I understand that with your vast combat experience you know that once the U.S. military sets foot someplace all death and destruction should end that minute or we are losing. Too bad your vast combat experience has little to do with reality. You sir are a political hack nothing more.

Paladin77

In Four Years we should not be seeing what is taking place in Iraq today. They also destroyed a major bridge today. This is a lost cause and the longer U.S. Forces stay the more will be killed for NO GOOD REASON! Bush lost this war by first going to a war that was not justified by any danger to the U.S. and then by not sending anything close to the troop levels needed to prevent the violence we see every day from developing.

You have no concept of what you are writting about.




I like your logic. According to you we should pull our troops out and leave them to kill each other because it will save American lives. There are only a few problems with your logic. First, we have tried this idea a few times and the result was 9/11, and a host of other attacks that went unanswered.
Second, the pull out will give the terrorist a great victory because the minute we pull one soldier out of that country they will have won and it will go all over the world that we backed down.
Third, you are too focused on the minor crap that happened today. If we pull out will the killing stop?
If we pull out today will they stop attacking America?
If we pull out before we are sure it is safe, meaning we have hunted down and killed or arrested all of the terrorist of this generation of terrorist we will be under threat. The best solution to this problem is to be where we are doing what we are doing until the job is finished.

History lesson for ignorant people: around the turn of the century Russia turned into the Soviet Union. All ethnic tensions came to a screeching halt and for 70 years the hard cruel Soviets were the focus of hate. As soon as the Soviet Union fell the killing started as if the past 70 years never happened. Kill this one because his great great grandfather killed my great great grandfather. The only hope for Iraq not to end up the same way is for us to stay there while they sort this out. Once that is done we can leave. The officers and troops know this but you with all your vast knowledge and military experience don’t. They were told that they would be extended and there was no shock or outrage. The reason for this is that they are professional soldiers not conscripts. I don’t mean to say that they are happy about it but they understand it.

Paladin77

You are the one that makes no sense. The vast majority of the fighting in Iraq has NOTHING to do with Al-Qaeda or the elements that planned 9/11. The attacks and deaths are because the factions within Iraq are fighting for control of that country. We can not settle this dispute and thus the longer we stay the more deaths and injuries we sustain with NO prospect of solving the real reason for the violence-- The hate between the factions and the struggle to control Iraq! When we leave that hate will still exist and will continue and most likely escalate the level of violence until one faction wins or the country is split into separate countries.

Bush is the one that does not understand history or a person that takes the advice of those that understand the underlying issues in Iraq. It is not as if our most senior statesmen did not warn Bush of what was likely to happen if we invaded Iraq. They told him, he ignored that advice and time has shown the advice Bush received was correct and he WAS WRONG. Now we have no good way out and all the dead and injured were sacrificed for no purpose and we are in MORE danger then before their sacrifice! That is the issue that is so hard for the families of our dead and injured service members to accept. After their loss America is in MORE danger from future attacks not safer as they believed their sacrifice would produce. We have enabled the radical factions of Islam to use our invasion and occupation of Iraq as a rallying cry to recruit millions more Moslems that would be willing to conduct another 9/11 or worse. That is what the NIE concluded and we now see al-Qaeda elements operating in several locations including Iraq! Even if we were able to eliminate al-Qaeda in Iraq, they could plan future attacks on the U.S. from any one of several other locations!

Yes we are winning in Iraq:

Baghdad Bombings Kill 45 in Shiite Areas
April 15, 2007 12:43 PM EDT
BAGHDAD - Six bombs exploded in predominantly Shiite sections of the capital Sunday, killing at least 45 people in a renewal of sectarian carnage that set back the U.S. push to pacify Baghdad.

North of Baghdad, two British helicopters crashed after an apparent mid-air collision, killing two service members, U.K. officials said.

The U.S. military announced three U.S. troop deaths - two soldiers and a Marine killed in separate incidents.

And in the holy Shiite city of Karbala, health officials raised the toll from a bombing Saturday close to one of the sect's most sacred shrines, saying 47 people were killed and 224 wounded.

Twin car bombs exploded minutes apart in the busy market of Baghdad's Shurta Rabia neighborhood, a mostly Shiite area in the city's west. The first blast went off at midmorning in front of a kebab restaurant. Five minutes later, another car exploded nearby as rescuers were evacuating victims. Many women and children were among the casualties, police said.

Shortly after noon, a suicide bomber blew himself up on a minibus near a courthouse in the mainly Shiite northwest Baghdad neighborhood of al-Utafiyah, killing at least eight people and wounding 11, officials said.

Many of the victims were severely burned, an official at the Khazimiyah Hospital said.

About three hours later, a minibus rigged with explosives detonated on a busy street of electronics shops in the predominantly Shiite central Karradah district, killing 11 people and wounding 15, authorities said.

The owner of a glass shop said he saw a suspect park the bus at the roadside and leave.

"It was an ordinary thing because usually bus drivers stop there waiting for passengers, so we didn't suspect anything," said the witness, who gave only his nickname, Abu Jassim.

"Five minutes later, the bus blew up - damaging the surrounded area and burning more than eight civilian cars that were passing by," he said.

In the same district after nightfall, two roadside bombs exploded within five minutes of each other, killing at least eight civilians and wounding 23, police said.

Six shops and several cars parked nearby were damaged by the blasts, which occurred about 20 yards apart, police said.

The two British helicopters crashed after an apparent collision 12 miles north of Baghdad, killing two British personnel. Four other personnel were injured in the crash, one very seriously.

U.K. Defense Secretary Des Browne said that initial reports suggested the crash was an accident.

"Sadly, two personnel have died and one is very seriously injured. All of these were UK personnel. My thoughts and sympathy are with them and their families," Browne said, adding that the next of kin had been informed.

British forces, headquarters in the southern city of Basra, rarely fly missions north of Baghdad, where the helicopters crashed.

"I can't talk about the particular mission they were involved in, but we do have units operating as part of the coalition across Iraq," a British defense ministry official said on condition of anonymity, in line with government policy.

One U.S. soldier was killed by small arms fire Sunday while trying to reach an Iraqi police unit under attack near a mosque in southern Baghdad, the military said in a statement. One civilian was wounded in the incident.

Another soldier died Saturday when a roadside bomb exploded during a foot patrol south of Baghdad, the military said. A Marine died the same day in combat in Anbar province.

Meanwhile, dozens of Iraqi policemen demonstrated in front of their Baghdad station Sunday, accusing U.S. forces of treating them like "animals" and "slaves."

The protest took place at Rashad station in Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Mashtal.

Officers chanted "No, no to America! Get out occupiers!" while U.S. troops in two humvees and a Bradley fighting vehicle watched from a distance.

----

Associated Press Jennifer Quinn contributed to this report from London.

Gen Zinni was on CNN today and said the statements made by Cheney and Bush about the stock piles of WMD held by Saddam was NOT in agreement with the intelligence he saw in 2002. He also said that Bush was warned by the CIA of the likely outcome of invading Iraq which has now come true. George Tenant, the former CIA is about to come forward with the advice he gave to Bush prior to the invasion in March 2003. That should blow the roof off the White House!

Other than the fact that AQ was setting up another base of operations in Iraq.



Oh right, don't forget Iran has been funding one side making it an external matter. We all know how peace loving Irna is.



Only if you have your way.



So the multiple attempts to attack us that have failed in the last 6 years don't count? The information gained from people caputred in Afghanistan and Iraq have saved American lives but you don't seem to care about that at all. How nice of you to want us to lose an get attacked here on our own soil. Thanks!

Paladin77

Yes al Qaeda and Iran do have a part in the attacks but what they are doing is helping the sectarian violence that is the MAJOR cause of the attacks. If we were able to eliminate al-Qaeda in Iraq, there would be over 95% of the same violence taking place. The death squads, the militia armies who are responsible for the VAST amount of the attacks have nothing to do with al Qaeda. What Zinni said yesterday is that the TOTAL intelligence he saw did not say the Saddam had these huge stocks of WMD as Bush and Cheney claimed. The Total Intelligence said that Saddam did not have nuclear weapons or even an active program to build such weapons. Pentagon estimates said Saddam did not have the military capability to attack any other country. The Intelligence warned of the likely outcome of an invasion which was the growth of sectarian violence in Iraq. Guess what-- ALL THAT WAS TRUE and what Zinni said is that intelligence was IGNORED by Bush and Cheney. The upcoming revelations by George Tenant about what Bush was told about Iraq could be like a nuclear blast at the Iraq war argument!

You failed to notice that at the end of the war things calmed down a lot. Then Iran got busy which is why we are fighing now. Leaving now would only prove they are winning and that we can't stand up and fight. This will invite more terror attacks.



I disagree for the reason above. Before Iran got busy there were no religious attacks. Only after Iran got involved did that start. It may not end right away but it will end with us winning if we stay.



Correct and the President said that many times to the press and anyone that would listen. He also said that because he openly threatened the US that we could not afford to wait until Saddam would be a direct threat by having a nuclear bomb go of in the United States and the best thing for us to do would be to attack now before he had reconstituted his WMD programs. America agreed with this strategy and so did most of the UN.

Paladin77

If we were to invalid every country that threatened the U.S. by words or actions we would be fighting at least 6 countries today. Any threat that Saddam may have made was of no consequence because he did not have the means to be a threat to the U.S. Bush and Cheney said he was a danger that the Intelligence did not support. He did not have a part in 9/11. Bush was warned of what would happen if we invaded Iraq. All the intelligence that said Saddam did not have WMD, The ability to be a military threat. The fact that an invasion would unleash the sectarian violence that would destabilize Iraq. All true and Bush ignored it all! That is why we lost over 3,300 troops and injured 25,000 more. That is why we spent a trillion Dollars to make America less safe with more enemies then ever.