Did America just lose the War? Read this!?
820394
Ever hear off Veto power everything in this country is about to be put on lock down due to party politics.  Bush wants this and the Dems want that and neither will get anything.  Every election year I realize more and more why I hate our political system.
1066850
Exactly...this is another Vietnam...it might not be the same scale casualty wise (at least American casulaties. Iraqi deaths are right up there). It's ridiculous. We never should have been there. I don't think it's the military's fault that there isn't progress...I'm sure they're doing what they can but there is only so much you can do before you realize that things aren't going to get any better. Insurgents are nasty and they'll stop at nothing to kill someone. This war is going to be going on for a long time unless something changes and unfortunately we have to wait a couple more years before those changes can begin. We destroyed a country now we're going to have to pay for it ....probably for the rest of our lives. It's a sad situation with no real end. You still have people out there saying that it was good that we went in...we got Saddam...we didn't go in to get Saddam. We went in to get weapons and the only ones we've found are the ones we sold them years ago to fight Iran. Interesting how that works out isn't it?
569088
No and quite frankly why should anyone help the Americans to solve this problem. The civilised world was screaming at them not to invade Iraq, but no America knows best. So really America should clean up this mess and finally realise that war is not just cruise missiles flying over the skies of Baghdad in a pyrotechnic display of shock and awe. \n\nAmerica was founded by a group of idealists that wanted to remove the shackles of imposed government. May be it is time that America returns back to it's founding fathers and reexamines it's gun ho attitude to the world. \n\nMay be she can realise that yes Saddam Hussein was a tyrant, but for a civilised world, there has to be alternative to war and bloodshed. Is that not why the UN was set up after the second world war to try and avoid the carnage being repeated?
1159435
when George W. Bush ends it,,,, this is his war,,,, not America's. US Soldiers and our Allies are paying for his mistake with their lives, limbs, brains,,, hearts and souls,,,,, American Treasure is now in the TRILLIONS,,,,,,,,, the lives of military that have been lost,,,, the cost of Iraqi lives,,, and private companies in Iraq,,,, our Media,,,, the cost goes on and on,,,,,,,,,\nwinding down? how do you wind down a WAR,,,, this is not a GAME or TOY!
293741
More possibly a new American civil war. Or revolution. Heck, we, this "nation of immigrants", wiped out the original inhabitants of this country, and locked the rest of them onto reservations. I'll bet the true native Americans are getting a real chuckle over all this. We're worried about losing "our" country, but we seem to forget we stole it in the first place. So maybe now somebody else is getting ready to steal it from US! What goes around comes around. We've become a little too self-righteous for our britches anyway.
933520
The insertion of troops was a major mistake. The entire region under Islamic influence from Morocco to Indonesia is far less stable as a result. The U.S. is increasingly seen as dictatorial by increasing numbers of people around the world. Our economy has been vastly weakened. We do not have enough troops available should other emergencies develop. The Civil War, denied by the Bush administration but acknowledged as being fully underway by the rest of the world, deepens daily and leaves American troops there as sitting ducks. There can be no victory in Iraq. Just as the British learned after World War I, the Iraqis will not be conquered. There is too much value underground (oil) and too much division above-ground. The only result of continued occupation will be increasing governmental debt for the U.S. and more dead and injured American soldiers. Military contractors such as Halliburton are being enriched. The Bush administration has no idea of what they mean by "victory", nor does Tony Blair in England.
808157
Hey hey LBJ,  how many kids did you kill today?  It sounds like the same people running this one ran Vietnam.  Bush is not there to prevent disorder,but to  preserve it.  All so the plunder can continue while our military are security police for Halliburton and whatever other agents are there carrying out the plunder.  And don't forget we threw Afghanistan in as well.  Tell it like it is.  It does not exceed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but it is right up there on the scaremeter.  Well done!
960788
Yes, but it's more a occupation than a war, I believe George W Bush already declared victory in the war part of this whole messy plan. Most Americans care about our soldiers over there but with all the other worries about a "rigged" election coming, immigration which is a vital issue, and just the legitimacy of our government is a worry many have and this tends to take attention away from Iraq, if you remember the real war was suppose to be in Afghanistan, not Iraq. And now with the nuclear talk coming up again it's no wonder the attention and support our troops are getting has diminished. This is not the fault of Americans, it's the fault of this administration in their inability to do anything right and honest. Shame on Bush and all the people who back him, you can support our troops without supporting our president and the idiots running this occupation.
903649
Man you people need to get off the same rhetoric that you have been thinking and saying.  All I ever hear is Bush’s illegal war and Clinton’s secret bombings with jets painted to be from NATO. You know the question is not even about that.  Did you know that there were draft riots because people did not want to fight in the civil war?  \nIf you look at the untied states over the past 100 years you can see the changes.  Every generation has gotten a little worse.  Now all you see on TV is sex and violence.  This has been a slow growing thing until computers. Now we are moving faster and losing all the respect for each other but mostly for ourselves.  This nation should be ashamed of the things we do. I know that the question is about when did we lose respect for the presidency but you can not just say that that is all we have lost respect for.   As far as the presidency goes I would say it started to get real ugly when we were losing so many men in Vietnam. People are all happy when in the times of WWII and we were winning.  Thousands of people died but we were seeing much progress.  When we were getting no real results people got mad and blamed the president.  Now that is when I can say flat out blatant disrespect for the president came to rise.  Which right about the time that the liberal party was hijacked by radicals.  To think that it was once a great party.
713965
As a disabled veterans who has been in the gulf, my feeling is we already lost the war. I am angry because we should have never been there in the first place. Now my fellow soldiers are caught in a civil war that puts them in the middle of their fighting.\n\nTheir were no terrorists in Iraq until we invaded. This invasion created a base of extremists that joined the Al Qaida group to fight our soldiers.  \n\nThis war is not winable! It's a guerrilla war, something our soldiers are not trained to fight!
643074
The war is wrong no matter who supported it. Besides, you can get yourself into a half-baked idea and later realize it was foolish. That's the real problem with what's going on; we refuse to pull out and spare American lives and resources.
482690
Excellent. In the darkest days of World War 2 the American public began to become disgruntled about being in the war. After reports of thousands of troops dying sometimes daily, many parents of fallen soldiers began to actually write dissenting letters to the generals and and other governmental leaders. But our government made the decision to stay the course and continue to absolute victory. And now, despite the heavy losses, history has vindicated our involvement in the war as being a great triumph over tyranny. The same can be said about our leaders resolve for victory during the darkest days of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.\n\nSince then, the government gave in to public pressure during the Korean and Vietnamese wars; both of which the military could have ultimately come out victorious. In fact, commanders in the field in Vietnam will tell you that we were not losing the war. In counting casualties, we lost 58,000 troops killed to an astonishing over 2 million Vietnamese. \n\nThe problem is, just like after 9/11, Americans are all patriotic and ready to fight - until the body bags start coming in. You can't win a war like this. In WW2 our leaders fought on despite the pain of losses. Once complete victory and success has been achieved in Iraq, history will vindicate it as a war worth fighting as well. If we just pack up and leave because of public pressure, then just like Vietnam this current conflict will go down in American history as a failure.
1146901
I've got a feeling that rather than "beating the crap out of Iraq", the US is eventually going to have to shamefully retreat with their tails between their legs after another corperate war they have completely F%£$ed up! Vietnam was the lesson 101, they didn't pay attention and had to repeat class....\nShame, bet all those mothers are real proud......\nOil is not worth it, we are DESTROYING THE PLANET! Go Green Energy.....\nAnd for anyone who thinks I am some stupid anti-war hippy, you are dead wrong. I am very patriotic to my country (Australia) and will always support our diggers wherever they go, I work in a war museum, and understand the political and social reasons for military conflict. However I feel that the vets who died valiantly in the name of a morally good cause (preventing Hitler's evil) would be very ashamed of how we utilise our strength now. Having studied politics, history and international law, I have to say the USA got it dead wrong  this time, and dragged us and the Brits in too. Now Iraq is a shambles, their is no obvious way out, the country is about to fall into the hands of extremists like Al-qaeda, an outcome not previously possible, and so many people have been killed for nothing. What positives have come from it for the west? Really? Truthfully? Cheaper oil? NOPE - it's MORE expensive than previously. A few greedy men have gotten richer, and a lot of kids have been blown up or shot. \nWell done USA, you should be proud.
77387
OH MY GOD!!! Some one that see's the light. Thank god.  We don't have many rights left anymore.  the whole war is a hoax to make the US into a Marshall law state and take over the world as a global goverment.  No one wants to admitt it. Hell, a lot of people don't see it.  As long as they got American Idol on tv there ok.
698986
There are several examples in history of the superpower losing a war everyone thought they would just walk through.  Vietnam is one of these.  The VC knew that if they could just hold out long enough, the US would just go away due to exhaustion.  The same is true in Iraq; the populace knows we as a citizenry will start to DEMAND the troops come home because we are tired of the losses.\n\nAnother example is our own revolution against Britain.  Washington knew if he could keep the army together the Brits would eventually get tired of throwing away men they needed on European fronts and go away.  That's pretty much what happened.  It didn't hurt that we had French support, but the end was inevitable for Britain -- and us.  It is impossible to fight a population of insurgents without doing too much damage to those who support us in the region.  See also: Vietnam, Afghanistan.\n\nWhy do people think we can win?  They don't study political science and history -- I do.
192982
Are you serious?  Of course not, that's how we are in this mess in the first place.  This war is about ideology, not reality.
924957
AMERICA SHOULD NOT LOSE THE WAR.  WE SHOULD BACK OFF AND LET THEM GO TO IT.  WE ALWAYS KNEW THE PEOPLE IN THAT AREA WERE PRONE TO HOLD A GRUDGE FOREVER.  THEY ARE OF A MIND THAT WE CAUSED ANYTHING BAD THAT HAPPENS TO THEM.  "WE ARE THE BAD GUYS"  IF WE BANDAGE THEIR WOUNDS THE ZEALOTS SAY WE ARE DOING IT WITH INFECTED BANDAGES IN ORDER TO MURDER THEM, ECT.  THE POOR CHILDREN, WOMEN AND MEN WHO HAVE BEEN BRAINWASHED ARE DOOMED TO A WASTED LIFE OF HATRED.