I never agreed w/this war from day one; however, I support the troops. If I were president, everyone would be having a party at Henry Warnimont's Chicago pad.

By getting the hell OUT!

america is obliged to leave the country in a relatively stable state. that means i would pull out as soon as it was viable to do so. i would abandon current military policy in iraq and join the british in a hearts and minds campaign.

Withdraw our troops immediately and let the Iraqis choose whatever governmental system they want. I would also apologize for our countries imperialistic ventures and work a friendly relationship with them.

The 'Islamofascists' are now in Iraq PRECISELY because of Bush's war - they weren't there before. The Iraqi people have been through hell, ever since western involvement meddled with the country in the 1940s. We are the ones that installed Saddam who then turned on his people, then we go and bomb 'em for the oil Saddam didn't want to give us. Actually, he was selling it in euros and Bush's oilmen wanted it changed back into dollars. America has made a big problem, not only for herself, but for all of us. The world is sceptical about America's true reasons for being there, otherwise we'd all be trying to get the mess sorted out. As President you have to PROVE that you have the interests of the people at heart, remove Halliburton's and other solely US contracts, engage the world in plans and solution-solving (this will not work for the hapless Bush)and demonstrate that you mean what you say about unconditional withdrawal once elections are met. I can see you being there for the long haul.

I would clean up the mess we've made there and then get the hell out.

What they should have done is what the new goverment is doing and that is marshall law. There would have been curfues and identification cards handed out. You don't know who the bad guys are so you have to at least try and identify the good guys. Places like Falluja would have been searched block by block and house by house. I would also make sure that all the troops had the best equiment we could provide. I also would have found people from different ethnic groups in country to consult with and to find what their peoples needs were and how they could be met. While this was going on I would make it a priority to get power back on and the water running, repairing the essential parts of the infurstructure. I would have had representives meet with groups of people to find out what there expectations were and how they saw the future of Iraq.

The United States has dug itself into this situation, and it is our obligation to see it through. To remove our troops completely from Iraq would cause complete chaos and disorder, but to increase troops in Iraq might do the same thing. Iraq needs to be taken on a week-by-week basis. Do you what you need to, but don't overdo it.

Do you think we'll be in Iraq a long time? Let's see, how long were we in Germany? Oh, we're still there? How long were we in Kosovo? Japan? Korea? Libya? (One night? Forget I mentioned it. ) Look, this is a test of our national will. We should see this thing through until islamofascism gives up, and then stay longer just to make sure. How important is it to finish this? We can fight them there or we can pull out and wait for them to be so bold and arrogant that they attack here. Take your choice. Do you think that voting for Kerry changes the stakes of this? Or that they will no longer hate us and target us for attack? Wake up, it's a war, and it's on. Get used to it.

I would definitely begin handing over power, but not all at once. If we think there's chaos there now, there would most definitely be chaos if we left them with no control whatsoever. First step would be to build up their army and law system there. Elections would be important, as well. We definitely need to build trust with the people there, and we're not doing a good job of that right now. In addition, I would not force those troops who have reached the end of their duties to stay there for even longer, which is currently happening. Those who have completed their enlistments would be at the top of the list for going home once some kind of order was established.

America will need to maintain a military presence in Iraq for a long time. Though the war was unpopular with some, the realities of the modern world and the legitimate threat of the former regime (which threat was believed by almost all Democrats as well as Republicans before the war) necessitated action of some sort. It has been, all things considered, a rather tame conflict compared to what one would expect in the case of such a massive invasion and upturning.

I didn't support the Iraq War, but I believe that it would be irresponsible for us to pull out without giving the Iraqi's the ability to climb out of the hole that they're in. We are caught between a rock and a hard place. Concerning the Iraqi government, as tempting as it may seem for some in the Bush administration, we cannot play favorities with what coalition we would like to have rule Iraq. Whoever that figure may be has to have a solid following that can bring together the major factions of Iraqi society. In other words, this person has to be acceptable to the Shi'as, the Sunni's, and the Kurds. He'll probably be of a nationalist persuasion, which the Americans won't like, but it might be better than having the place erupt in Civil War. That scenario is the worst possible outcome, for that will bring in Iran and Turkey and possibly Syria and the Saudi's into the fray, something we don't want because we'll lose all control of the situation. I believe that the Bush administration based it's calculations for going to war on wishful thinking rather than actual realities. Their thinking was that the Afghanistan campaign was easy, so why isn't Iraq doable. The question, it turns out, is not about the actual act of regime change, that's the easy part. The difficult part is establishing control and consolidating power. It sounded really nice to hear that Saddam would be taken out of power and that Iraq would become a forward base to bring democracy to the Middle East but so far, it hasn't turned out that way. Not that Muslims are incapable of having democratic institutions; they are, but the question is whether this democracy will based on a puppet regime installed by the Americans. Democracy and reform to those societies will come from the bottom up, it won't be a revolution imposed by foreign powers. The British tried that model and they had to leave because they overextended themselves. Seems to me that we never learn the lessons of the past. Nonetheless, we are there and the responsible thing to do is to make sure that the Iraqis can control their own security situation and have a government established before we get out. In the long term, I believe that we need to become a more benign presence in the world; we should exert our national interests when need be, but that doesn't mean that we should try to make the world in America's image. It would be in our interests to establish a multipolar regime system rather than a Pax Americana, which is largely illusory at any rate. We can preserve our power, influence and prestige by dividing the world into spheres of influence rather than trying to dominate it. Americans aren't good at the colonial game at any rate. Great countries have lost a lot of power because of this strategy and I'm concerned that we're going down this path right now. We will attract more terrorism if we continue down this path too. While it is good to see that we're taking a more retroactive position on this issue since Clinton left office, what we are doing in and of itself isn't helping stem the tide of terrorism. It's a security threat, but it's roots are social and economic. As I've said before, a more evenhanded policy in the Middle East will go a long way in advancing our interests in the region. It might mean opening up markets, securing a peace deal between the Israelis and the Arabs, and even encouraging more open governance. But we cannot impose American ideas on these people, who by and large have their own traditions. Iraq is a tricky problem, but with a little patience and even-handedness, we can get out of there with plenty of our objectives intact.

I'd start work on a constitution or at least some type of law system. Train the new Iraqi Army further and slowly get Americans out of there. Have public elections as fast as possible and begin replacing American troops with Iraqi ones.