Stumbled across this link in the NPR website about whether or not Iraqis should vote as to whether or not they want the US forces in their country. They're free now right? Freedom is on the march? So if they are indeed free, and they have a referendum voting all US forces and influence out of Iraq do we go or not? Interesting proposition I think.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4462603

Stumbled across this link in the NPR website about whether or not Iraqis should vote as to whether or not they want the US forces in their country. They're free now right? Freedom is on the march? So if they are indeed free, and they have a referendum voting all US forces and influence out of Iraq do we go or not? Interesting proposition I think.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4462603
If they voted overwhelmingly for the US to stay, what would your reaction be?

If they voted overwhelmingly for the US to stay, what would your reaction be?

Since we invaded their country, and have made a gigantic mess out of it, I think we're obliged to stay and clean up what we messed up anyway. I didn't support the original invasion, but now that we're there, what are we to do? Bail and run? I don't think so. We need to clean up our own creation.

With that being said, if they voted overwhelmingly for the US to stay for awhile, I'd assume that we'd just keep on our present course of occupying forces until they could "self govern" themselves. I'm thinking they wouldn't vote this way though. Would you vote for another country's military to occupy your country if the roles were reversed? I'm thinking, no.

Since we invaded their country, and have made a gigantic mess out of it, I think we're obliged to stay and clean up what we messed up anyway. I didn't support the original invasion, but now that we're there, what are we to do? Bail and run? I don't think so. We need to clean up our own creation.

With that being said, if they voted overwhelmingly for the US to stay for awhile, I'd assume that we'd just keep on our present course of occupying forces until they could "self govern" themselves. I'm thinking they wouldn't vote this way though. Would you vote for another country's military to occupy your country if the roles were reversed? I'm thinking, no.
Possibly, if the other powers military was less into killing ME than the one I lived under before they came. The only people we are shooting are those who shoot first.

Possibly, if the other powers military was less into killing ME than the one I lived under before they came. The only people we are shooting are those who shoot first.

I'm not so sure that shooting people is the major problem. I think our military guys are very professional and very well trained, and they know the rules of engagement over there, and I want to believe that they're not just shooting people up for the sake of it, and I know that they are not doing this.

I think that we have had a major negative effect in the region now, and in Iraq especially. Those people want us out of their country ASAP I believe. I also believe that they were glad we got rid of Saddam (the only good thing to come out of this invasion), but now, they're sick of us being there. They want their country back, and I can't blame them there. Civilians are getting killed everyday over there, and their killed list is growing and growing, and I'm thinking that somewhere over time, it might not be as long of a list as Saddam had, but it's gonna be close.

I'm not so sure that shooting people is the major problem. I think our military guys are very professional and very well trained, and they know the rules of engagement over there, and I want to believe that they're not just shooting people up for the sake of it, and I know that they are not doing this.

I think that we have had a major negative effect in the region now, and in Iraq especially. Those people want us out of their country ASAP I believe. I also believe that they were glad we got rid of Saddam (the only good thing to come out of this invasion), but now, they're sick of us being there. They want their country back, and I can't blame them there. Civilians are getting killed everyday over there, and their killed list is growing and growing, and I'm thinking that somewhere over time, it might not be as long of a list as Saddam had, but it's gonna be close.
It is hard to gauge how the general population feels because they have had one dominant faction or another in charge and most have been ruthless in stamping out dissenters. I think you couldn't get an accurate poll because most people would vote with whoever they believed was going to win. That is why it is important not to appear weak or indecisive, which we have done at times.

As Janis Joplin once sang:
"Freedom's just another word for 'nothing left to lose' "

Until this war, I never realized what that meant........

It is hard to gauge how the general population feels because they have had one dominant faction or another in charge and most have been ruthless in stamping out dissenters. I think you couldn't get an accurate poll because most people would vote with whoever they believed was going to win. That is why it is important not to appear weak or indecisive, which we have done at times.

So Iraq goes from Saddam rule to Bush Administration rule. Both have their ways of stamping out dissenters just in some different ways. Although, the people that are "dissenting" in Iraq we are killing off as well. How is our current war of pre-emption in Iraq any better than when Iraq was being ruled by Saddam?