RateItAll: The Opinion Network

Bring them home!!!! 1,700 US troops killed, how many more will it have to be?

Saddam is gone, his regime is toppled, the Iraqi's are voting, so let's bring our troops home immediately.

Well,let's see.We could bring the troops home and replace them with illegal aliens and the Bushes,Cheneys,Rumsfields--anyone I missed?...I do not hate the illegal aliens..but they need to limit entry to our country,if they are here they go to war,that'll stop it,they might even help build the border.

We're staying in Iraq, probably for the next 10 years or longer. How long have we been in Germany? Korea? Kosovo? Is it not an enormously important location strategically? Whatever projects American strength and resolve should be done. And, once Bush is re-elected, could we possibly see some news stories from Iraq and Afghanistan with a positive spin. When is the last time a story, ANY story, had any kind of a positive spin? Does the press have to treat this military exercise like Vietnam because they were all anti-war activists? I understand they have to do all they can right now for Kerry, but our brave troops deserve some boost to their morale sometime. I can wait until after the election but this one-sided coverage is getting ridiculous. Like nobody is doing anything worthy of our pride, in either theater?

We need to clean up as much as we can over there, and then just cut our losses and get out. The war (oh I forgot, the war ended a year ago, right?)has been a disaster from start to finish and we just need to get the hell out of Iraq.

I think we should send more specialized intelligence troops to iraq.

The answer to that should be based on what our goals are.. and I don't know what those are.

I opposed the war. However, now that we are there, we have a moral responsibility to the world to leave Iraq with peace and stability, and we cannot leave until we accomplish this; if we cut and run now there will be anarchy and chaos and blood will run in the streets yet again. I suggest no increase of troops, and a gradual decrease once there is a clear reduction in violence and an increase in civil services and employment.

I always have been and always will be against this war. As months went on and the death toll of our soldiers rose, it only convinced me further. We continue to lose our men over there- even now that we have supposedly won and overthrown the evil regime. We have accomplished what we set out to do and now its time to leave. I have a fiance in the military and while I am so proud of his decisions, it is my greatest fear he will get placed somewhere we don't even belong. Bush needs to start bringing home troops now.

Keep what's there for a little while longer until more social and economic stability can be attained, then bring our boys home.

Strategically, reducing the number of troops in Iraq would be a bad decision. Whether you supported the war or not, to cut and run now would have formidable consequences down the road. A withdrawal of U.S. troops would completely destabilize the region and any government instilled by the United States would immediately be overcome by terrorist groups, and Iraq would once again become a rogue terrorist state. We have to stay there--- we are in this for the long run. We have to restore infrastructure, establish a stable government and ensure that the Iraqi government has the resources to defend themselves against terrorists. I do agree, however, that the deployment of more troops into Iraq would cause further resentment from Iraqis. Unless a clear plan is presented, I wouldn't support placing any more U.S. soldiers in that country. I'd say that the number of troops should remain the same for the time being, as to increase troop involvement would breed more resentment and decreasing troops would destabilize the war effort.

Well, we broke it and now we gotta fix it. We should have never gone to Iraq in the first place, but that is beside the point now. Our troops will be in Iraq for quite some time sadly.

At this point, we cannot abdicate from our responsibilities in Iraq. It doesn't matter whether or not you opposed the war, for us to cut and run at this point in time would have a destabilizing effect on the region. Anarchy will become the order of the day in this region of the Middle East that has been known as the balancing power of the region. We can't afford also to have Iraq become another Afghanistan, where clans and families exert control in a feudal society. At the same time, we have to give the Iraqi's some autonomy. Clearly, they're losing patience with the occupation authority. The more troops we send over there, the more we'll be aggravating the situation. They don't really like having foreigners in their land. We must look for an exit strategy strategy, which means giving the Iraqi's control of their police force and army. We are going to support the new government militarily if need be, but ultimately it is the Iraqi's responsibility to provide for their own security. A lot of terrorists are flowing in from other nations; the Iraqi's themselves are the ones who can identify those who are foreigners and those who are not. I'm glad to see that the Bush adminstrations is persuing a strategy of Iraqification. Our forces are stretched really thin right now and I believe that our troops need to be deployed to other world trouble spots. We can't afford to get mired up in Iraq. Ultimately, the future of Iraq is up to what the people want for themselves. We must set up a constitutional convention and elections where Iraqi's choose delegates to their constitutional convention. The government ought to be representative of a broad cross section of the country and it should be aggreable to all parties. Iraq doesn't have a strong democratic tradition, but it's our responsibility to see that they at least have a decent shot at getting a new start. I didn't agree with the timing or the justification (pre-emption) of the war, but nonetheless, it's our baby and we've got to take care of it now. If we cut and run at this point, we are going to lose a lot of credibility in the eyes of the world, no one will trust us to keep our obligations. And that, more than anything else, will do even more damage to America's reputation.

Send more troops to prepare for the invasion of Iran and Saudi Arabia. All terrorist nations must be destroyed.