Who else thinks that we should bring our military forces back from Iraq and concentrate on Afghanistan ?

Answer 1

Being in the military I was excited when the White House said they were going to start bringing home my brothers and sisters overseas. When GB said a few months ago that we needed to send more troops to finish the job, I was saddened by the news. I wish everyone could come back home now. GB lost allot points with me when he said that.

Answer 2

Absolutely.

Only problem is, the power vacuum created by leaving Iraq will be filled by the Iranians. That in turn will create a very, very vicious reaction from Syrians, Jordanians, and Saudis, who don't like Iran very much and who take a very dim view of Iran exporting its Islamic revolution nextdoor. All these states (and those beyond, such as Lebanon and Egypt) have their own sectarian problems, which can easily blow up if given enough impetus.

So you will end up with Sunni Arabs paramilitaries and terror groups funded by Saudis and backed by other states in the region as a counterbalance to the likes of the Badr Corps and the Mahdi Army (already happening). If the Iranians decide to intervene directly through the Revolutionary Guard, this becomes VERY ugly. Add the drama between the Turks wanting a shot at the Kurds to the north across the border, and it goes from bad to worse.

So if you want to pay $10+ a gallon of gas and watch a dozen states slug it out over the Tigris-Euphrates in warfare on a scale far beyond what we've got now, take the Americans out of the equation.

By the way, concentrating on Afghanistan does not work unless we sort out the Pakistanis. The Pakistani ISI is the force keeping the Taliban alive and preventing us from destroying the Salafists once and for all in the region.

Oh and it costs money to redeploy and reconstitute, so expect to pay a bit more to fix up the beating our military has taken in personnel and especially equipment. Look forward to tax season next year.

Answer 3

If you like the idea of handing Iraq over to the likes of Taliban and al Qaeda, so that they can cook up more mischief to wage against the US, then withdrawing the troops now would be quite sensible. However, I find that prospect to be bothersome; some of the WMD materials that got shunted off to Syria in 2002 could come back to bite us rather badly. Do you have any conception of how trivially easy it is to make a nuclear bomb, given thirty pounds of U-235? (I designed a workable one when I was in seventh grade.)

Answer 4

That's a good question. The important part is the "who". Because if it's the guy watching CNN or any other news network they should just be content with watching the news.

Leave the decisions to people who know whats going on. And there are plenty of people from all views, liberal and conservative, in places of importance. Military strategy does not belong in public debate.

Answer 5

Do you think it is the time to leave Iraq in the hand of Al-qaeda and then in 3 years time they could take us out of our home and kill us?

Answer 6

I think most everyone with any sense feels that way now... I mean does Bush really want to set a new record for the longest pointless war in American history, or what?

Answer 7

you, I, and about umpteen million other people think that is a splendid idea.

Problem is ... this administration doesn't serve the people. It's easy for elitist conservatives to send the lower and middle class kids to die in Iraq.

Answer 8

Why would we go to afghanistan? we dealt with that. their gov't is set up and things are running a lot smoother than they were 7 years ago

Answer 9

we still ahve troops in afganastan but i think mabe more should be there and some should be in iran now.

Answer 10

Outstanding idea. When can we start?