Nate Nagel wrote:
HeyBub wrote:
Nate Nagel wrote:
That was always a goal of the US;to withdraw.
"firm timetables" are just a gift to the terrorists.

So when are we going to withdraw? It's been going on six years,
what have we accomplished since the initial invasion and the
capture of Saddam? Are we significantly closer to being able to
execute a graceful withdrawal than we were five years ago? Why did
we even invade in the first place and take our eye off the ball in
Afghanistan? How would *you* feel if a foreign military had been
occupying your country for that long? (especially absent any
previous aggression)

I don't understand this preoccupation with "withdrawal." The United
States has a military presence ("Status of Forces" agreement) with
108 countries. That means we have military units/personnel in 108
countries - over and above token groups like embassy marine guards
or visiting warships. We have them there for our benefit.

Not long ago, the Democrats made a big deal out of McCain's guess
that we might be in Iraq for an extended period. Heck, we've had US
forces in Germany for sixty-three years, a like time for Japan,
Korea for over fifty years. We've had US forces in Cuba for 110
years!

Right, but in none of those places is there active fighting going on.
There haven't been shots fired in Korea or Germany for decades.

## Right. Does anyone wonder WHY no shots have been fired?



Having US forces scattered around the globe - some for many decades
- has been the policy of our government for a hundred years.

Look at the places where we did "withdraw:" Vietnam and Panama come
to mind. Hong Kong is another example

The "withdrawal" of the righteous yielded failure and disaster for
those left behind.

More like, we'd already failed before we withdrew. Just like today.

## Vietnam was not a failure at the time we withdrew. It became a failure
when the Democrats cut off funding for the South Vietnamese government a
year later.

## Panama was not a failure until a Democratic president decided to withdraw
from the Canal Zone.

## The British lease on Hong Kong's lease expired in 1998 after 99 years.
For all I know, Democrats controlled the British Parliment in 1898.


Why do you assume that everyone that disagrees with our current
pointless war is a Democrat?


I never said that everyone who disagrees with the war is a Democrat. The
Democrats certainly disagree and are doing all that they can to hasten our
withdrawl, but I freely admit there are some non-Democrats who want us out,
too:

Osama ben Laden and members of Al Quada,
Miscellaneous Extremist Mohammaden groups,
Other unaffiliated terrorists,
Domestic traitors and other wannabe terrorists, and
The French.