If the point of the "surge" was to give the Iraqis "space" for reconciliation...?

Question

...then how can this Administration talk about how terrific things are going if there has been absolutely NO progress made by the Iraqis? Why should Americans continue to die in a country that has no interest in peace itself?

Obviously Bill didn't understand the question. The point of the "surge" was indeed, to allow the Iraqi's to reconcile their differences. If that is not the objective, but our only objective is to quell violence, then that implies an infinite occupation...which makes the "democratic" argument for Iraq moot.

Answer 1

The only person who knew how to control the Iraqi population was Saddam Insane. He obviously knew something about his people we don't know. We gave a country their freedom and what did they do with it. They continue to kill each other faster than Saddam was killing them. Instead of using the many houses and buildings of Saddams they burned them down along with valuable art. I don't recall of any American killed by an Iraqi till we sent our Service men there.It's hard for us to believe but some people can't function as a free society and must be told what to do. It's time we leave Iraq and let them do what they think is best to do. I bet they miss Saddam.

Answer 2

I remember reading in the press, which I don't think was slanted either right or left, that the Iraqis were taking over security for some province and the British have all but left the country. And I remember reading that bombings are at an all time low and that there is now some kind of agreement between the rival religious groups so I guess things appear to be a little bit better. CNN reported that about 6,000 Iraqi families who fled Iraq are returning each each month and thats a positive thing in terms of progress and stability there. I think that Iraq is a pretty complicated country as is the intervention there and thats evidence by the apparent realization by both the right and left in this country that it would be wrong to leave the Iraqis to twist in the wind and die. Clearly, the Iraq War is part of the political propaganda of the extreme right and left in the US which means that you have two bald fighting over a comb and making up stories and facts for each position. No matter, the right and left don't fight the wars or pay for them, the moderate majority does. And thats who elects Presidents and they belong to no one as evidenced by the fact that they elect the lesser of two evils and to the great shame of the Dems, that has been Bush in the last two election. No conspiracy, no vote fraud..millions of Dems voted for Bush twice. The right and left talk about Iraq based on hatred of Iraqis and trying to mobilize people by building on the assumption that all Americans hate Arabs and that is not true. Arab Americans are a significant ethnic group in the US (have a number of members of Congress, state and local government, education and commerce) and people know them well enough to not hate them. Extreme politics, both right and left, always tries to motivate by appealing to hatred whether it be of a minority group or some domestic group (Catholics, Christians, etc) but that seems to work more domestically than it does hoping to find people who will chime in about the Iraqis are not worth it. Returning soldiers (some of whom have married Iraqis) don't talk of Iraqis that way and more often talk of the courage of the Iraq middle, secular class that is trying to build a nation there. So when your question seems to be one of those that is supposed to make us feel that the Iraqi people are not worthy allies and we should let them die. You can find other left wingers (or right wingers since there is really little difference) who will agree with you, but I don't.

Answer 3

That's an exaggeration to say the least; most Iraqis do want peace, but there are some really bad actors there. It's not going to be easy.
And that's not even considering the fact that the Islamist extremists of the world are bent on global domination; Iraq isn't alone, but is part of a worldwide conflict.
That's all the more reason, though, to do the best we can to support the Iraqis that do want peace.

Answer 4

The point of the troop surge was to put more men on the ground to catch more terrorists and weapons and help quell the violence. And it worked. Since it was this administrations idea, and they did it despite opposition from the lunatic fringe, then they get the credit.

Answer 5

I agree with you pal. That region has been at war for thousands of years. There will be no progress in peace there. Any thing that you have heard it is all propaganda and government talk to sooth the GP. General populace. Write to your senator to pull our troops out.