Should our troops be sent home immediately from Iraq?
407616
Absolutely. They have no business over there now that the real agenda has been figure out why this war was started in the first place. I believe that Saddam would have eventually gotten killed or taken out of office but to lie to start this war was and is wrong and we should have to lose another family member or friend over this war. If it is that serious, President Bush and his flunky along with his and their families should be over fighting. Just my opinion.
510252
The Iraqi people are involved in a civil war now and if we leave now or later doesn't make any differnce they will be involve in a civil war, I say pull out now and let them settle it. No more American lives should be lost to a lost cause, and a misguided war from the begining.
1184240
If I might ask, when exactly did anyone tell us to leave? Please give me a reference to a speceific report or news broadcast that says so.\n\nOk here is a quote from the article you were talking about, thank you! It was from Jalal Talabani as you stated who was the Iraqi President until the first election.\n\n"'We think that America has the full right to move some forces from Iraq to their country because I think we can replace them [with] our forces," Talabani said. "In my opinion, at least from 40,000 to 50,000 American troops can be [withdrawn] by the end of this year.'\n\n"That assessment differs dramatically from those offered by Bush and by U.S. military commanders in Iraq.\n\n"Bush has carefully avoided setting a timetable for reducing the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, currently about 140,000, and the Pentagon plans to maintain or slightly increase the force level in anticipation of an Oct. 15 referendum on Iraq's new constitution. White House officials say that Bush's strategy for eventually withdrawing troops hinges on Iraqis' approving the constitution and holding successful elections in December."\n\nYou are not wrong that he talked about some troops leaving. But it was not a matter of telling the U.S. to get out. Of course you knew that I would find an inaccuracy as you said in your message to me. But that doesn't mean you can't admit being slightly wrong and that maybe you can learn something, or you can just ignore me and forget about it.\n\nHere is the explanation. Talabani was making a suggestion that we COULD relieve our forces, not that we should, nor was he making a demand. He was going to replace them with American trained Iraqi forces anyway. So that wouldn't really change a thing. President Bush and he agreed that there should not be a rush or timetable placed on the matter and that they could make a decision about that when the time came. He said at that time that it would be well after the election. We are at that point and now we are close to pulling out that many troops.\n\nIt was a suggestion. We would like to leave just as bad as they would like us to not be occupying them any longer, but Abass said that he is afraid that if we leave too early, his peace efforts with the Palestinians, Isreal and the Hamas would cause the new Iraqi government to crumble.\n\nHopefully we will pull out soon!
573176
I totally agree with this. I think that they should bring our people home and let the other countries fight thier own battles.
838719
Yes. An exit strategy. It will go something like this. We give Iraq a time-line to get their government "in gear" and running, telling them it's their responsibility to get the violence under control. A year passes, nothing changes. Now the onus is on them instead of us. We give them a few more months and tell them if no changes, we start withdrawing our troops. Nothing changes, still uncontrolled violence everywhere. Around April of 08 we start pulling our troops out, and then both parties can place the blame on Iraq for not gaining control of their own country, dismissing any part they had in starting the cause of the violence.
362565
I think that we will be there for several years to come--at least 5.  Or until a new pres. takes the Oath and yanks them all (our troops) back. \n\nI don't think we will ever completely leave Iraq.  We still have bases in Germany, Japan, and many other countries. (Of course, they are our Allies now....maybe one day Iraq will will one of our Allies, too.  Wow, that's like imagining to live on the moon!!)
983745
At this point, just leaving Iraq right now with the situation it's in is a recipe for disaster. If you think it's bad now, just imagine what it'll be like without us. On the other hand, it's more of a catch-22 than anything. If we keep staying in Iraq, insurgents will keep killing soldiers. If we leave, however, everything we've done will be for nothing. The closest thing we can do that would be considered winning in my opinion is to have a functioning government, an army that can hold it's own, and basically get Iraq back on it's feet. After that, then we should leave. If there is *no* way we can win the war without anything like divine intervention, then we might as well leave.
1117216
No, there should be no cast-in-concrete definite date. The reason is not because US troops should be removed from Iraq, because they should be, but because giving a definite date will work to the advantage of insurgents who can then plan accordingly.  As long as the insurgents are kept second guessing the US intentions they will be off balance and will not be able to formulate definitve actions based on that information.  \n\nWhat would probably work far better is a gradual drawdown of so many thousands a month or whatever, with the option to send them right back if any massive insurgent attacks occur.  By gradually pulling troops out, there will be no definite date that would mark a boundary between "troops there" and "troops not there".  It's sort of the reverse of putting the frog in the pot of cold water and gradually turning up the heat; the water begins to get warm so gradually that the frog doesn't notice it and before he knows it he is boiled to death.  A gradual drawdown of troops would be much the same only in reverse.  As US troops gradually leave, the power shift to Iraqi soldiers would be hardly noticable until one day they all come to the realization that all the US troops  had left months ago.
879480
I want the soldiers to come home.
781702
The soldiers at Fort Campbell have actually been coming home now since July. There are a LOT of people here so it has been a huge ordeal. It takes a lot of time, manpower, and patience to get 20,000+ soldiers home from Iraq. While they are in the process of redeployment they stay very busy and it's hard to get in touch with people. When my husband was on his way home I didn't hear from him much the last week or so - he called from Maine to let me know what was going on with his flights. I know that from the time he got to Kuwait to when his flight landed at Fort Campbell was about 4 days (it was the same both times he was deployed). It is not unusual for it to have been a week since you heard from him. Also, several incoming flights this week were delayed by a few days. I don't know how that affected everyone else, but it may have backed up everyone by a few days.\n\nOnce he gets to Fort Campbell, he will have a mandatory 7-day reintegration period. This is a post-wide requirement, everyone who comes home must go through it. If his flight lands after 6 pm, he may have the next day off (at the commander's discretion) - otherwise, reintegration starts the next day. The 7 days are half days, and the rest of the day he should have off. At the end of those 7 days, he will get a 4-day weekend, then back to work for normal work days. Once a certain percentage of the brigade has gone through reintegration (I think it was 75% for my husband's unit), they will release them for up to 30 days leave. My husband got home at the end of July and didn't get leave until September 18th, so it may be a while. (It shouldn't be that long for the guys who are coming home right now though.) \n\nPlease keep in mind that he will be very busy in the next few weeks. They have a lot to do when they get home, and even after leave is over they will still be dealing with post-deployment things. I am sure he will contact you when he gets a chance, you just need to be patient.
715495
I saw that the other night, and think it is a fantastic idea.\n\nIf they wan't us to leave, I would have no problem with our troops leaving.  If they want us to stay, the libs would have to shut the hell up with their b.s.\n\n---\n\ncosmico, an empty bottle of whisky\n\n---\n\nlook at all the libs that don't want the iraqi's to vote.  Interesting.
302115
I think most people think of our troops and think of the images they see on the news. They don't think about it being their neighbors or relatives. I keep hearing people say the troops should come home, which is a great idea and all, but to do it before the job is finished would be like pissing on the graves of all soldiers that died during the war, they would have died for nothing. It would be like going up the the thousands of veterans disabled by the war and tell them that they failed, they lost their arm, leg, vision, etc for a job that wasn't necessary and therefore wasn't followed through with. And to know that I lost close friends, some of the best soldiers in the world for nothing, I would lose it. It would be just like when we withdrew from Somalia less than a few weeks after all of those Rangers and SF guys were killed, nothing was accomplished and that place is still in chaos. This would be the same thing but 200 times more severe.
1100585
only if you are far away from harm and are expecting them to happen.....war zone explsions are hurting our men/women in the war now...not pretty and unnecessary...pray that all will be home soon......and safe!
142565
Before the US can consider attacks on other countries, it would be smart to get out of the quagmire it has in Iraq. I used to believe the insurgents simply wanted us out of Iraq and that they would quit when we left.  I no longer believe that. I believe they are deliberately keeping us bogged down over there, and keeping us busy putting out fires, so that we can't leave.  We must feel some obligation to stay until we see at least one commencement ceremony from their new government.  That would allow a clean break and this will probably never happen.  It is now time for a serious exit strategy.  It is time to give Iraq a short term timetable.  It is time for our troops to come home, lick our wounds, and get ready for the next round, wherever that will be.  I seriously doubt that it will Pakistan as long as Musarreff is in charge. Iran, on the other hand, or Syria????
771577
Yes, our military involvement in Iraq will end, whether it's called a war, police action, or whatnot. At the very least, a president -- likely not the current one -- will simply declare victory, or mission accomplished, and then pull the troops out. Very much like what occurred in Vietnam. But if we settle for this sort of "victory," we may well face dire consequences as a result. \n\nI certainly hope we are able to bring our troops home after they have truly accomplished their mission. Are they very far away from doing that? From the news reports it certainly seems a distant thing.
1084676
Yes, eventually. If more of you that want us out would enlist and we had enough troops for shorter rotations, we would have teh strength to leave sooner.
899128
The military should ship them all back from where they came from, and guard the borders.\n\nThey don't know who is crossing the borders from Mexico or Canada.  They could be terrorists.\n\nBring the troops home to take care of our own country.