BF2S Forums Is Petraeus going to betray us? (The thought of loosing is hateful.)

Pull out of Iraq.

CameronPoe wrote:

usmarine2005 wrote:

Pull out of Iraq.

When usmarine2005 says 'Pull out of Iraq' you know it's over. ATG buckled a while ago. I'd say the departed Lowing would be the only con heavyweight still advocating remaining there at this stage.

I said it a while ago, but it still holds true.

all those comparisons to WWII are bullshit. WWII, as brutal and ugly as it may have been - was a war between nations, with uniformed soldiers, flags, marked vehicles, etc...

when one side ( in that case, the axis ) was defeated, they raised the white flag, and that was the end of that. No armed insurgency, no IED's, nothing.
Sure, civilians were killed in combat operations, but in a conflict on such a scale, that was bound to happen.  Coventry, Dresden, etc were the exceptions. When you carpet-bomb entire cities, bad things happen.
For the most part though, it was a conflict between uniformed soldiers, who generally obeyed to some professional code of conduct.

iraq, however, is a different battlefield. As Cam has pointed out, it is essentially police work done by regular armed forces. And if history has taught us anything, it is that regular armies - as well equipped, trained, or as brutal as they might be - generally don't have much success against a well-organized armed insurgency, that is embedded in the population. The russians couldn't do it in Afghanistan ( and believe me, they were brutal ), the British couldn't do it in Northern Ireland, the US couldn't do it in Vietnam.

Why do people still believe the US will do better in Iraq ?

That country is truly fucked up now, and poses no threat to anyone. You might just as well leave, and let the Iraquis decide their country's fate for themselves. The US has done enough. Removed Saddam, and gave the Iraquis a chance at democracy. Good job, I say. Now it is up to them to take that chance.

Support them with weapons and equipment, if you want to, but get the hell out of there. That country ain't worth the life of one more US/Coalition soldier.

I have long since wondered why the US felt the need to put boots on the ground anyway. With the air attack capabilities and the satellite reconnaissance you have, you can identify and eliminate any possible intercontinental threat in the middle east, before it even becomes remotely a problem.
The idea that any middle eastern country ( let alone a terrorist organization ) could pose a real threat to the national security of the US is just absurd.

Just imagine if the US had invested all that money they have thrown into the war-machine ( aka shredder ) during the last 5 years into domestic areas such as education, health care, border security, environment or alternative energy resarch.

I dare say you'd be just as safe, but a lot better off...