"Only the dead have seen the end of war" ~

Plato

Well said. 99% of people around the world think this way. 70% American start thinking this way too. I am so ashamed of our president Bush from Texas.

Hey thats me! I welcomed myself back a couple of weeks ago.

Well I saw confusion, disorganization, and money being spent for equipment that collects dust in sandy parking lots. The difference I saw (as a soldier part of the new surge) was a change in the amount of attacks on Americans due to the cease-fire put in place by muqtada al-sadr... not the troops. Ask the kurds no longer living in fear? Locals constantly live in fear they'll catch stray rounds from insurgents AND American black hawks/soldiers. See, I actually spoke regularly with locals w/ American funded translators... I didn't just hear about it on a news channel and take their word for it.

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Welcome home and thank you for your service.

I was with the 777th EAS.

Regardless of your take on the situation, your service is appreciated.

The war has been nothing but a waste of lives and resources. One of our biggest foreign policy blunders ever.

What about facts on the ground? Do they even matter to you? It seems the Iraqi government is finally forming a consensus political party and the Kurds, Shia, and Sunni are all taking on directly one of the last thorns in their side- Al Sadr, and are winning handily, after initial difficulties.

It seems like a democratic, stable, friendly Iraq is near at hand. The liberals have always decried, and still decry, when we do business with dictators, at the same time they now say we should talk and do business with everyone, and now say replacing a dictator with a democracy is not only not worth the sacrifice made but worth nothing at all.

Talk about having it THREE ways.

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Qur'an:8:39 Fight them until all opposition ends and all submit to Allah.
Qur'an:8:67 It is not fitting for any prophet to have prisoners until he has made a great slaughter in the land.
Qur'an 8:12 I will terrorize the unbelievers...Strike off their heads and cut off each of their fingers and toes.
Qur'an 9:5 Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, torture them, and lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war.

Near at hand? Get back to me about that when Americans stop dying. The war's not even over yet.

And I don't care what liberals have to say.

So, you don't value progress or don't believe there is any?

I am as eager for the successful conclusion of the Iraqi counter-insurgency as you. The signs seem very good to me right now as Maliki seems greatly strengthened, with a coalition of Kurds, Shia, and Sunny, by taking on the Sadr forces directly and establishing government control of the entire country. They have a budget surplus, violence is down, a coalition is forming against AQ.

It seems success is very near, maybe well ahead of the 2 year timetable I asserted a couple weeks ago.

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Qur'an:8:39 Fight them until all opposition ends and all submit to Allah.
Qur'an:8:67 It is not fitting for any prophet to have prisoners until he has made a great slaughter in the land.
Qur'an 8:12 I will terrorize the unbelievers...Strike off their heads and cut off each of their fingers and toes.
Qur'an 9:5 Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, torture them, and lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war.

The soldiers everday have to amputate some 5 year old kid's arm, or bury an American soldier. There's no justification for this. Positioning in a foreign country? WTF is that.

Progress is when the US allows the Iraqis to govern themselves. Right now, they do what we tell them to do.