How do YOU define victory in Iraq?

Question

For me, it is removing Saddam, and getting every Iraq citizen a vote. What is it to you? Have we won? Will we win? Can we win?

Patrick, we now decide what they use as criteira when they vote? H ow do you think WE vote? On abortion, etc...that has nothing to do with politics, but is flamed to get the most extremist to vote for you...

Answer 1

Unfortunately, there is no definition of victory for Bush's occupation of Iraq. One set of conditions may be what you listed; whereas someone else may have a different set.

It is up to the President to define what the victory conditions are, since the invasion and removal of Saddam was his idea. And I have yet to hear anything from him.

Can we win? No. It isn't our "war" to win or lose at this point, it is wholly up to the Iraqi's to decide what construes winning. And we may not like it, if they hand the country over to Iran.

Personally, I think we (the US) will be lucky not to be run out of Iraq on a rail, when the dust settles.

Answer 2

Personally I think we have achieved our stated goals in Iraq. The country does not pose a long term threat with WMDs. Saddam Hussein has been removed from power. The Iraqis have a democratically elected government. The Iraqis have a military which we can continue to train if necessary without keeping a large troop strength in the country. We have won the war, but we are losing the peace. It is time for us to step down and allow the Iraqis to take the lead role in their future.

Answer 3

I'm not sure there is such a thing. Way too many miracles have been expected. A people that have been operated under dictatorship since the beginning of time, can't be expected to become a democracy and act like a democracy after only a few short years. It simply doesn't work that way.

We've gotten ourselves way in over our heads and we'll end up being stuck there for many years, as a result. The problem that we face now are those who have been brave enough to stick by our side. If we leave, they'll end up perishing to deaths that are beyond our realm of imagination.

I speak with many soldiers and that's the primary reason they give for not pulling out.

Answer 4

Victory in Iraq can not be assessed by us or any other nation in the world ... other than Iraq itself. Who are we to pretend to know what is best for Iraq? When will we understand that our values, our point of views and our believes are different than the ones in the middle east?
You cannot force democracy, democracy is something that has to develop on its own.
Victory in Iraq will be when we will get out of there and the government of Iraq will be able to take on the challenges of security economy and democracy ... not OUR democracy ... Their democracy. So far we have failed at every level.
The reasons for war were fake, the removal of Saddam was nothing but a splash in the ocean, the so called Al Qaeda fight did nothing but envigorate their development and determination to attack us, and finally Iraq is in worse shape than it was under Saddam.
Good luck with "victory"

Answer 5

When the U.S and it's allies pull out and the Iraqi Government is capable of defending Iraq and have the confidence of the people, that will be a victory for peace in Iraq.
Children without their parents who have lived through terrifying ordeals will one day be able to tell their children what happened to their grandparents and the price they paid for liberty, but I doubt there will be much talk about 'winning' this war.

Answer 6

I think our victory already came and went. Our goal should have been to destroy Saddam's army, oust him from power, install a new government, organize free elections, and then let the Iraqis have a trial and decide what to do with him. Once the new Iraqi government was in place we should have LEFT. If they needed help after that, they could call the UN for peace keeping forces. I support EVERYTHING we've done in Iraq. I just don't know why we're still there......

Answer 7

Yes the Iraqis voted and did you see how they voted...they voted solely along ethnic lines, usually for the most extreme candidates...This was no democratic victory.

Successs in Iraq for me is..
1) Preventing widepread genocide
2) Preventing anti-US terror cells from proliferating
3) Having a government that provides at least some stability to the country without posing an especially inordinate threat to the US (so basically what we had before we invaded)
4) I hope an independent Kurdistan

Answer 8

We should have never gone to Iraq. By the time we realized there were no WMD's, our troops were already over there and lil Georgey refused to pull out.

I think a victory at this point is impossible. We are fighting a different war than the Iraqis are fighting - they don't care about democracy and the like, they are too caught up in sectarian (religious) conflicts. I'm afraid that as long as there are conflicting sectarian groups in Iraq, "victory" is impossible.

Answer 9

stunning question. i think that victory in Iraq is a multifold answer. First, we could be sure that they don't have weapons of mass destruction. This has been accomplished. Even extra beneficial, we could get rid of the government's desire to attack us. This has additionally been accomplished (whilst those 2 huge-unfold objectives have been comprehensive, you could bear in mind George Bush claiming that the project became performed). third, if we get rid of the government and replace it with a clean government, we could be sure that the recent government is deemed valid with the help of the Iraqi human beings so as to make certain that a civil conflict does not ruin out interior the rustic via our movements. it incredibly is extensively believed that this has additionally been accomplished. finally, it incredibly is appropriate that we bypass away the rustic with a working infrastructure that includes sparkling water and electrical energy at ranges a minimum of equivalent to those on the initiating of the conflict and a defense force and police infrastructure able to coping with uncomplicated crime and self protection from threats the two distant places and relatives. it incredibly is the huge-unfold sticking element between republicans and democrats in congress. is this component of "prevailing the conflict"? i do no longer think so, in spite of the incontrovertible fact that it incredibly is mandatory in coming up an best chum and a extra stable center east it incredibly is pertinent to our own relatives protection. The be conscious win that McCain pals with this, and extra importantly, the be conscious lose that he pals with Obama's plan, is empty and hurtful rhetoric that serves the purpose of clouding the subject and denigrating those he opposes. they're powerful yet meaningless words. the genuine debate isn't any count if the Iraqi government is able to coaching it incredibly is own defense force to a sufficient huge-unfold, how rapidly they might have the skill to, and no count if or no longer our presence interior Iraq brings extra violence and terrorists into the rustic, or no count if our absence would reason a backlash or up swell of violence. the main suitable answer, for my section, would be to stay with Obama's plan, yet safeguard troops in Israel, Kuwait, and doubtless Turkey and Saudi Arabia (with their respective permission) for a quantity of time to respond to any achievable boost in violence that the Iraqi government became incapable of coping with.

Answer 10

We have won when our very liberal President Bush took out the far right wing conservative Saddam Hussein and his Republican Guard and Conservative Baath party so that Iraq can have a good, decent honest Democratic Party like the USA has.