Color me skeptical about the "SURGE". Obviously, its hard to have any faith in what this admin says anymore (track record ain't pretty) But we have to be realistic here and acknowledge that the President had to do something!!

After the Republicans lost power in Nov, he has had to revise the plan. I don't think he believed they would lose the Congress..but lose they did and whatever he had planned had to be changed.

I may disagree with his plan...but as CinC, he had to respond and while 70% of the country is skeptical, we all have to admit that this MIGHT JUST WORK!!

If the violence tampers down, and the number of casualties is significantly reduced (on both the Iraqi and American sides), then we will have to admit it was a good plan. Now, it does NOT excuse the admin from the boneheaded moves over the last 4 years. But it does salvage some CREDIBILITY and signal that at least, there are some heads in here willing to "change course"..

He had to make a move and whether or not he believes this is the "only" move possible will be debated till "man finally lands on Mars".. But I cannot fault him for making this move. As much as I think he has been an ineffective, incompetent and arrogant President, his decision (I have to believe) was made because he is now in a corner.
He had NO OTHER CHOICE!!

I hate to say this (because people close to me are being deployed)..but I feel we must wait (at least for another 3 months) to really see two things:

1 - Has the violence reduced significantly?
2 - Are the Iraqi forces showing signs of handling the militias without the US?

In spite of our disagreements, I believe that a huge majority of us will like nothing better than to see a much much milder Iraq (in terms of violence) and a good number of our soldiers and marines home with their families. Those who label others as America haters and people who want this country to lose are the lowest of individuals themselves..pathetic, bottom dwelling filth who are so sorry in their own lives that there is no other recourse for them.. We should simply ignore them coz they are losing significance EVERYDAY.

Just my humble opinion....

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"Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet."

I do believe that despite what ether side side says about the other that all we want is a stable Iraq and all our troops home. I've never heard anyone say any different.

On a different note I hate the concept of sending more people to fight this war. I don't want to see anymore people get killed. But then not sending more might get more people killed. One thing is clear we can't leave it as it is.

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“Be the change you want to see in the world.” ~ Gandhi.

This is good news Munk, you're being liberated. I can totally understand why Americans overwhelmingly voted the democrats in congress over the Iraq war, but realistically you've got a president trying to do his best, prepered to go against public opinion to achieve his aims, and most importantly showing some balls when everyone's against him. I think he went in with bravery and will leave with grace, so help him god.

If you want to know the full details of the "clear, hold, and build" strategy, read the AEI report on Iraq. It will give you a good understanding of what we are going to do with the surge.

the link to download the report is below.

http://www.aei.org/publications/pubI...pub_detail.asp

I'm at least glad to see you are opening your mind a bit to this plan.

Yeah, you and others and myself have the luxury of "waiting 3 months" to give our final opinion....AFTER we see or don't see results. It's called 20/20 hindsight. EVERYONE who has 20/20 hindsight AFTER an event has taken place, has the luxury of saying either, "Yes it was a brilliant idea"....or "No, it was a horrible idea." BUT a President must make hard and difficult decisions without knowing EXACTLY how it's going to play out in advance. He can and does talk to all the experts, Generals, military experts and get tons of recommendations and ideas, but ultimately he alone has to make the final decision on which way to proceed. It's difficult. Wars are not fought in sterile, laboratory conditions where we can always make sure things go our way.

This is why we should ALL stand behind our President in these difficult decisions and understand how difficult it is. I hope and pray it works, but if it doesn't, we simply keep trying. Because if we don't succeed here in Iraq and just pull out and leave, we will be back someday in the near future and things will be tons worse in that entire Middle East area. We're seeing some progress now on the Palestinian-Israeli front and other areas have cooled down. Now is not the time to give up.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

I have to mention that he has only changed course now that he has no other choice . People have called for a change for a long time now. Careful what you wish for might apply here...

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“Be the change you want to see in the world.” ~ Gandhi.

includes this as one of the key elements to success:
this independent, elected iraqi government may be inclined to operate out of lock-step with the new and possibly improved 'stay the course' strategy. if we find that there is no prospect for "unity" will we then be able to declare victory and abandon the war?

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1.20.09 - the end of an error

"The people who cast the votes don't decide an election, the people who count the votes do." Joseph Stalin

Life is a sexually transmitted disease having a 100% fatality rate

One has good cause to be skeptical. The plans of this administration have failed miserably so far, and will continue to fail. The reason? YOU CANNOT WIN A GUERILLA WAR WITH SUPERIOR MILITARY STRENGTH AND TECHNOLOGY.

Look at the truth about Iraq:

Baghdad families imprisoned, divided by fear

By Claudia Parsons Sun Jan 14, 11:00 AM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - For Abu Mina, a ceramic artist and professor, Baghdad is one big jail -- too dangerous for him to live with his wife and daughters, too dangerous for him to meet his students openly, too dangerous to work in his studio.

He and his son, a 21-year-old medical student, recently left the family home for fear of sectarian attacks, dividing his family as the city itself has become increasingly divided.

It is just this sort of private tragedy that
President Bush must help end with his new strategy for securing Baghdad with more troops.

"They kill just boys and men," Abu Mina said of sectarian gunmen. "They leave girls and women. Yesterday my wife gave me a call and she told me my neighbor, a dentist, they took him.

"That means in two days they will find him outside Baghdad without life. They kill everybody. So I left my wife and my two girls and I brought with me just my son," said Abu Mina, who studied in the United States.

Rest of article at:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070114/...raq_baghdad_dc

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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Schopenhauer

Ya, I think that this new plan brings the best chances of stability and victory. I don't understand 2 things though.

1. Why are we telling the whole world, including our enimies, our plan?
2. This was an obvious move from the begining, why did we not do it then?

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"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." -V

It's human nature to hope the President's "Next Plan" will work. In his interviews and speech, he stressed points like, "we cannot fail in Iraq"...and "the Iraqi nation must be given a chance to succeed." Bush talks about the consequences of failure in Iraq in catastrophic terms..."all of the young democracies in the Middle East will fall". You hear that and you want to give him a one more chance.

What you don't hear, but what you accept if you say, "It might work"...is the death of at least another couple thousand American soldiers. Every day in Iraq is costing the country $3 billion per day. Another year in Iraq will cost the country almost and extra $1 trillion. And it will cost us dearly in terms of goodwill around the world. Everyday we see a reaction against a weakened US. Chavez becomes an embolden President of Venezuela, the esteem of Iran's president grows as he thumbs his nose at Washington. The situation in North Korea deteriorates...basically this war is dragging American downhill fast.

No one really has a choice about following the President, so we all get to see what happens in the 4th quarter of the game. But if you think the price of the game is free, you're dead wrong. When you stop opposing stupid decisions like the President has made, you essentially give them tacit support. The blood will be on your hands for not speaking out strong and loudly...as often as you can. Vocal opposition to the President is the only weapon people have in a democracy to bring the troops home and let the Iraqi's determine their own fate. Give up that vocal opposition, and you've joined Bush on a horrible gamble with horrible consequences.

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Hobo
Charter member of 'Republicans Who Hate Bush" Club