Would this analogy apply to what's happening in Iraq?

[Montauk6]

Let's say I run a car service. A client who's used us before calls to hire a car to pick up some VIPs for a huge conference in the city. I go ahead and dispatch a driver.

The driver picks up the men, they instruct him to take them instead to the bank. Pretty soon, it becomse clear, as they're clicking guns and donning masks, that they intend on robbing the bank. They tell him to wait there.

The driver, panic-stricken, calls us back at base to report what's going on, what should he do, etc. I tell him to hold on, stay calm, do what they say, don't do anything foolish, etc., and we'll get back to him shortly. We, in the office, are heatedly debating what to do. A couple people demand that we call the cops, and tell the driver to get the F outta there. The rest of us counter that, even though we were lied to about the bank robbery, we have an agreement with our client, and to protect our reputation, we have to see it through; even under the threat of being a possible accessory to the crime. Moreover, if the driver hightailed it out of there, would the robbers or their associates come after us and even our families?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

1. No, because the reasons people want to stay in Iraq have more to do with

pride than the things you have laid out.

[atreides1]

2. Not Pride

Vanity, arrogance, and a total disregard for what's right!!!!!!

[Montauk6]

3. Well, let's look at that for a moment...

The views I've heard along that line:

* We started a job and we need to finish it.

* If we hightail it out of there, we're sending a message to the world that we're cowards.

* If we leave now, we run the risk that the terrorists may return hear to wreak havoc.

Sure there's pride involved but isn't there as well the faintest whiff of expediency?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. All of that, but I really feel it's mostly about people who don't have

"skin in the game" (sons, daughters, or their OWN ass in Iraq) not wanting to lose "face".

While others, in fact, lose their faces...