When will be a good time to leave Iraq?

[ProSense]

The public doesn't want to cut funding for the war because the right-wing themes, pushed by even some Democrats, have dominated media reports. The public has been led to believe that cutting funds will hurt the troops on the ground. They have been led to believe that cutting funds means immediate withdrawal. That's false. It's no different from the debate about a timetable, and Senators Kerry and Feingold were able to cut through the spin. Now they need to cut through the spin about cutting funding.

Interestingly, I've heard from some Democrats that we have to wait for a Democrat to be elected to get out. I've also heard from Democrats the excuse that we can't just leave Iraq because sectarian violence will erupt.

My question is: When a Democrat is elected will the Democrats be prepared to abandon those bogus arguments and withdraw?

Iraq is in a civil war, and will still be in a civil war in 2009, whether or not combat troops are on the ground there. The troops can't do anything to end Iraq's civil war, and pretending that stability is a criteria for withdrawal is disingenuous. The troops need to be removed, they are bait for violence in Iraq. That's not a formula for stabilizing the country. That coupled with the fact that U.S. troop presence is fueling the insurgency, which is becoming stronger by the day, when will be a good time to leave?

[MichiganVote]

1. Now works for me.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Yesterday

[durtee librul]

3. Yesterday would be nice...

let's face it, there is no 'win' in Iraq....in any sense of the word.

Let them fight it out amongst themselves and let the other Mid East countries step in where and when needed. They have never liked the west for a multitude of reasons and we haven't done anything lately to help that along any. For the few Iraqis who appreciate what the soldiers do, there are many more who don't and just see the Americans as an extension of evil.

[Demeter]

4. 2003

or anytime before that

[emilyg]

10. I'm with you.

[maxsolomon]

5. realistically? never

because leaving means we admit we've lost. and our hubris demands we remain in denial.

so i nominate everyone else's children to die for nothing.

[tbyg52]

7. Not *my* hubris--the cabal's. nt

[maxsolomon]

9. the fish rots from the head

i want to agree with you, but lately...

the american condition is hubris.

[tbyg52]

18. Or complacency, or failure to speak up, or something....

You're right, if something wasn't wrong down here, they wouldn't still be there.

It's kinda hard to fight them, though, through the laws at least, when they've got sufficient control of the voting and are working day and night to get a stranglehold on everything else.

[Brigid]

6. NOW.

Any questions?

[Totally Committed]

8. Synchonize watches....

30 seconds, and they should be outta there.

TC

[JoePhilly]

11. Why not just make Iraq a US State?

Sure ... we could do that ... then we don't have to ever leave ... and it's been ~50 years since we added a new state. Its about time to add another.

We add expansion teams to baseball and football every few years. We could add the "Iraqi Insurgents" to the NFL.

Would give the "Bomb" a new meaning. But road games in Bagdad's GWBUSH stadium might suck.

[Loreths]

Double Post

My bad...well, I might as well answer the question. I think we should leave Iraq as soon as it is humanly possible. We caused the mess over there, it's our flag, it was our nation...we need to stay until the mess is cleaned up.

[Loreths]

12. Almost Funny

Don't get me wrong...that was extremely hilarious, however it stops being funny when I realize that idea has probably been floated around in the Republican White House.

[JoePhilly]

15. I've heard that ...

I was just going for funny. The whole situation is so sad that the "how soon" question is moot anyway. We should have never gone in the first place.

My other answer would have been "shortly before the Rumsfeld / Saddam handshake in 83".

[AndyTiedye]

13. RIGHT NOW Seems Like a Good Time to Leave

YESTERDAY would have been better.

[SeattleVet]

14. We can leave at any time.

The can spin it as "Well, we actually won the war, but then we had some problems with the occupation afterwards. Like Reagan in Beirut. So we're leaving, since the insurgency has been in its last throes for the past 2 years."

[TheFarseer]

16. as soon as

it's no longer economically viable as oil producing property. :sarcasm:

[Generic Brad]

17. What happened when we left Viet Nam? Use that as a guide

The violence continued for some time, but eventually the Vietnamese settled down and figured out a way to make peace with each other without either our continued help or presence.

Sure, it will be messy when we eventually leave. The Iraqis will do their best to collectively make sure the door hits us firmly on our invading asses as we leave, but that day will eventually arrive. The anger against us and loss of American life will only increase the longer we prolong our departure.

And I suspect that the Iraqis will find ways to get along with each other once we stop interfering in their internal affairs. They have done it before without us and they will do it again.