[jpsb]

Well what do you disagree with?

[WOSG]

There is plenty to argue with.

Pat B. is wrong this point:
"First, we do not have the troops in country to pacify Iraq. "

Wrong. Abizaid has corrected this misperception. We dont need more troops. Even in fallujah we barely used the forces and power we had, very restrained. What we NEED are Iraqi security forces that can help patrol the streets that are reliable.

Of course, if it was explained in these terms it would exlplode the big myth that Pat B. is trying to convey, that this is about 'empire'. It isnt. It's about supporting a positive political development, ie, democratic Iraq. That will be done mainly by Iraqis, not Americans.

[AAABEST]

Well what do you disagree with?

The truth?

Nobody can state clearly what we're trying to accomplish with this war, how we're going to accomplish it and what our exit strategy is.

I hear pie-in-the-sky euphanistic dreamy terms like "building a democracy", "liberating the Iraqi people" etc. That's not reality.

The Iraqis don't want our version of liberty. They either watch us die or take part in killing us.

Who exactly are we supposed to "hand over" power to? The main factions are the Sunnis, Shiites, Baathists and the Kurds. Now we have a few thousand foreign fighters mixed in. All of these groups either hate us or are completely useless.

Even if we could take them out of the mix (which we can't) who's left to run the place?