Hello, My name is JAYME.

He is clearly the candidate of choice from those remaining. He has the most executive experience of them all and is the most conservative when you consider fiscal and social issues. Let’s hope the social conservatives out there realize that they are electing a president, not a pastor.

Anon

Really?

After seeing my brother and father head over to Iraq, I guess I don’t see how anyone can still vote Republican.

Not that Democrats are any better.

Just choose someone that’s against war.

Jayme

Maybe I should write an article about what it would be like if we pulled out of Iraq prematurely and took an anti-war stance that all the Dems enjoy boasting about. It’s not about whether we are against the reasons for going there or not, it’s about finishing the job, in my opinion.

Anon

What job?

My father, who is a 1st Sgt. right now stationed in Iraq, says that their main job is, “…trying not to get bored. Really, the only thing we do is drive around letting the locals know we’re still here. Every time we drive by, though, they all run inside thinking we’re just going to let loose with the 50 cal. They hate us. … If anyone think we’re here for any other reason than padding Dick Cheney’s pockets, they’re nuts.”

There was no “job”, there is no “job”.

You’re willing to risk a soldier’s life just to save face? I would hope not.

Jayme

You can cherry pick from any soldier that is there to get any story you want. I’m not saying your father is wrong, maybe that’s what he sees where is stationed, after all the surge has worked and that’s probably why he’s bored. The insurgents are in Northern Iraq primarily and not Baghdad any longer.

On the opposite end of the spectrum there are soldiers that believe in their mission to allow Iraq to get on its feet and become a Democratic government that can defend itself. Unfortunately that takes time and leaving prematurely could make the situation much worse than it was before the surge and before even going into Iraq.

I’m not here to argue that we’re saving face. I’m here to argue that immediate pullout would be disastrous. Maybe we should try it just to prove it’s true. Let’s just pull out of Iraq tomorrow and allow Al-Qaeda a safe haven to plan attacks on the US here and bolster their cause before the Iraqi military is ready to defend their country? Then when we are attacked and trace the headquarters of the operation against us back to Iraq, we’ll let the Dems explain why we have millions of civilians dead on our soil. The whole “if we leave them alone, they’ll leave us alone” mentality got 3000+ killed on 9/11.

The alternative to that would be what I’d prefer. If you’re going to pull troops out of Iraq, bring them home from every station in the world (Korea, Germany etc.) close our freaking borders off and build walls on the northern and southern border and cut off immigration until we can enforce and teach people how to come to this country legally and ethically. Those are the options.

Justine

Amen!

Anon

The UK has pulled out of the northern portion of Iraq.

That part is also one of the quietest parts of Iraq. That’s no coincidence.

Most of the people we’re fighting (that is, slaughtering) in Iraq are normal, every day citizens. Imagine, if you will, that you don’t have a television, nor a newspaper, and a group of foreign looking men in camo with M4s showed up at your door. You have no idea what’s going on, so you shout, “What’s going on?”, but they don’t understand you because they don’t speak your language. Obviously, you would try to defend your family with force. Death wouldn’t be too far behind, due to the vast superiority of their weapons. Then, after you’re gone, they label you a terrorist.

The surge is not working. There were 18 goals to be met with the surge. Three have been met.

I hate to say it, but the terrorists have won. After 9/11, this country went from being, “the land of the free and home of the brave”, to the “terrified, gun-gripping, sleep-with-one-eye-open, land of the scared.”

Soldiers are American citizens. Sure, one could say, “they signed up, they knew what they were doing”, but that would be completely wrong. My younger brother is a typical teenager. Seventeen, headstrong, eager to impress and a typical “southern-boy”. I.e., he loves guns. Even after a lot of trying to talk him out of hit, he insisted that it was, “worth the money.” Well, he was crying the day he left. He was telling me about how, “it’s starting to set in”, and how he was sorry that he signed up.

Propaganda is an amazing thing. It’s just marketing, but playing with human life, rather than human currency.

Long story short, I feel that people like you (nice, hard-working, every-day americans that support the war), don’t really have a close enough perspective. You can say that you support the war all you want, but if you were to load your father and little brother on a plane, both in the same day, I feel you would think differently. It’s not worth their lives to try and prevent something that probably would never happen.

Terrorists don’t hate our freedom. They hate the fact that their families are being killed. If they hated freedom, they would be bombing Sweden, Norway, and Finland, for America isn’t free anymore. We’re bound by fear.

Jayme

The UK was stationed in the south (Basra) not Mosul. The British left Basra because they had obtained control and ran the insurgents out. Mosul is where Al-Qaeda and the insurgents have fled. The most recent bombings took place near Mosul.

I never said war was a pretty or desirable thing. Innocent people die in wars. Innocent people died on 9/11. Innocent people died when we drove Saddam out of Kuwait. Innocent people died when we drove Hilter out of Western Europe. It’s a fact of life. I will not characterize our military as a force that slaughters innocent people. As for the surge working, the Democrats would be the first to say it’s not working and when John Murtha and the rest of his cohorts say it’s working - be assured it is.

The terrorists have not won in my opinion. I can sleep with my door unlocked and go to the nearest shopping mall without the fear of being blown up. I’m not sure where you live, but I’ve not seen one terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11.

I feel I have a very close perspective of what’s going on in Iraq. I’m very astute as to what is going on around me and have spoken with soldiers just as your relatives that believe in what they are doing and the mission given. Your opinion, like mine is just that - an opinion. I know that if my country called upon me, in the form of a draft or whatever the case called for, I would be there doing my duty. Would you?

Terrorists do hate our capitalist ways. Do you not listen to their leaders? We weren’t meddling in their affairs before 9/11. Have you not seen the bombings in Spain, the UK, Indonesia, Egypt and Morocco? Give me a break - we’re not the only ones being attacked. There’s a difference in being fearful and vigilant.

Joe

If we went ahead and made Iraq our 51st state, that would end the war. They’d end up getting obese and take out all their anger on “the intertubes” like any proud American would. I say it is high time to invite them to our union.