Growing Calls to Get All U.S. Troops Out of Iraq

[G_j]

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0623-01.htm
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/06/23/MNGNS7A5I245.DTL&type=printable

Published on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 by the San Francisco Chronicle

Heard on the Horizon: Calls to Get All U.S. Troops Out of Iraq
Anti-war voices joined by some in the establishment

by Edward Epstein

WASHINGTON -- The idea is still a relative whisper in the broader American political discussion, but more and more people are raising the idea of withdrawing the 138,000 U.S. forces from Iraq.

It's an idea that President Bush and his Democratic opponent, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, scorn. Kerry has even indicated he might send in more troops to stabilize Iraq. On Tuesday, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz -- one of the architects of the 2003 invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein -- told the House Armed Services Committee that U.S. forces may have to stay in Iraq for years.

But as American casualties mount, with military deaths approaching 1,000 and with more than 5,100 wounded, analysts have begun talking about withdrawal as a viable option. The idea could become an issue in the presidential campaign, especially since independent candidate Ralph Nader embraces the notion.

"A U.S. withdrawal would be preferable to what we have now. The idea that more U.S. troops will improve the situation is wrong. The truth is the opposite."
Stephen Zunes


..more..

[Beam Me Up]

1. Is anyone talking about WHY our troops are in Iraq?

It isn't about WMD. It isn't about "terrorism." It isn't to oust Sadam because he was a despot (we support a lot of those). It isn't about bringing "Democracy" to the middle east.

Until we begin to have a PUBLIC DISCUSSION of WHY our troops are in Iraq, about WHY it is in our nations security interests to have them stationed in the ME (both Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention other places seldom mentioned) -- until there is a discussion of the GEOPOLITICAL AND ECONOMIC FORCES that put them there -- any discussion of 'removing' them is BULL SHIT.

Nader open to withdrawing them? BULL SHIT!!! He's just trying to steal a certain group of voters away from Kerry.

[wtmusic]

2. This is a non-story

Love commondreams.org, but...

There is nothing that has changed to show the number of calls is "growing". The "establishment" voices want to get us out by January 2005 or late next year. Nothing new.

I'm anti-propaganda, wherever it comes from.