General Pleads For Time To Secure Iraq

Do you remember when they said that by September we would know if the surge was working. We needed to be patient and give the surge the summer to succeed. Now comes this.

If the U.S. troop buildup in Iraq is reversed before the summer of 2008, the military will risk giving up the security gains it has achieved at a cost of hundreds of American lives over the past six months, the commander of U.S. forces south of Baghdad said Friday.

What guarantee do we have that an extended say will accomplish the stated goal? The Iraqi government is not up to the task and the country is in a civil war. How will more time change that? Aren't we just prolonging the inevitable?

How many more of our soldiers will need to die for this endless quagmire? Unfortunately I don't believe there is anything that can be done to stop the slaughter of innocent Iraqis that will occur no matter when we leave. How does anyone in this administration sleep at night? The amount of needless death and destruction wrought upon Iraq in pursuit of their oil is criminal. Increasing the death toll with no real hope of a secure Iraq only compounds the situation.

I have to wonder how many of the Republicans who continue to stop any meaningful plan for withdrawal actually believe what they are doing is morally correct. My guess is not many but that political considerations far outweigh moral considerations. This is Bush's war and no matter how long they stall the inevitable, that fact will never change.