why must we "stay the course" in iraq?

[sweetheart]

I keep reading this phrase by the neo-liberal wing of the democratic
and republican parties, even accross the atlantic in blair's new
clintonism. All of them say that we are losing in iraq, but that
we must "stay the course".

Why? Whats the matter with buggering off right exactly NOW! Why
stay the course when the army/coalition of invaders is the cause of
the rebellion? What benefit is there to dying occupying someone
elses nation that our country has no vested interest in occupying?

There is no reason to stay the course... and if if was your ass on
the line, you would not stay. Why should we expect someone else to
stay and get shot at? I got a lotta rude attacks sent my way when
originally opposing this war, and now that i've been proven right on
every single count, the same wankers are telling me that "we have to
stay the course." Does anybody learn around here?

[Elidor]

1. So they can blame it all on Kerry once he's inaugurated

Didn't you see that coming?

[salin]

2. repeat that phrase

it brings back memories of a very ineffectual president and his campaign... oh, that was daddies, wasn't it...

Repeat this: "We can not afford to "Stay the Course" where we throw lives and money away at those who have not harmed us, while ignoring those who have attacked us and are likely planning to hit again..."

"We can not afford to "Stay the Course" on fiscal policies that have brought the US, for the first time, warnings from the IMF... warnings usually reserved for a teetering economy (pre economic-collapse Argentina, for example...)

etc., etc....

[Sandpiper]

3. "Staying the course" where we're not wanted

Is not going to make things better. All it will do in the end is cost us more blood and treasure.

Was Vietnam so long ago that we've already forgotten this?

[951]

12. Do we even have a course?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Reminds me of the old song...

"We were neck deep in the muddy water
And the damn fool said to push on...."
Pete Seegar sang this on the Smothers Brother's and got them banned from CBS back in '69, but the analogy is still appropriate.

[MichiganVote]

5. Well if there's a 'course' I surely don't see it

[Cleita]

6. It's a phrase that really makes no sense unless

you're on a ship. In the case of Iraq, it makes no sense whatsoever, which is probably why our doublespeak leaders use it so frequently.

[Sandpiper]

7. Staying the course in this case

Seems to be little more than rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic.

[readmylips]

8. Well, staying the course..

When I was married to a man who beat me and starved my children, I stayed the course. It was better to stay the course than to change. I didn't listen to anybody because staying the course would bring a miracle. God Jesus would safe me from the arms of hell.

I stayed the course. He killed my first born, killed my second born and finally killed me. I for sure stayed the course.

From: Mrs. Ignorant Deadisgood, God of Mercy Cemetery, Anytown, USA.

[Kierkegaard]

9. I understand the pride in such a sentiment,

but it is monumentally stupid. There is no reason to continue occupying a country where we are not wanted, or to continue to exchange atrocities in some disgusting Danse macabre. Bring 'em home and let's get on to the unenviable task of rebuilding our own country.

Maybe the rest of the world would begin to see us for what we once were, and maybe the UN and our former allies would see fit to help shoulder the reconstruction in Iraq.

If there were a legitimate reason for the invasion, I could support completing the process and seeing through the overhaul at gunpoint scenario. Under the false pretenses given by these neocon assholes, no f'ing way. We should never have been there in the first place; we shouldn't be there now.

[Fuzzy LaRue]

10. The reason behind "staying the course" is simple.

To the Arab world leaving would be seen as a great victory. If we call it a draw, the Arab world will see it as a great victory. We cannot continue the war as we have. Strategic and tactical changes HAVE to be made. But it would be very dangerous for the west if the insurgents were left thinking that they won.

[demoHere]

11. bad idea

we should of never gone there in the first place

[sweetheart]

14. recalling saigon in 1975

the NVA could reasonably have called it a "victory". Similarly, i've
no ego problem with the iraqi people calling the result a "victory".

The military is designed to war, not build unstable nations. These
are not compatable missions, and no wonder the latter looks a lot
like the former, given people trained for war. The nation is
"defended". Saddam is down. If any fools are so unwise as to
wage war against the USA again, they know what will happen.

The problem with these infinite insurgencies, is that they are
infinite... and the war of attrition favours the party defending
their home turf. Is there no way to "fake" a victory and pull out
leaving the fact, that america will topple the government of a
hostile military opponent, if need be. Everybody knows that rambo
is not a nationbuilder.... lets bring the poor sod home to terrorize
our own cities, and in swallowing the war, let the dragon face its
own fears at home where the whole thing comes to roost.

[Minstrel Boy]

18. Go ahead America, lose face.

Don't be a'skeerd.

So long as you don't pick up another Grenada and throw it against the wall to try to get over the "Iraq syndrome," it'll do you the world of good.

[Career Prole]

21. "To the Arab world leaving would be seen as a great victory."

Did we have a drastic foreign policy change while I slept?
Last time I checked, our leaders didn't give a shit what the "Arab world" thought of our actions, royal family of Saudi Arabia excluded, of course.
Hence the shocked utterances of "Why, oh why do they hate us?" on 9/11.

[Darranar]

23. "The course" is simply a road to thousands more deaths...

staying on it would be destructive and despicable, yet that seems to be what is almost certainly going to happen.

Who cares if the Arab world labels it a victory? Why is US pride important enough to kill innocents for?

[napi21]

13. Stay the course is a shrub line, and it doesn't make sense.

But an instant pullout doesn't either. Wrong as he was, it the US Pres who destroyed that country, and we have a responsibility to try to put it back to at least the way we found it.

My suggestion is to announce a pullout date. Maybe 12/31/2005. Tell the Iraqis we will set up training schools for their military and their police, and train then well, but it is up to them to get enough people to go through the schools and be trained. We let them know that on 12/31/05, they better be ready to take over, because we're out of here.

At the same time, we put back together the electricity, the water, the roads we destroyed, and if some idiot terrorist wrecks it again, TS! That's not our problem. We fixed what we broke.

[mopaul]

15. it's a total clusterfuck, a total curse, a total greek tragedy

get totally out of there. but that won't happen. they plan on being there for decades, no joke

[sweetheart]

19. then they should send their own kids to die

I've no problem with no jokes, as long as those who want to be serious
send their own family members to die. As it stands, its a lotta
tough talking blair-types of big shots, and someone elses flesh and
blood.

[readmylips]

16. Stay the Course...Saddam to the Rescue

Well, it seems that little george will be running Saddam's elections that's why georgie is staying the course.

Staying the course to elect Saddam again. Staying the course to kill more young Americans. Staying the course to further doom this country. Georgie, please stay the course. The world is following you. Do you see them?...right behind you georgie.

[Jacobin]

17. They can't admit they are/were wrong

They think it will be worse after they leave than before we invaded (and they will be right about that). They think it will be worse if we leave than if we stay, and they would be right about that for a time, but after Iraqis settle their own affairs and choose their own dictator/ayatollah it will settle back down to a repressive regime of relative peace.

They fucked up in an enormous way by invading IraqNam and they don't know how to get out of the trap, so they'll just keep killing american soldiers and iraqis by the hundred so it won't be so obvious so soon that they were so wrong.

Cute, no?

Oh, they did the same thing in Viet Nam, until we nearly had a fucking civil war here to stop it.

[Jim__]

20. Staying the course or "buggering off now" are not our only choices.

First, I also spent time opposing the war before we went in.

I think we should get out as soon as we reasonably can. However, you have to recognize that we removed a relatively stable (brutal, but stable) environment that existed before we went in. We haven't replaced that environment with anything stable. To leave now, is to doom large numbers of innocent people to death. I realize that "staying the course" also dooms large numbers of innocent people to death.

I think the first thing we should do is stop attacking areas controlled by the insurgents if the insurgents are not killing more innocents than are likely to be killed in any attack by us. Second, I think we should try to get an international force to come in and determine how we can most rapidly return control to the Iraqis. I think American forces should be replaced as soon as possible by international, preferably Middle Eastern, forces for the iterim while power is returned to the Iraqis.

We should never have gone in. Having gone in, we should leave as soon as possible; but, we should minimize the number of innocents who will be killed between now and restoration of power to the Iraqis.

As for the burden of American soldiers in Iraq; it was placed on them by bush. They accepted the burden when they went. Now they are stuck with it. We have to minimize that burden. If we stop attacking, we may greatly reduce the risk to American soldiers.

One of the problems with attacking Iraq was that it clearly ran the risk of putting us in the situation we are in today. No good will come of it; and there is no good way out. Now, we can only try to minimize the bad that comes of it.

[Disturbed]

22. "least the way we found it"

Can the dead be brought back to life?

Will any other country be willing to sacrifcie their troops in Iraq?

If so, at what price to the US?

[latebloomer]

24. We should get the hell out of there

yesterday.

Hear me, Kerry?

"How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"