Will the USA "REALLY" be fighting in Iraq for the next 20 to 30 years?

Question

Source: Republicans. MCcain stated we must stay that long in Iraq. By that time we will have lost 30,000 to 50,000 men and women. Will the USA people really allow that?

Answer 1

Fear of the Islamic threat is making us irrational. America needs to grow some balls. Our courageous WWI and WWII patriots would be ashamed of us for sacrificing all our liberties in the name of "safety" and "Homeland Security"!

Answer 2

Do you remember the story about the old west? Manifest Destiny and decades of war with Indians, Mexicans and the lot? Well, this is a similar story...,and yes, decades if not centuries will continue between a clash of different cultures, ethics, and lifestyles continue in the neverending saga of the human race until the time of the end of modern history.

Globalization is what it amounts to, a giant parking lot with McDonalds and Starbucks on every corner. Economics and Politics will run the course, while blood will be spilled upon the streets of nations.

Democracy Vs. Islamic Fundamentalism

Remember the stories of the crusades and the Holy Wars? It's been a long time of warring,..."from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli..." Remember bombing Libya in the Mid 1980's or the bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut or the terrorist bombings in Europe and the many hi-jackings and the continuos strife in Palestine and Israel in the 1990's?

"...And there shall be wars and rumors of wars..."

Answer 3

i don't think that this war will go on for 20-30 years. there are already too many lives lost and it's a shame. the problem is this war shouldn't have ever began. now if we were to pull out of iraq there may be consequences. people supported the president because they thought this was retaliation for 9/11 but it never was, there were always hidden agendas (oil among other things). bush never had the people's interest in mind, and now he and the government has put our troops and our country in harm's way. the US people would not allow this war to continue for 20-30years and i believe that even some people in iraq will not allow this war to continue either.

Answer 4

We are building the biggest most expensive embassy ever in Iraq. I think we will have a force there for some time, hopefully not a large force, in fact we may take some out before the elections, so Republicans can say with a straight face that the surge worked and get reelected.
The mess Bush got us into is going to take a long time to work out, both from the standpoint of diplomacy and trust that other nations had in us to come to their aid with a strong military presence. Our luster is not so shiny now that Bush has proven a weak, arrogant leader is a poor war maker.

Answer 5

I doubt we'll be fighting a full-scale insurgency for 20 or 30 years, but we'll certainly stay in Iraq for the foreseeable future. I think the war was a mistake, but it's entirely unrealistic to go "cold turkey" and pull out tomorrow.

Even if we were to withdraw as fast as our military possibly could, we could only move so many divisions a month, and then there's the tens of thousands of humvees, tanks, ammunition, and other equipment to haul all the way back home, unless you want to leave the insurgents some toys to play with?

Answer 6

30,000 to 50,000? Those are some of the most skewed numbers I've ever seen, even if we were there for a hundred years it wouldn't be that high. There's going to troop reduction over the next four years, up to at least half of our current troops (how high the troop reduction is, depends on who you vote for).
Iraqi infrastructure and security is improving (slowly but surely)

If you actually examined any of the troop numbers you'd notice the steady decline of the percentage of deaths verse percentage of military in Iraq (ipso facto it's slowly [Very slowly] getting safer).

Answer 7

We've had troops in Korea for 50 plus years. What the senator means is that we may have to have a presence there for 30 years. Hopefully, the fighting will be over long before then. Our military will be a stabilizing force.

Answer 8

What is your projected death toll based on? You are assuming it will stay the same? That's a bad assumption to make, especially in something chaotic as war. And yes it could take 20 to 30 years, but I doubt that insurgents would be able to keep up that long.

The Korean war has been going on for 50+ years, what's the continued death toll from that after the cease fire was agreed upon?

Answer 9

we did the same thing after WWII and Korean war... we STILL have troops in places like Germany, Japan, and Korea. i don't believe we will be "fighting" for that long.. it'll be more like policing... which we have always done plenty of in the past and continue to do anyways.. so, what's the difference? radical Islam is more dangerous than people realize and as soon as we cumulatively come to that decision, the quicker we can get rid of it and the quicker we can bring our men/women back. we're NOT helping them by being split on this issue.

Answer 10

According to preliminary data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2006, 17,602 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes - That's 1700% the rate of military related casualties and Americans still permit it...How about an estimated 12 million illegal residents who are draining our social services and dramatically raising the violent crime rate in many large cities nationwide, all with the blessing of our leaders.

Additional comment:
...and ours also Knock N ?

Answer 11

maybe 10 years or until the u.n decides to send 1million troops to secure the place and let the iraqi´s do their laundry without the fear of being bombed or shot. if we leave now and they break into civil war the u.n will have to interfere and send more troops anyway, plus the world would blame us for this tragedy. its a catch 22 damned if we do and damned if we dont.