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We've taken on a poorly conceived, minimally planned and funded war to Iraq. Most high school social studies teachers knew that Saddam was true only to Saddam, and held no real appeal or support for Muslim zealots. He was a threat to his people to be sure, and our country was largely responsible for putting him into power, but this was the wrong time to put him to bed.
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Tom's statement says it all. (IMHO)
Saddam was out for Saddam.
As brutal a dictator he was, I think we are seeing, first hand, the reasons he ruled like he did.
He had to squash insurgents and instill fear into the masses.
Why?
Because it's the only thing they understand.
Do you think we should continue this madness of sending our bright young guys into towns and going door-to-door?
We could do this for decades and they'd still be killing our kids. Remember that N/ Vietnam fought the French for years before we showed-up. Small countries have figured out that we will back off if we sustain enough losses over a long term war in which it's hard for us to identify the true enemy.
I shudder to think of what a young US Marine goes through in the course of his/her day when EVERY person on the street is his/her potential killer.
We should train their security forces, help them with their Jan. elections and then high-tail it outa there forever!
I'm one of those who feels it's time to lock-down our borders and start pulling our troops off foreign soil. I also believe we need to trim our foreign aid WAY down. Canada seems to be doing very well (except for the border situation). I say we follow that philosophy.
N. Korea wants us out, Germany wants us gone. There are many others. Let's give 'em what they want and pull out. Bring our kids home and make it REAL hard to get into the US.
Just my $.02
Mac