[kezekiel]

The polls show rising disenchantment with the war. Sixty percent of Americans say they want to withdraw some or all troops.

Which comforts and excites bin Laden, Zarqawi, Mullah Omar, and the Democratic Caucus.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

Lets see......we pulled out in 1991, leaving the job unfinished.....to go along with the UN and world opinion. Given everything that has transpired since then and as a result of emboldened terrorism/islamofascism, I can't think of a single reason to pull out or even begin to pull out at this time.....discussing it only encourages the bad guys.

[Billthedrill]

Well, well...some good sense from Brooks. This, in the Times, too, very heartening.

Still, one thing is for sure: since we don't have the evidence upon which to pass judgment on the overall trajectory of this war, it's important we don't pass judgment prematurely.

Quite right. And more importantly still we should not make such judgments purely on the basis of domestic politics. We should make them on what happens in Iraq, and that requires a suspension of the tendency to cast those events in whatever light is most expedient for one's party's domestic advantage. If the Democrats do not learn this lesson and Iraq continues its slow but steady progress toward independent democracy, then the Dems will pay dearly for their short-sightedness.

[USISRIGHT]

President Bush needs to "outsource" management of this war. He'll never fire Rumsfeld but he has got to bring someone in who can size things up for the way they really are and devise a plan to win this thing. Cheney and Rumsfeld have been so far off the mark about how this war would go that we can't count on them anymore.

[GVnana]

escape the current moment, which is discouraging and uncertain

The current moment is made dangerous by the chaos merchants in the media and government. It is true leadership that gets people through tough times.

Right now, we're seeing an epidemic of doubt from the efforts of the Make America Lose crowd.

[The Brush]

Part of the problem comes with capturing prisoners. If our military would send every insurgent they find to "Allah", not only would the insurgent go to his reward with a guarantee of honor and virgins, but he/she wouldn't have to go through the horror of Gitmo.
Being a prisoner is cruel and unusual punishment, and it's a costly meal ticket for the taxpayers.
Release the prisoners of Gitmo in the desert in Iraq and give them to the count of 100 to blend into the surroundings.
The sooner we stop taking prisoners, the sooner we can eliminate the torture of prisoners.

[CyberAnt]

Well .. considering who wrote this - what were ya'll expecting.

[KeyWest]

The Democrats nominated an anti-war military man for President. They called for an immediate pull out and allow the insurgents to take their country and run it without the US trying to stop them. The cost in lives was too great and it was obvious that the US was losing the war.

Fortunately the Republican President won the election and even in the face of discontent from his own party, pressed on.

That was the 1864 election during the Civil War.