Exit Strategy=Surrender

“If you read the newspaper or watch the news on TV, you are likely to hear the phrase "exit strategy" used to describe the end of the US involvement in Iraq.

Be sure, every time, to replace the phrase "exit strategy" with "surrender."

For example, if Donald Rumsfeld says, "After the election, we will begin the exit strategy..."

Well, you get the point.”

“Uhh... surrender to WHO exactly? LOL.

We never should have invaded. Jr. invaded with the ridiculous idea of installing some kind of a "better puppet" when we already had a U.S. puppet installed as Saddam... and Saddam, unlike the Bush family... kept oil prices cheap as dirt!”

“Trail Turtle, that makes no sense to me. Saddam hadn't been on a CIA payroll for decades.”

“TrailTurtle is BuddaBear, so it will make person sense to him.”

“I do wonder if the Bush administration is planning on the newly elected regime to ask them to leave - then declaring victory and leaving according to the will of the people. This would allow them to declare a success, and they could hope no one here would notice what follows in Iraq or how the events effect the US.

I don't know how worried the Bush administration is, or how important it is to them to try to determine the fate of Iraq. So I am curious to see if they will use this face saving exit.”

“He doesn't write like BB, Stomp. I don't think it's him...”

“Read more of his drivel, tree.
http://www.thebackpacker.com/trailtalk/thread/35817,3.php
http://www.thebackpacker.com/trailtalk/thread/35801,3.php
last edited: 1/11/05 12:50:52 PM”

“How do you think I came to the conclusion that it wasn't him. I read enough to think that. Now, I truly believe that you WANT it to be him. But, it just doesn't seem to match to me...”

“"face saving" = "cowardly"”

“I hope we leave after the elections. Most importantly I hope we leave with the Iraqis having a foundation to work from. I dont hope this so that Bush or the US can boast (which they will if this happens,unfortunately) I hope this for the Iraqi People. Wether we should be there or not, we are. This makes their improvement our responsiblity, in money and blood. We owe them big time. I dont think that there can be a "victory" or "loss" in the traditional sense. I think that the killing and dying can stop. But like I said we owe them sooo much.”

“I wish we never even set eyes of feet on that god forsaken shlthole of a country. We don't have the stomach to wield our own freedoms responsibly much less have the stomach to fight for anyone else's.

Phuck the world. We got ours now you go get yours.”

“I just find it galling that we've spent most of the last four years arguing about how important Iraq is. Then, we hold an election in which the American people agree that Iraq is important. Then, all that Washington seems to be talking about is how we can weasel out of that important job.

Iraq is still as important as it ever has been. It still has mucho oil. It now has real terrorist organizations. It now has Iranian influence in lots of places. It is, in fact, more important than it was at the beginning of the war. Add to that the fact that our national prestige is at stake.

If we leave, we will prove Osama bin Laden right. We don't have the stomach to fight. We can't take casualties.

If we leave, no one will ever take our force seriously again.

I didn't like this war at the start. I don't agree with it. I think Bush will have a lot to answer to in the history books. But, we should suck it up and do what is necessary to make this thing work.

We are not a nation of weasels. And we have too much riding on this to leave unless the casualty figures rise dramatically.”

“Personally, I am not atg all sure what we should do now. I hope there is a way to stay the course and leave a reasonably free and peaceful Iraq, even if it is broken into three semi-autonomous regions (or even three countries) - but I really do not know.”

“Iraqi Leaders Call for Exit Schedule
Tuesday, November 22, 2005 9off Fox news)

CAIRO, Egypt — Leaders of Iraq's sharply divided Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis called Monday for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces in the country and said Iraq's opposition had a "legitimate right" of resistance.

The final communique, hammered out at the end of three days of negotiations at a preparatory reconciliation conference under the auspices of the Arab League, condemned terrorism, but was a clear acknowledgment of the Sunni position that insurgents should not be labeled as terrorists if their operations do not target innocent civilians or institutions designed to provide for the welfare of Iraqi citizens.

The participants in Cairo agreed on "calling for the withdrawal of foreign troops according to a timetable, through putting in place an immediate national program to rebuild the armed forces ... control the borders and the security situation" and end terror attacks.

The conference was attended by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Iraqi Shiite and Kurdish lawmakers, as well as leading Sunni politicians.

Sunni leaders have been pressing the Shiite-majority government to agree to a timetable for the withdrawal of all foreign troops. The statement recognized that goal, but did not lay down a specific time — reflecting instead the government's stance that Iraqi security forces must be built up first.

On Monday, Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr suggested U.S.-led forces should be able to leave Iraq by the end of next year, saying the one-year extension of the mandate for the multinational force in Iraq by the U.N. Security Council this month could be the last.

"By the middle of next year we will be 75 percent done in building our forces and by the end of next year it will be fully ready," he told the Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera.

Debate in Washington over when to bring troops home turned bitter last week after decorated Vietnam War vet Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., called for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and estimated a pullout could be complete within six months. Republicans rejected Murtha's position.

In Egypt, the final communique's attempt to define terrorism omitted any reference to attacks against U.S. or Iraqi forces. Delegates from across the political and religious spectrum said the omission was intentional. They spoke anonymously, saying they feared retribution.

"Though resistance is a legitimate right for all people, terrorism does not represent resistance. Therefore, we condemn terrorism and acts of violence, killing and kidnapping targeting Iraqi citizens and humanitarian, civil, government institutions, national resources and houses of worships," the document said.

The final communique also stressed participants' commitment to Iraq's unity and called for the release of all "innocent detainees" who have not been convicted by courts. It asked that allegations of torture against prisoners be investigated and those responsible be held accountable.

The statement also demanded "an immediate end to arbitrary raids and arrests without a documented judicial order."

The communique included no means for implementing its provisions, leaving it unclear what it will mean in reality other than to stand as a symbol of a first step toward bringing the feuding parties together in an agreement in principle.

"We are committed to this statement as far as it is in the best interests of the Iraqi people," said Harith al-Dhari, leader of the powerful Association of Muslim Scholars, a hard-line Sunni group. He said he had reservations about the document as a whole, and delegates said he had again expressed strong opposition to the concept of federalism enshrined in Iraq's new constitution.

The gathering was part of a U.S.-backed league attempt to bring the communities closer together and assure Sunni Arab participation in a political process now dominated by Iraq's Shiite majority and large Kurdish minority.

The conference also decided on broad conditions for selecting delegates to a wider reconciliation gathering in the last week of February or the first week of March in Iraq. It essentially opens the way for all those who are willing to renounce violence against fellow Iraqis.

Shiites had been strongly opposed to participation in the conference by Sunni Arab officials from the former Saddam regime or from pro-insurgency groups. That objection seemed to have been glossed over in the communique.

The Cairo meeting was marred by differences between participants at times, and at one point Shiite and Kurdish delegates stormed out of a closed session when one of the speakers said they had sold out to the Americans.”

“I am very glad to see the Iraqi government taking some action here. If we just cut and run like the Sheehans of America want us to we are guilty of kicking the crap out of someone and leaving them in shambles. If the Iraqis say get out then they can handle their own shlt.”

“Rice Says Iraq Troop Levels May Draw Down 2 hours, 44 minutes ago (off yahoo news)

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the United States will probably not need to maintain its current troop levels in Iraq "very much longer," though she declined to provide a precise timetable for reduction in U.S. forces.
Rice appeared to set the stage for such a reduction, saying the Iraqi forces are doing a better job of holding their own against insurgents.

"I do not think that American forces need to be there in the numbers that they are now because — for very much longer — because Iraqis are stepping up," Rice told Fox News in an interview Tuesday. "This is not just a matter of training numbers of Iraqi forces, but actually seeing them hold territory."

The Bush administration has been under fire in Congress to set a timetable for a withdrawal from Iraq. President Bush has steadfastly declined to set such a timetable and has said the U.S. will stay in Iraq as long as it takes to ensure the country's stability and democracy. Iraq holds parliamentary elections Dec. 15. Rice said Bush will take his guidance from commanders in the field.

The Washington Post reported in Wednesday's editions that the Pentagon tentatively plans to reduce the number of U.S. forces in Iraq early next year by as many as three combat brigades, down from 18 there now. There are now almost 160,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

The Post, citing unidentified senior military officers, said one brigade will be kept "on call" in Kuwait in case more troops are needed quickly.

Rice did not comment on specific troop levels.

But in an interview with CNN, she said, "I suspect that the American forces are not going to be needed in the numbers that they are there for all that much longer because Iraqis are continuing to make progress in function, not just in numbers but in their capabilities to do certain functions like, for instance, holding a highway between the airport and the center of the city, something that our forces were doing just a short time ago, they're now doing."

"I think that's how the president will want to look at this," she said.



It was either on Fox or Yahoo news that the US will slowly withdraw troops from Iraq but it will take a couple of yrs. I feel we will always have a presence their just like we do in Afghanstan (sp)
last edited: 11/23/05 10:42:19 AM”

“Sorry, we already voted on this last week.”

“I feel we will always have a presence their just like we do in Afghanstan

Of course we will. Permanent bases are the source of much of our leverage in the region. Mission accomplished! And the chicken-littles thought it was all falling apart. Hah!”

“

Schmidt says, "I'm sorry, so sorry ..."”

“For what? She just got done arguing to stay there?”

“And it would have went this way if there hadn't been so much pressure applied to this administration, Mutt. Bull f_ckin sh_t, dude! Don't even try to act like this was part of the plan all along!”

“Mutt spins like a Whirling Dervish.”

“Come on with the language guys!”

“Sarge, go back to being dead!”

“Come on with the nasty comments too! This is fuego. Let's keep it as such.”

“(just keep chanting ... "Peace and Love" ... "Peace and Love" ...)”

“The Sarge philosophy: ”

“Geo, what is up with that Schmidt comment?”

“She is an out of line rookie with a big mouth. And it got shoved back in her face. What's not to understand, Sarge?”

“Don't even try to act like this was part of the plan all along!

I don't have to "act" because it's true. Way back before the start of the war, I had stated many times that permanent bases were one of the big considerations, as that is a great source of leverage.

Don't even try to act like I haven't been saying that all along! :-P”

“Tree - I didn't see the article. What's not to understand is I don't know what Geo is talking about. Why be such a prick about it?”

“Fine, Mutt! Then, you were the only one who didn't lie to us. I will sing your praises and refer to the rest of this administration as the f-cking scumbag lying sacks of sh_t that they are. Feel better now?”

“I'm a bit confused Mutt. When did we elect you and to what office?”

“Come to expect propaganda from the POTUS and make an effort to determine their real motives, instead of just waving your arms jumping up and down screaming "HE LIED! HE LIED!!!"”

“Sarge, you have no place on this earth to call anyone a prick. I will keep it civil with you. In case you don't realize it, I am personally disgusted at the people who run this great country. I can't make my language strong enough for my tastes when referring to them. That's where the strong language is directed, not at you...”

“Fine, but the "what's their not to understand" comment threw me. Can somebody link to an article about Geo's comment?”

“I'm not as smart as you, Mutt. You've told me that many times. Let's see, I'm a blissninnie. Remember? That was probably the nicest thing you ever said to me! Or, was moron the nicest thing you ever said to me? I forget! Sorry!”

“I'm a bit confused Mutt.

Dont worry, Gramps. It's not to late to start taking:

”

“Now don't be bitter, Treebeard.”

“Go back to spinning Mutt. You're funnier doing that.”

“I'm not bitter! I'm stupid! Remember? Ahaaahaaahaaahahaaaaa!!!!”

“Well, you said it. Not me.”

“Nooooooo, you said it! Many, many times. Do you have such a short memory?”

“GEOBEET - WHY DID YOU POST THAT SCHMIDT "ME SO SORRY" THING!?!?!?!?!?

I'm warning you! Somebody answer this now!”

“YOU HAVE NOT YET EXPERIENCED THE WRATH OF SARGE!!!

(oops, spelled experienced wrong)
last edited: 11/23/05 12:38:16 PM”

“When did I call you stupid, treebeard? Moron I can believe. Ignorant I can believe, but I doubt stupid.”

“THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING, MORTALS!”

“sarge go play in traffic loser.”

“Mutt, let's cut through the crap. You insulted me many times. And, I threw as many back at ya. I don't have the time and inclination for this stuff most days anymore. This is probably the most i've said on fuego in many months. The point is, I know what you had said about the U.S. placing themselves in the region. That I won't deny. But, I maintain, that if this was the adminstration's real intent, then the explanations given the American people must be, by default, a deliberate line of bullsh_t. That would mean that those that are accusing this bunch of delivering a pack of lies, are correct! In that case, they owe the people of this country an extraordinary explanation.

But, to say that everyone should have known the real reasons for invading is not what they were told, is a stretch, at best.”