Reply #2: I have my own doubts about how "good" things are over there

[Proud Liberal Dem]

But if things really ARE going as well over there as all of the cock-eyed optimists seem to believe, why is there SO much controversy over withdrawing all (or most) of our troops there or even just setting a reasonable "timetable" for withdrawal? Unless................? :shrug: The one thing that has always infuriated/frustrated me the most about this "debate" is that Bush et. al keep sending "mixed messages" about how good/bad things are going in Iraq and essentially claiming that Iraq is either too bad to leave or too good to leave, usually alternatingly. Either way, Bush, even though he can now (or could have done anytime after the 2005 elections in Iraq) easily spin a withdrawal as a "victory" in Iraq and ceremoniously remove the bulk of our forces from Iraq, refuses to do so. One must reluctantly conclude (or at least I certainly have) that Bush is merely stringing all of us along in Iraq for some benefit (i.e. oil) for himself and/or his cronies and has no real desire to end our massive troop presence in Iraq anytime in the near future and has all but admitted it in his "enduring relationship" speech which has amazingly gone unchallenged by nearly everybody.