It’s the perfect “rally-around-the-flag, take your mind off the scandals, if the voter fraud doesn’t do it cline to power ploy. bush&co CAN’T afford to be investigated!

    And who’s going to stop them? Even woith bush at record lows and the scandals crashing down congress just gave him dictorial powers! When and if the public resists they out the 800 detention camps that cheney’s Haliburtin has built to good use.

    In 3 weeks bush starts WWIII …


  51. JOJO Says:

    73% of Americans hate America!


  52. ren Says:

    #51 Read the Seymore Hersh article about Hezbolla and Lebannon being the demo for Iran.


  53. Gerald Peters Says:

    Hi, I’m from Australia.

    I just wanted to say that this website it wonderful. Everyone, and I mean everyone in my country is against this war. One thing really upsets us though, we often hear many of the anti-war people in the US justifying a withdrawal on the basis that ‘we have lost too many troops’! It seems as though too many Americans haven’t come to terms with the tragedy of the Iraqi deaths….I know most of the people on this forum have grasped that concept….but you must, must get the word out about the severity of the slaughter. I had a brother in Iraq as a contractor and he spoke of seeing dead children on the ground, and seeing elderly people treated in the most shocking ways by US forces. Apparently the new death toll is 400,000 ! It’s a sad thing, because America was becoming popular again in our country after 9/11, but you just lost so much credibility from 2003 on.

    Gerald Peters
    Sydney


  54. Spudge_Boy Says:

    Gerald Peters,

    You are 100% correct. i do my best to influence as many people I can, on a daily basis. I speak truth to power in every conversation, not just ones here or ones about politics in person. I constantly remind everyone I meet about the crimes Bush has committed. Please let people in Australia know that not everybody in the US is for this war. Some of us are doing everything we can to stop the insanity here.


  55. stonehinge Says:

    We need a framework to understand what is really going on in America. Most Americans oppose the war in Iraq, but that makes no difference with the Cheney Administration. Why is that??? How come the US continues to destroy a nation which possesses no credible threat against legitimate US interests? Why is that????

    Here is a quote from another forum which is a good starting point for coming to grips with this problem:

    …one nugget that remained from my earlier life was a dogged belief in the inherent goodness of all people, that George Washington never told a lie, that if people were unable to see the underlying truth of the lies, it was only because they were mistaken. Lee Driver #27170

    I too grew up believing this to be true.

    I was wrong…utterly wrong…but it took me 35 years of intense searching to see the truth for what it is. And in the end, I needed somebody else to supply the foundation I needed to take the last steps in realization. I’ll share that in a moment.

    The problem starts with the fact that a great many Americans see nothing wrong with killing a million “gooks” or 600k “ragheads” — plus or minus. For many Americans, this is the price that somebody else should pay to sustain the American Way of Life. And what is even more astonishing, these very same people somehow conclude that they are actually morally superior to all those gooks and ragheads who were forced to pay that bill at gunpoint.

    Given this psychotic state of affairs, it is not surprising that a class of “warlords” has risen to capitalize on such a situation. In fact, one can argue that the warlords induced this state for their own benefit, and such an argument would be correct, for that is what they have done since ancient time. However, times have changed, and they have not changed for the better. It is the devolutionary nature of this symbiotic relationship which threw me off the trail for so long.

    I wish that my own thinking had matured fast enough to develop the words that were needed, but that is not the case. That honor goes to Dr. Norman Livergood who has given us the phrase Barbaric Annihilation to describe the workings of this American psychosis in it’s latest stage of metamorphosis.

    You can find his essay by clicking here. I highly recommend that you study this essay for it supplies a simple philosophical framework that we all need to understand the barbarous actions of our war-mongering leaders.

    Under this regime of Barbaric Annihilation:

    The Destruction of the WTC was an intelligence success, not a failure, the culmination of decades of diligent effort!
    The invasion and subsequent destruction of Iraq is one of the greatest military successes in human history — Mission Accomplished!
    The failure to rebuild New Orleans is exactly what Bush had in mind and he was quite sincere in his praise for Brownie!

    This is just a partial list, enough to get my point across, I hope. The point here is to understand that GWB is not stupid and Cheney is not a moron — in their world, they have been stupendously successful at every step. And until progressives everywhere come to understand this reality, nothing is going to change.

    We have lost America to a junta which came to power with the assassination of John F. Kennedy and which has been fully operational ever since. However, we have not seen it for what it is because it operates differently than totalitarian regimes of the past. To quote Dr. Livergood:

    Previously, imperialism had been the underlying policy of the cabal when it seized Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Cuba, Philippines, and the Mariana Islands and set up the German empires that led to World War I and World War II. But British and American imperialism involved a certain amount of concern for the possessed territory and the people, if no more than pride in having control over the holdings of the empire. The new totalitarianism has absolutely no such concern; its only interest is imposing the diabolic policy of barbaric annihilation on the world, thereby reaping huge profits from its energy, financial, and “defense” industries and turning all countries into militarized police states whose peoples will be forced to become their “cannon fodder.”

    It was this statement that opened my eyes to the light. This is the reason that the magnificent historical artifacts in Afghanistan were destroyed with no concern whatsoever. This is the reason that entire cities in Iraq have been destroyed with no intent to restore the infrastructure. And this was why such destruction was rained down upon Vietnam when there was no intent to win. There never was any intent to win in these situations. The purpose was to leverage an unending stream of money from the American economy to replace the materials that were consumed in the destruction. This is also why it is of no concern how much is lost in the forthcoming encounter with Iran.

    I’ll make one last quote from Livergood which is simply stunning:

    They don’t care a straw for what happens to American workers or the U.S. infrastructure; they gain power and wealth through annihilation–we must get that fixed in our minds! The more America becomes a drug-ridden war zone with a blasted economy and escalating crime (street crime and white collar crime), the more young people are forced to become “cannon fodder” for the cabal wars; they have no other jobs to go to. The cabal is not losing the war in Iraq, it’s winning!

    I’ve said enough for a “comment” to a blog. Read what Dr. Livergood has to say about Barbaric Annihilation so that we can all get on the same page and figure out how to regain control of this nation.


  56. Ex Cathedra » Blog Archive » The Magic Words Says:

    […] According to a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll, 73% of Americans agree with that statement. This from an administration that can’t even get a majority of old white fundamentalist men to approve of its handling of the Iraq war. […]


  57. yangho Says:

    #56 cool.

    The problem starts with the fact that a great many Americans see nothing wrong with killing a million “gooks” or 600k “ragheads” — plus or minus. For many Americans, this is the price that somebody else should pay to sustain the American Way of Life.

    More thing, America has millions slaves around the world. Those cheap labours’re working for the American Way of Life.


  58. pete Says:

    one of the most disturbing aspects of bush’s illegal war is the belief of many americans, as well as bush , is that god chose bush to invade iraq.
    throw that in with the ever present phrase of “god bless america” and it makes a person wonder why on earth god would bless america. god bless america for killing the woman and babies in iraq or god bless america for being a war mongering country, hell bent on pushing its own democracy to the world.
    get the hell out of iraq, now!


  59. KD Says:

    KD thinks that it would be a mistake to leave Iraq now. What is done is done and whether it was right or wrong is a different discussion. If we leave Iraq now, we leave Iraq a more dangerous place than before. A country that is instable, at civil war, and dominated by rogues would only cause more troubles in surrounding countries. If we leave now, there could be more collusion with dangerous surrounding countries like Syria that would only end up to the detriment of the US people and civilans. We should stay in Iraq until the country is more stable and government has proven ability to support itself. The US, then, has the obligation in the economic restructuring. Though this means tax payers dollars, it is a decision that has already been made and must be followed through. If we do not follow through in this, the world will only look at the US as world power looking for its own interests rather than for the best of civilization. Leaving Iraq now will exacerbate this opinion. While we may have to stay in Iraq for several more years, it is a must and I support our government for this.


  60. Segnar Says:

    Lets face it. It is going to continue whether we like it or not. It did when vietnam went on for no purpose as well as the other wars.

    For all the people who bitch about “God bless America this and that” sarcastically. You don’t like it. Get the hell out. We are not the only country that does things like this we are just the one in the spot light at the moment. YES things suck atm, and YES i have friends over in Iraq also involved in this and I do feel bad for the Iraqi citizen people who are dying that are not part of this whole fight. But war is hell and that is part of it.

    They are trying to establish something that doesn’t need to be established over there and civilian casualties do happen in war. We had civilian casualties in pearl harbor. It is part of war. Has happened for 1000’s of years. It isn’t going to stop no matter how much we complain.

    Welcome to life. It isn’t pretty and it never will be. I don’t want them to be over there either but they knew the risks they were taking when they signed up for the armed forces. We have other tasks involving the military all over the world including africa. The media never aims at those events and targets this one because it is most major.


  61. Jose Says:

    >>The United States has sacrificed enough for the people of Iraq
    For the people of Iraq? I guess we haven’t been watching the same war.


  62. Dave Says:

    This survey question is COMPLETELY biased and utterly ridiculous, which is not surprising considering that it is coming from Fox News. The wording of this question is incredibly misleading and guiding based on the circumstances on the ground. Allow us to dissect:

    “The United States has sacrificed enough…” The term ‘sacrificed enough’ has immediate negative connotation in this context. No one likes to sacrifice, especially for a cause that they do not believe in. Very few people will be inclined to answer: “No, I believe that we should sacrifice some more.”

    “…now it is time that they [Iraqis] take on most of the burden of their security in their country…” This phrase attempts to wash our hands of responsibility for this crisis. It is ‘Iraq’, after all, which is THEIR country. Security is THEIR burden. This must be true because they are Iraqis who live in Iraq. We are Americans who live in America. Iraq is not America, hence the security issues are THEIR burden.

    “…and let U.S. troops to start to come home.” I’m surprised that they didn’t end this sentence with an exclamation point. Just in case that reader forgot why exactly we are pulling out of Iraq, it isn’t to dick the Iraqis over, but to bring our brave troops home. No one wants our troops in Iraq, so naturally they will be inclined to answer to bring them home.

    A more accurate phrasing of this question would be: “Do you support a timetable for phased troop withdrawal from Iraq?” Because that is the real question here.

    Anyone who feels that we should bring the troops home now in no worse than Bush. You REALLY want the world to hate us? Then we should start to pull out now while the region is in chaos. Terrorists may hate us, but they hate the government we established and the Iraqis who cooperate just as much. If we leave then they will be torn apart. Eventually a Shiite Ayatollah will take charge, a Taliban-esqe government will be installed, and 600,000 Iraqis will have died for NOTHING. You think WE have sacrificed? Have some GOD DAMNED EMPATHY. I’ll be the first to tell you that this war is a damned mess that we should have never started, but WE created this mess and whether we like it or not, WE need to clean it up.


  63. yangho Says:

    Dave. you’re not wrong but you forget that 70% Iraqis hate our presence. As the troop there, insurgents have strong reason to fight against the Iraqis govt. It is worse if our troop kill innocent citizens, they will find more sympathizers. If our troop kill a Sunni, they think we’re friend of Shiite, if we arrest a Shiite, they think we’re side of Sunni. Anything we do in Iraq, we make the civil war get worse.


  64. Dave Says:

    The killing of civilians is exactly what needs to be addressed. I agree that every time we kill a civilian, we create more anti-American sympathizers. I’m not naïve. I know that the death of civilians in a war like this is inevitable, but we did not place “Minimize Iraqi Civilian Casualties” high enough on our priority list. We should be working harder towards that, even if it means that we must occasionally place American soldiers in situations of greater risk. At this point the Iraqi population believes that the US government doesn’t care about the life of the average Iraqi, and I’m inclined to agree. But if we leave Iraq now we will only reinforce that mentality.

    So this seems like a situation that we cannot win. Our only chance is to try and absorb as much of the shock as we can until we get the Iraqi government up and running. It is possible, but it will take time.


  65. yangho Says:

    I prefer the idea there is a UN force in Iraq. We can support money, tech and intelligence for that force without our troops. Whatever bush and bushco should not be presense in this plan. They earned enough money didnt they? $100 to wash a bag of laundry


  66. David Bond Says:

    You’d have thought that the USA would have learnt from Vietnam - you can’t win a land war in enemy territory. Is Vietnam taught in US schools?


  67. Dave Says:

    they just need to offer more money to enlist.


  68. Finn Thiesen Says:

    The Americans have put the Iraqi’s house on fire, and now they want to leave saying: We have done enough to help you. Put out the fire yourself. That’s not our pidgin.


  69. yangho Says:

    #68 Come on man, you know what behind the war - “It’s the economy, stupid”. I oppose against private companies go to the the war. You said “more money to enlist” so those ppl don’t care about polictical activities in the war. Result is they made more enermies than elimiate them. But it’s OK with them, more enermies more job and more money. Who care to end the war?


  70. » Blog Archive » Today’s links that matter… Says:

    […] 75% of Americans want the troops back home. […]



  71. missy Says:

    yes i think they need to get our trooped out of iraq and bring them home to there familys. they have been over there to long..


  72. justin Says:

    The troops need to come home because there are alot of dead men all ready and we do not need more dead men.their family want to carry
    on in life with there loved ones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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