11/17/2005 11:10:33 PM
he's right. and seems like a good plan, without seeing the specifics.
11/17/2005 11:14:48 PM
just skimmed it, but is he basically saying "let's start pulling out of iraq, but leave a bunch of shock troops right around the corner, poised to light the place up if need be?basically, "here you go, don't fuck it up"?
11/17/2005 11:18:40 PM
^That's pretty much it. We'd be keeping a watchful eye on them, rather than being in the middle of them and being a target.
11/17/2005 11:19:53 PM
i don't know what i think about that. i'd have to think about it more, and hear more details. the devil's always in the details.i mean, in a sense, we're doing this already, i think. i'm assuming he means "let's pick up the pace...a lot."it's an idea that i would entertain if i were the man in charge, but i do believe that it would have to be a very gradual withdrawal.furthermore, the iraqi government's input on the decision is something that would have to be weighed.
11/17/2005 11:27:45 PM
He wants us to keep air support in Iraq as well.Just get the bulk of the troops out so we can stop stirring up more shit.
11/17/2005 11:37:25 PM
THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING SINCE THIS BULLSHIT STARTED
11/17/2005 11:44:49 PM
yep, that's one thing i was gonna say. keep the air support there.
11/17/2005 11:45:06 PM
He's obviously a pinko peacenik living in lala land.
11/18/2005 12:04:33 AM
I think his strategic goal is the same, but he's proposing a tactical alternative. Afterall, the administration is preaching the same mantra: turning over Iraq to the Iraqis by training up a new Iraqi army and then phasing out our presence.Murtha's plan is sensible though. I wish the administration wasn't so jumpy these days to throw out a kneejerk like this.
11/18/2005 10:07:19 AM
does this article mention that he met a guy who had both hands blown off by a bomb dropped by US forces, so the army wouldn't give him a purple heartso murtha walked in and basically demanded they give him one, and said if they didn't he would give them one of his (since he has 2)i like murtha a lot now
11/18/2005 10:54:26 AM
Murtha is a good man and honorable soldier. I don't like how the administration responded to his comments OR how the press is portraying his suggestions in the media (they're playing it as a total withdrawal and disengagement from Iraq through the soundbytes).The only concern I have with his plan is that the Iraqi forces are probably not ready to take over (and this is probably what the administration is alluding to). I don't feel that they have enough trained forces yet to fill the gap left by American forces, and then those "over-the-horizon" Marines will be back in Fallujah and other Iraqi cities in a matter of weeks.
11/18/2005 11:01:11 AM
probably in the amount of time it takes to fly 25 miles and back
11/18/2005 11:10:41 AM
how do we know the iraqi forces aren't ready yet?(i'm really asking)
11/18/2005 11:11:11 AM
generally drill sargeants and people in the training command can tell pretty wellthey take them out on patrols with american patrol leaders and then slowly phase them out while increasing the difficulty and danger of the mission to see what's working and what isn't.it's been slow going from what i've read/heard.[Edited on November 18, 2005 at 11:13 AM. Reason : *]
11/18/2005 11:13:16 AM
Vietnamization
11/18/2005 11:16:47 AM
11/18/2005 11:19:36 AM
11/18/2005 11:25:03 AM
11/18/2005 3:00:21 PM
maybe we should have figured that out before we toppled their governmentah, sweet freedomdemocracy, with wings like an angel
11/18/2005 3:15:06 PM
what part of setting up a government is quick and easy?ours is still under construction.
11/18/2005 3:22:10 PM
i forgot we're nationbuilders nowi didn't even like us when we were "liberators"
11/18/2005 8:46:27 PM
Make Puerto Rico the 51st state, not Iraq.
11/18/2005 10:06:27 PM
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20051119/D8DVI20O0.html
11/19/2005 10:38:58 AM