[iamthewalrus109]

War is hell, I think most people have an incling of that. I have a friend who also served in combat. He doesn't sleep anymore, it's just a nightmare fest. Yeah it's easy to say and hard to do, of course. Why are we there? Well there are initial reasons, but those for the time being have been made to be false. Have we gone into Syria to check? no, not yet anyway. Have we heard of any clear intel on movements of large vehicles shortly before the war? No, not yet. In any case this is where we are today. Of course there is always politics in war, but to be totally contolled by what's going on here is doing the effort a diservice, it's either we're there to win or just blow up a bunch of impoverished Iraqi homes, kill there children, and call it day, give me a break. No amount of training will ever prepare you to deal with a combat kill, even when it's a combatant trying to kill you. It's true we will have severly mentally damaged people in our society after this, that is if one still exisits. I think we need to make some decisions here. In hearing that story of First Gulf war vet, I have heard similar from a host of other veterans, hence why we honor them so highly. It's probably one of the worst jobs in the world to have, to be haunted by the memories of every kill. Of course there are some that it doesn't really bother, they can justify the kills. Then there are some that killed a child mistakenly, or an old woman, these people will never be the same.

In the end what's to be done. We are already there. Unilateral withdrawal I think is not the best choice. There needs to be less civilian control, I'm sorry, it's the only way. To keep a civilian leadership in place when the war is still being faught is living in a state of denial. Let's face it, it's all politics. They put the civilian leadership in control prematurely due to the speed of the victory of convential forces and to heighten PR effect. This was a mistake, and I'll wanted to voice by starting this thread is that someone with Kahonies will have to take charge to get us out of this mess without us ending up with no credibilty with who is still allied with us while emboldening enemies, either quiet or vocal.

One frigtening factor to add to all this is that, we are the only ones really putting in the time and money here. While we fight this war, China and the EU are exploding on to the global trade scene. Inflation is on the rise and the cost of living increases. To pull out on Iraq and just try to play nice and play catch up with our competiors is not going to do it, we need leverage now, and a win in Iraq, and some diplomacy in the wake of Yasser Arafat's death will help. We need to secure the region, get energy costs down, stabalize then try to find our way out of dependency on foriegn nations for anything, period. Will any of this happen, most likely not, but its really the direction we should be going in.

-Walrus