There Is A Tunnel, But Is There A Light?

(CBS)  Weekly commentary by CBS Evening News chief Washington correspondent and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer.

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I listened closely this week as Washington debated the war. As you heard from our guests this morning, it boiled down to this: the administration believes there will be chaos if we leave Iraq, and Democrats see chaos if we stay.

The more I listened, the more I came to believe that neither side really knows what to do.

We have reached the point where there no longer are any good answers. Whatever we do, there will be consequences.

Yes, there has been progress, as the administration argues, but even the administration admits that what has been accomplished is so fragile that it could evaporate if we leave.

Democrats rightly argue that our military is stretched so thin we cannot continue to keep troop levels where they are for much longer, yet they cannot say what will happen if we draw down the force.

There is no longer even agreement on exactly who the enemy is or what poses the greatest threat to our own national security.

During Vietnam, the government kept seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

In the darkness of the Iraq tunnel, all seem to agree there is something ahead, but no one can make out just what it is … or how long the tunnel may be.

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E-mail Face the Nation.
By Bob Schieffer

[imnho]

I think the light at the end of the tunnel is an uncoming train.

[chad55555]

I really hate to be the carrier of bad news but there is no light to be seen.We are at a point in history where mans has been many times.Mans history is well described in a trail of blood and war. Russia,China and India with rest of the world close behind will soon be hungry and the energy needed to keep them happy is not there.
Man will do what man has always done,turn to war and destruction to get what they need for their own people. America will soon find out that by not knowing who we are and letting everyone come to this great land will lead to the fall of this once great country.Who do you blame,peole in education and religion for pushing equal rights,Democratic process for letting people vote for race and gender and not for whats best for the country.Maybe a country is like a person you are born,you live a short time and you die and nothing can change that.Still it would be nice for America to last a few thousand years like Rome but I guess it''s not to be.

[sjc_1]

As we enter our 6th year of this war, there has been so little real progress because there have been so few defined goals. The American people allowed this to happen. Instead of demanding measurable goals and monitoring performance, they allowed vague one liners to carry the day. We get what we deserve.

[ranger1948]

This was a no win situation for the American people before we invaded. The Iraqui''s have been fighting for hundreds of years and will continue to fight whether we are there or not. It was a civil matter that should have been settled by the Iraqui''s. And why are we paying for their war ? Only answer is because bush and his cronies are getting rich with the blood of our soldiers. People worry about world opinion. If we pull out of Iraq it will pronanly improve. W e need to stop trying to be the world police, We need a leader who wil pull us out of Iraq and address the problems at home. Foreign aid, it is a time for us to quit giving away money. We can no longer afford to suppiort the world financially. As for the war debt the American people never wanted this war, bush did, let him pay for it, impeach him, freeze his assets and return the money to the coffers of the American treasury. We need to try the bush regime for war crimes. Let other countries choose how they want to live and stop trying to force democracy down their throats. IO am sure if we do this world opinion of the U.S. will improve greatly.

[blackyowe]

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
`Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!'' he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.II.
`Forward, the Light Brigade!''
Was there a man dismay''d?
Not tho'' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder''d:
Their''s not to make reply,
Their''s not to reason why,
Their''s but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.III

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley''d and thunder''d;
Storm''d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.IV

Flash''d all their sabres bare,
Flash''d as they turn''d in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder''d:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro'' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel''d from the sabre-stroke
Shatter''d and sunder''d.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.......

[imnho]

There are no good options. There are bad options and real bad options. The big question is when to cut our losses and bail out of a hopeless situation. The people in Iraq are not interested in making peace with each other.

[mascarponi-2009]

... oh, and by the way,

WHERE ARE THOSE "LOST" WHITEHOUSE EMAILS ????!!!!!

some of us still want the truth. AND it''s illegal to "lose" them... and it''s illegal to use other email servers for Govt business... so Why isn''t the RNC turing over all those whitehouse emails sent though their systems????

[fan-of-ann]

No one seems to have noticed, but we have switched sides in Iraq. These Sons of Iraq, our new bff''s, were the same bad guys/terrorists/insurgents who, although in their last throes, killed thousands of Americans.
They are now on our payroll. And since I just paid my taxes, my payroll. Someone in the pentagon must have gotten a map of the whole region and discovered no one likes the Shia. Except Iran, and no one likes them either. Like the new kid in school, we picked the wrong group to hang out with. Who knew? Evidently everyone.
I believe the Bush administration DOES have a plan. They usually do, and this time I believe they are going to rely on a classic combo. 1. A mini-Saddam
handpicked from the ranks of his old republican guard
2. Add Weapons of Mass Destruction 3. Shock and Awe
the 2.5 million Shia in Sadr city and 4. an October Surprise, taking the Shock and Awe to Iran. Just get Gates and Petraeus into the McCain administration, and it''s deja vu all over again. I do believe I smell a final solution. Given the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians already maimed and killed since the invasion, and the destruction to come, I believe final and solution should be capitalized, but I hesitate to offend.

[jon2012-2009]

"Democrats rightly argue that our military is stretched so thin we cannot continue to keep troop levels where they are for much longer, yet they cannot say what will happen if we draw down the force."

Like an investment that has soured, we have to decide how much more good money to throw after bad. So two years more? Three? Then get the hell out of there regardless of the consequences which, at this point, are speculative. We got to bite the bullet anyway sooner or later but we have to do that and move on.

[hungry1968]

The more I listened, the more I came to believe that neither side really knows what to do.





Finally!! It takes a journalist to finally admit the truth!!!