Who has a better idea about the conditions in IRAG than our soldiers!?

Question

Soldiers say Iraq pullout would be devastating
Leaving fledgling state could help insurgents, betray Iraqis, troops warn.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SYKES, Iraq - For the U.S. troops fighting in Iraq, the war is alternately violent and hopeful, sometimes very hot and sometimes very cold. It is dusty and muddy, calm and chaotic, deafeningly loud and eerily quiet.

The one thing the war is not, however, is finished, dozens of soldiers across the country said in interviews. And leaving Iraq now would have devastating consequences, they said.

With a potentially historic U.S. midterm election on Tuesday and the war in Iraq a major issue at the polls, many soldiers said the United States should not abandon its effort here. Such a move, enlisted soldiers and officers said, would set Iraq on a path to civil war, give new life to the insurgency and create the possibility of a failed state after nearly four years of fighting to implant democracy.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15582948/

IRAQ...........sorry for the typo

Answer 1

If you're point here is to show the dem's and the peace pansies that there's a reason our trips are still in the Iraqi theatre (read: area of operations, for you civies), it's a good one. Funny how it's the same thing that the government has been saying that no one else wants to hear.

The paradox with giving Saddam the death sentence is that on one side of things, justice will be done; and on the other, he will become a martyr. One of the things the impatient American public needs to keep in mind is that in Iraq, there's little to no sense of what we consider to be nationality. Usually you'll hear people say "I'm an American," or "I'm English/German/Italian/etc.," but there's really no sense of "I'm an Iraqi" in Iraq. My husband is there right now and just made this observation to his parents this weekend. They have grown up divided from each other by their background for generations, Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, with often radically different and conflicting views of the world and each other. You can't take a society like that and turn it into one big happy family sitting around a camp fire singing Kumbaya in only a couple of years, especially when those couple years encompass the ousting of their former government and the introduction of democracy to people who may never have known anything else in their entire lives. "Rome wasn't built in a day," and while I don't expect Iraq to rise to anything near the glory of the height of the Roman empire, it will nonetheless take some time for things to calm down and stabalize.

As much as I loathe the fact that my husband is deployed there for the second time, I do agree that a premature pull-out of our troops would be detrimental to the work that we and the new Iraqi government have been doing since the day we stepped foot on the ground there.

Answer 2

The main news is totally the ones lost with Iraq. What they don't tell you is that Iraq has a democratically elected government, schools, 500,00 cops and soldiers and positive net immigration (and not just guys trying to kill Americans) and birthrate (unlike Iran which is negative on both counts). Also 50% of Iraq would be placed in the hands of Iraq by the end of the year and probably 75% of Iraq will be in Iraqi hands by the second quarter of next year. The Iraqi president thinks the U.S. will be in iraq for 3 years (2009). Most of the fighting is in the capital and the Sunni Triangle. That's about 5 cities in a country the size of California. The rest of Iraq is fairly peaceful.

Answer 3

For the passage in question (Matt 6:15) , it might help to look at the logical contra-positive of the conditional statement ... [the contra-positive, unlike the converse and the inverse, is logically equivalent to the original conditional statement.[ 1) the original condition: IF you do not forgive others, THEN your Father will not forgive you. the contra-positive: IF your Father will forgive you, THEN you will forgive others. 2) [the above] matches Jesus' parable of the unforgiving servant... a servant who could not possibly ever pay off his huge debt asks forgiveness from his master, the master forgives. Then, the servant refuses to forgive a tiny debt from one of his peers. The master on hearing of the injustice, restores the cost of the servants debt and the servant is forced to pay it off. Note: the master forgave FIRST. The response, if the servant truly understood how much he was forgiven, should have been compassion on others who owed him [relatively small amounts]. 3) On the Cross Jesus said "It is FINISHED [lit. paid in fill]." The debt has been payed in full. There is nothing we need [or can] do to get God's forgiveness, since the debt has already been paid. God's forgiveness, the PAID-IN-FULLNESS of our debt is already a reality, YET it is received by faith. Our confession, our repentance, our forgiving others are all act acts of faith and trust that flow from the fact that our redemption has already been accomplished. [i.e. forgiveness first, then response] Going back to the contra-positive... Will God forgive us?? YES, He already has. THEN we will forgive. If we do not forgive, it is a sign that we do not really believe/trust that God has forgiven us. [AND thus we turn away and do NOT receive the promised forgiveness.] If we later learn the depth of the forgiveness and hold on to that forgiveness, our response will be that we will forgive others -- as well as confess our sins, and repent and return to God, and love our neighbor, etc....

Answer 4

The People of Iraq are lost people they fear for their lives not noing what to do what to say who to trust with Saddam H. Alive they fear for their lives....When He is no longer here....you will see a trust starting to build in those people....but with out good and fair conditions...They will stay lost...and very much confused....They need a leader of truth and caring and someone who will teach them unity and trust...And turn that place into a place of peace and hope and contentment...The U.S.A. is not their to hurt them but to offer their help....Us as a Nation under God should back our Soldiers and pray ever spare moment for their safe return home...And we the people of this GREAT nation under God....should come together all who believe in God and is not ashamed to do so should pray as a nation and get this war over with and quit beating around the bush....And pray and get it done....Don't take in vain the ones who gave their life's for or nation....Some one needs to research and find this one person that can be trusted and put him in power allow the people to learn all about him and build a trust in the promises that he can to for their people....Lord spread your loving arms around each one of our soldiers place your mighty est angels around them and bring them home soon real soon .....God bless the U.S.A. and Israel and all....

Answer 5

They should be the foremost authority.

Answer 6

The live ones or the dead ones?