Q’s View on Iraq
Well now that the UNH hockey season is over, what will I talk about? Well I have steered away from political stuff, though I am very interested in the subject. So here is my first post dealing with politics. Want to talk about the passing of the supplementary budget passed by the Senate for the war in Iraq. Of course this is the bill that has in a Sept 08 withdrawal from Iraq. I find this stipulation very disturbing. I will be up front and admit I do support the war in Iraq. I do not think putting a deadline on withdrawal right now is rational. I also find the Democrats to very hypercritical on this whole matter.
First I kept hearing how the President needs to change strategy. Well he did with the surge by adding more troops, something most Democrats called for last summer, and to focus more resources on controlling Baghdad and Anbar province. This was strategy that has the backing of Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, the head of troops in Iraq. The Senate approved Petraeus to be the head of troops 81-0, after the President announced the surge strategy. So they oppose the strategy, then turn around and but a man who fully supports the strategy and thinks it is key to victory in charge. So how do you think we can win? The Democrats fought the surge from the beginning, so want a new strategy but don’t want a new one? I was listening to Senator Reid last night saying the President wants more of the statues quo, seems like he missed the news about the new surge strategy. He has also missed that there has been some success with the surge. The violence in Baghdad has gone down, and the street are safer. It is a victory? No its not, but it is step in the right direction, and should be given time to see how much it can succeed.
So now to this bill. First I find the timing of the “deadline” curious. Sept 08? If the Democrats want us out so fast, why not an immediate withdrawal? Why not cut off funding? Hard to miss that it is right before the 08 presidential election. Seems like the Democrats want to make this a very political issue. I also find all of the stuff added into this budget very outrageous. This should be a straight up budget for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. But there has been tons of stuff added to this budget, obviously to gain the support t get it passed. Some of the add-ons are Renew an income subsidy program for some small dairy farmers; give $24 million to sugar beet growers in the Red River Valley for losses from flooding and $20 million to combat Mormon crickets, Provide $74 million for peanut storage and $25 million for spinach growers, and $100 million for the 08 Democrat and Republican conventions.
I believe it is important for the US to be successful in Iraq. So what is success? Well success is a decline in violence in the streets, a well trained Iraqi Army, a strong nationalized government. Are we there yet? Of course not. Will setting a deadline for withdrawal get us there? NO! I have no problem with setting milestones to reach, I actually encourage that. I wish the President and Democrats would sit down and set some milestones. Such as x number of Iraqi brigades fully trained means the withdrawal of x number of Americans. This is the path to success, actual talking and making tough decisions. Right now all we have is name calling back and forth. I will give the President credit he has changed his strategy in Iraq and it seems to have some success so far. The only plan I see from the Democrats is to get out with no plan to succeed. I know there are some logic Democrats who want to succeed. It just seems their voice has been silenced. Here is hoping that something can be worked out and all of the bickering back and forth can be over with and we can have a real discussion about Iraq. The sooner this down and path to success an be worked out the sooner we can be successful, and then the sooner we can get our brave men and women home. The more time we spend having both side one up each other the longer we will be there. So please smarten up and have an actual discussion and not a power fight.
First I kept hearing how the President needs to change strategy. Well he did with the surge by adding more troops, something most Democrats called for last summer, and to focus more resources on controlling Baghdad and Anbar province. This was strategy that has the backing of Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, the head of troops in Iraq. The Senate approved Petraeus to be the head of troops 81-0, after the President announced the surge strategy. So they oppose the strategy, then turn around and but a man who fully supports the strategy and thinks it is key to victory in charge. So how do you think we can win? The Democrats fought the surge from the beginning, so want a new strategy but don’t want a new one? I was listening to Senator Reid last night saying the President wants more of the statues quo, seems like he missed the news about the new surge strategy. He has also missed that there has been some success with the surge. The violence in Baghdad has gone down, and the street are safer. It is a victory? No its not, but it is step in the right direction, and should be given time to see how much it can succeed.
So now to this bill. First I find the timing of the “deadline” curious. Sept 08? If the Democrats want us out so fast, why not an immediate withdrawal? Why not cut off funding? Hard to miss that it is right before the 08 presidential election. Seems like the Democrats want to make this a very political issue. I also find all of the stuff added into this budget very outrageous. This should be a straight up budget for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. But there has been tons of stuff added to this budget, obviously to gain the support t get it passed. Some of the add-ons are Renew an income subsidy program for some small dairy farmers; give $24 million to sugar beet growers in the Red River Valley for losses from flooding and $20 million to combat Mormon crickets, Provide $74 million for peanut storage and $25 million for spinach growers, and $100 million for the 08 Democrat and Republican conventions.
I believe it is important for the US to be successful in Iraq. So what is success? Well success is a decline in violence in the streets, a well trained Iraqi Army, a strong nationalized government. Are we there yet? Of course not. Will setting a deadline for withdrawal get us there? NO! I have no problem with setting milestones to reach, I actually encourage that. I wish the President and Democrats would sit down and set some milestones. Such as x number of Iraqi brigades fully trained means the withdrawal of x number of Americans. This is the path to success, actual talking and making tough decisions. Right now all we have is name calling back and forth. I will give the President credit he has changed his strategy in Iraq and it seems to have some success so far. The only plan I see from the Democrats is to get out with no plan to succeed. I know there are some logic Democrats who want to succeed. It just seems their voice has been silenced. Here is hoping that something can be worked out and all of the bickering back and forth can be over with and we can have a real discussion about Iraq. The sooner this down and path to success an be worked out the sooner we can be successful, and then the sooner we can get our brave men and women home. The more time we spend having both side one up each other the longer we will be there. So please smarten up and have an actual discussion and not a power fight.
posted by Qman16 at 9:18 PM
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