In regards to Weagle's post about tearing up the Iraqi sharia constitution.  That would be fine if our actions took place in a vacuum where there was no such thing as consequences.  In the real world where bullets fired, hit something even if it wasn’t where you were aiming, you have to think things like this through.  We have said for the last 3 years that we want to Iraqi people to be free, and now that it appears they may be free on their terms we're like the bully daring someone to cross a line only to move the line once they do.  If you think rejecting their constitution outright, for one of our choosing won't do more to create even more terrorists, then you can't see the 500lb gorilla in the room.

It pains me to think this but we need to be out of Iraq yesterday.  Every single negative contingency that this administration as used as a rationale for staying the course has come to be true.  Based on what we know now, show me a list of goals to accomplish by staying in Iraq.  A pre-war Iraq that may or may not have harbored terrorists in limited numbers now is overrun with terrorists in large numbers.  There is absolutely no truth in saying that fighting them there keeps us from having to fight them here.  Are we afraid of losing face?  We have been proven to be bereft of forethought by Saddam's plans for a post war resistance.  Wow, weren’t we lucky that we didn't have to fight the big urban battle in Baghdad in 2003, only to be doing it everyday since.  Are we afraid that we show weakness by leaving?  Will we look like the Spanish?  No.  We would be leaving out of a realization that the mission we are attempting is futile and sometimes even the best of nations #badword# up.  Is our military any weaker by pulling out?  Do we lose even one ounce of operational capacity by leaving Iraq?  No in fact we would be stronger as a nation, assuming 50% of the population could stand 2-3 months of snickering from the French.  We have to face the fact that while terrorism is a huge threat, our response was far too ambitious.  Global islamofacist terrorism is nothing new; their dedication to our destruction is nothing new.  The only difference is that on 9/11 they got lucky and had a big win.  Even if our goal is to treat Islamists like prairie dogs and kill every single one we see without prejudice we can never win this war.  Tell me, best-case scenario, 10-15-20 years down the road how does this war end?  Establishing western democracy in the Middle East?  Good luck, I'll be over here trying to qualify for the Masters and I'll likely get their first.  We need to treat terror the way we dealt with communism, study, intelligence and containment.  The liberal wackos who try to understand why the terrorists hate us, are just as loony as the kill 'em all brigade.  There has to be some kind of medium ground where life can go on, and pray God we aren't watching 9/11 style bombings every few months.  This isn’t to say we don’t need to aggressively go after AQ everywhere we can find them, but we also shouldn't waste the youth of a generation in an Iraqi war we chose and won't give up. 

Comparisons to Vietnam bring up all kinds of nasty thoughts, but you know I see more and more of that everyday.  I'm sick of it.  I'm sick of being lied to and told to stay the course.  This is the homecoming parade, and Bush is Kevin Bacon, "Remain calm, all is well, all is well!"  This reminds me of a gambler who is up big and takes part of his winnings to bet again, only he loses, so he bets again, and again until pretty soon he's in the hole again.  Stop digging.  In 1975 do you think, if we were given a magic wish and allowed to go back to 1965 and not deploy 100's of thousands of ground troops to Vietnam, we would have made that wish?  Hell yes.  2005-2005 is the same crossroads we faced 40 years ago.  I'd hate to think that in 40 more years, history records, we had a chance to free our feet from the quicksand but we decided to "stay the course."