Comments on: Iraq: Tell Me How This Ends

David Martin: It's Not Worth Arguing About Who Made Mistakes, Just How To End The War

[clemenhagen1]

This administration has tried to distract by continuing to mention al Qaeda, but only in the context of the Iraq War. In reality al Qaeda constitutes but a minor aspect of the Iraq complexity, but our Iraq preoccupation has allowed both the Taliban and al Qaeda to regroup in Pakistan. True resolution to the Iraq conflict has to begin with a realistic assessment of the conflict. All this talk of al Qaeda taking over in Iraq? Utter and complete nonsense! Anyone with a brain knows that the Iraqi factions (Shiite, Sunni, Kurd) will not tolerate al Qaeda in the wake of U.S. withdrawal. So it really comes down to pacifying the Sunni insurgency, and coercing the majority Shiites to share power while protecting the minority rights of Sunni and Kurd factions. The Kurds control an autonomous region, so that proves less problematic. The Sunni triangle? Much tougher nut to crack. Resolution of the Sunni/Shiite war must involve genuine diplomatic efforts with all regional powers, including the Saudis and Iranians. Can the Bush administration get beyond their fictions and egos to accomplish such heady statemanship? Uh...

[jsilver2th]

I this the bong hits for Jesus page?

I don't know how to break it to you but it's gonna end in a BIG MESS.

[diplomacy3]

The United States has approved a visa for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to enable him to address the U.N. Security Council over Tehran's nuclear program, the State Department said on Monday....


Everybody likes America??

[diplomacy3]

Iraq: Tell me how this ends.

There is one universal rule and that we must know: When you lose popular support at home for any mission, failure is certain no matter how strong and confident you may be.

[springfever0]

Its difficult to understand how digging the hole deeper is going to help us get out of the hole.

The surge was supposed to require a certain number of troops. Before it even got going, it's requiring substantially more than that number. With all due respect to the generals, how can you decide you need more troops before you even deploy the ones that you asked for in the first place.

What happens when the so-called surge fails. Supposedly, there is no Plan B. And, it will still be months to go before the elections and the Administration can pass the ball off to the next Administration and try to lay the blame on them.

Everything will be OK. Karl Rove is hard at work spinning Bush's legacy.

[springfever0]

I had my doubts about the war and expressed them at the time in an interview that appeared in many newspapers across the country. I said the problem would not be winning the war, it would be winning the peace and while doing it, not destablize the Middle East. Here we are four years later and tragically, I was right. How is this going to end. We'll eventually leave and when we do, conflicts between Iraq and its neighbors, for whatever reason, will shake the security of the entire world. It will take very little to light off that bonfire and when it happens, then what will we do. In fact, there will be almost nothing that we can do. We'll be weak in diplomacy and weak militarily. The consequences will be very grave indeed.

You did a heck of job guys.

[xgi123]

Impeach? A futile effort which would only equate to pardon.

[ademeyer]

President Blank Stare needs to be impeached along with Dead Eye D i c k. A coalition of Democrats with military and diplomatic experience should then be sent to Iraq to organize voter referendums on what should be done, i.e. do Iraqis want to break into three states and share oil revenue? If they can poll Iraqis and find out 18% want the US to stay, they can pol them to find a way to end the violence. I think Kerry, Wes Clark, Bill Clinton, Senator Webb, et al have the talent to win the peace.

[rharrin1]

The problem with this story is NO MISTAKES WERE MADE --BUT LIES WERE TOLD

Now cbs is catering to bush and cheney.

[neinpdndnt]

The truth is, this war was fought for OIL. Saddam had just made an agreement with French and Russian oil companies for work on the Iraqi owned (state-controlled) oil fields. Bush & Cheney used the threat of WMDs & "mushroom clouds" as an excuse to start a war, set up a new government (and thus voiding the old agreements) that was more friendly to them and could be persuaded to allow foreign (i.e. US oil companies) easier access - and control- of the iraqi oil fields. The new "revenue sharing agreement" for oil revenues between the Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions that is being touted so much by this administration has a provision in it to allow just that- for their oil friends to get a greater piece of the action. Almost 3200 US soldiers have died for some oil corporations chances to increase their profits (already excessive!) and be able to control more oil that was previously controlled by a state (Iraq). This is unforgivable- and many in the middle east (and the rest of the world) can see it...and that is why the US is hated even more around the world. Congress needs to investigate this in full (never mind if some congressmen on either side of the isle get embarrassed)...