[tw]

Meanwhile, note what Sen John McCain calls for to 'win' a war in Iraq that had no purpose - was promoted on lies. We must massively increase American troop strength in Iraq if the "Mission Accomplished" war is to be 'won'. Curious. That was one of two alternatives that Tw also posted. Other Cellar dwellers proposed that the Iraq war would bring back the draft. What is John McCain, essentially, calling for? The draft. He says we must massively increase the US active duty numbers to take the excessive load off the Guard and Reserves. And he is correct. If we are to win a military victory in Iraq as Urbane Guerilla proposes, we need 1/2 million American soldiers in Iraq. That does not guarantee victory. But that is necessary if we have any hope of winning in Iraq as Urbane Guerilla or George Jr say we must.

Furthermore, John McCain is talking about such massive numbers of troops for something on the order of four years. I believe occupation would be closer to ten years. However, it does not matter which is right. Were you willing to be at war for 7 to 12 years in Iraq? That is what you should be asking yourself when someone here was warning of this time span almost three years ago.

One year ago, the George Jr administration was hyping all the good work and reconstruction that was ongoing throughout Iraq. All these claims when reporters in country could not even leave safety (green) zones without military protection. All these claims when commanders in the field were citing how virtually all their reconstruction was terminated or routinely sabotaged.

One year later and the number of attacks on Americans have literally doubled. Notice even George Jr has stopped claiming all this reconstruction is ongoing in Iraq. Why? The insurgency has literally doubled in the past year - may be even larger. Whole towns that were fought for in the past year are simply reoccupied by insurgents. Literally every American general in Iraq says he does not have sufficient troops and supplies.

And so again, a worst option is the status quo. Time for you, the reader, to start making up your mind as Sen John McCain has basically called for this week. Do we massively deploy troops to Iraq or do we get out? The current situation is not winnable - as was obvious so many years ago. It should now be obvious even to those without military training. You the reader must decide whether America does as Urbane Guerilla advocates - massive American deployment to a war once declared "Mission Accomplished", or do we cut our losses so that many more thousands of Americans - soldiers in the field and civilians around the world - are not killed.

I will tell you bluntly and honestly - neither is a good answer. And yet those are now the only options we have left. In this, our current situation, Iraqi insurgency will only grow as it did in Vietnam.

My bias - I love the massive deployment option. It is my nature to attack a problem, solve it, and get done. But history has too often demonstrated that the harder option - cut the losses and get out - is many times the greater victory. These are hard questions that we should all have answers for. The alternative is the worst option - what we are currently doing.