[re_nortex]

This war should never have been started.

Therefore, we [Free Republic] wholeheartedly support the Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive strikes on known terrorist states and organizations that are believed to present a clear threat to our freedom or national security.

Statement by the founder of Free Republic

"We fight them [Islamofacists] over there so we don't have to fight them over here" sounds like a winning strategy to me.

[Olog-hai]

Exactly. We didn't start this war, and not finishing it will make us look much weaker. The Mullahs in Iran have been cheering on the "last helicopter scenario" ever since we allowed the new Iraqi government to vote itself an Islamic constitution (of all things‼—why did we allow that to happen?!?)—what kind of egg on our face will that be if we allow more terrorism to breed, and allow Iran to create a new Caliphate across a wide swath of the Middle East and North Africa?

[Colonel Kangaroo]

"We fight them [Islamofacists] over there so we don't have to fight them over here" sounds like a winning strategy to me.

A better strategy would have been to leave Saddam Hussein in place so he could fight the Iranians, keeping a lot of that burden off us.

A better strategy would have been to finish the job in Afghanistan before starting something else.

The Iraq war was a colossal blunder. President Bush meant well, but it was not well thought out. Realism and a sober assessment of the region was lacking.