Ghost of BiB

And by even calling for a phased withdrawl over a specified timeline is not in the best strategic interests of the United States, but who cares, right?

Neither am I.

Which in practical terms insofar as accomplishing anything meaningful is the same thing. Whatever the "withdrawl" plan is, isn't or might be...setting a defined time line does nothing more than play into the adversaries hands.

I can't disagree with any of that. As a matter of fact, I agree with it. In the case of the nazis, the fascists, the communists, whatever Japan called a party...we knew that "the trains had to run on time". Why this was handled so poorly, I'll never understand. We'd be about out of there by now if maybe three or four things had been done differently. I also understand the heavy handed tactics, too. When one is being shot at, one does not respond wearing kid gloves. But, sadly, it was very hard for the guys on the ground to be able to analyze, and pick and choose. That should have been done upfront to the best of anyone's ability, and as a continual process. No method or answer would have been perfect, but it could have been done better. Maybe a newer understanding between all concerned can be reached. I don't know, but at least now I think both sides are trying to make the effort.

That was actually the storm that blew through Kansas, and sucked up some little girl and her yip-yip dog. It was made into a movie after the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

This has become the proverbial self licking ice cream cone. I still think that out and out civil war can be avoided. What really chaps my ass is that a lot of the native insurgency could have been avoided simply by understanding Arab and African culture. For one thing, kicking down doors has a much different meaning there than even here. For that type of violation, an culturally emeshed Arab male has an obligation to exact revenge as it demonstrates his inability to protect his household. One can list dozens of other examples. To the plus side, The external terrorist issues are getting better. Zarqawi has seriously overstepped and not only has HIS ass in some hot water, but also Bin-Laden's by proxy. They are going to have to adjust their tactics to continue any real influence. Fortunately, Iran doesn't like them - but sometimes makes bedfellows of convienience. Will the Iraqis ever recognize their new government as a people? Maybe, it's not impossible. But, it's going to take more than a year. And now, we have to not only deal with internal insurgency, external terrorists, Iran stirring up crap, Syria stirring up crap...but also have to police the very people we put in charge. Iraq wasn't Iraq not that long ago. If it weren't for where the oil reserves lie, letting it restructure into 3 separate entities might not be a bad plan. If there were some way to do that and still share in the oil revenues it might make things easier.

BRILLIANT!

BRILLIANT!

But, take this in context with my posts. If I am even 20% correct, this once again accomplishes nothing - if the job is not completed, you have the same situation with the Republicans as I described with the Democrats, only worse because they started it. If it takes 20 damn years, I don't want this half done.

I'm surprised but pleased to see this many linemen on a top 10 list. But, 1BD probably locked onto the wide receiver guy if they looked at SI at all. Prospects?

Establish a Pan-Islamic Caliphate, but not neccessarily in the Ottoman mode. It is very unlikely that they would either solicit or recieve any support from the likes of Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and several others. To me, the key is in what would become a very destabilizing influence in the region. A coalition of fundamental Islamic governments armed with nuclear weapons isn't going to give anyone moderate many choices. Iran historically has held an exagerated sense of self importance, which induces a sense of internal paranoia. This shapes a lot of their policy decisions - which are generally never good. I view them as the true fox in the henhouse. Meanwhile, China sits back watching what is going on. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the stability that they gave much of the mid-east is gone. Depending on which way the winds blow, China will begin to reach out to whoever holds the real power there. Something not often discussed is the successes this administration has had in cooling the tensions between Pakistan and India. Pakistan is allied, in many ways with us in the GWOT, and we are sharing technology with India to counterbalance Chinese military technical advancement. There are a lot of moving pieces in this puzzle. Focusing on strictly "Troops in Iraq" leads to distraction, not understanding. Once again, a lot of how this is being gone about needs work, but I think it's pretty irresponsible for the Democrats to push everything aside just for the short term happy dance of getting the White House back.

OK, I'll call off the black helicopters then.

I'm real excited. Woo Hoo. Sure changes everything, don't it? No one here yet has mentioned China.

Ah, something has to be said for tradition. Waking up is always a true adventure too.

Any given Sunday. I'm having some difficulty picking the Skins and Raiders. The local homies don't know.

Chloroform and curare work pretty well for me.

This is your version of an intelligent post, right? I'll refrain from any Kool-Aid comments, because yes, Kool-Aid comments are lame. But please don't try to pass this off as serious.

Yes. You would have to Fed Ex it to me labled "Priority Machine Parts".

The thick Thai sweet tea with cream is a major requirement with spicy Thai, no matter what the beer. That will definitely help with the burn.

Pulling out of Iraq, announcing a schedule, etc...is a very, very bad idea. 1. It's pretty obvious to me, at least that this proposed legislation is political tactics in action. The Democratic party is going to make the war the major issue in the next campaign, so the first shots are being fired. Who better to champion the cause than the local Democrat Hawk? 2. Announcing a phased or otherwise withdrawl is another U.S. admission of defeat. This is bad on several levels. It obviously will embolden those parties not friendly to us already, and also will demonstrate to those on the fence or allied that we can't be relied on to finish a task. Nations that don't like us, and very much especially terrorists love this scenario. Scaring inmates with dogs doesn't fuel the fervor. American failure, the sense that we can be beaten does. 3. Along with item 2, the entire objective of this exercise is to place a stabilized "democratic" Iraq smack in between Iran and Syria, as a counterbalance. Allowing Iraq to fall into chaos will allow the Syrian-Iranian alliances to exert some heavy pressures on Egypt and Saudi Arabia, strongly affecting the geo-political climate of the region. It is not out of the question that the House of Saud could be collapsed. Were that to happen it's Katy Bar the Door. 4. This saving lives crap is crap. There aren't enough people in country, of the right mix to reign in what's going on now. How is pulling troops out going to improve this? It will serve no other purpose than to make those remaining more vulnerable. 5. WMD was and is, still a major issue. A strong Iraq, working in concert with us and regional powers can effect a powerful counter-proliferation policy. AQ Khan has fingerprints all over Iran. A nuclear armed loose "Caliphate" of a sorts consisting of Iran, Syria, a fundamental Iraq, and a fundamental Saudi Arabia has little to nothing stopping them from dictating anything going on not only in that immediate region, but spillover into Pakistan and India, perhaps further. Israel would be forced into taking some pretty bold steps. And, I mean bold. 6. We have made a lot of mistakes in so far as prosecution of this adventure. That doesn't change the fact that for our own national interests, it's a course once charted has to be followed. I'm not going to get into that end of it here, maybe somewhere else. Once again, this isn't a video game, a political tool or a reality show. This is serious business, with wide ranging and serious implications whether success or failure. I wish SOMEONE in the government would get off this "bring democracy to the Iraqi people" BS, and truly try to explain what is going on. One has to dig long and hard to find any of it. Were I you, I'd be insulted that Washington doesn't think we are smart enough to grasp the situation, and were I a Democrat, I'd be incensed that my party was willing to lie to the American people about something that could have dire consequences to their children's futures just to grab back the White House. BTW, I'm not a Republican either. I'm an independant. Also, I think that just because one served in combat, it does not make them a credible expert in foreign policy. That goes right back to bullet 1. But, a lot of folks seem to buy it. Before you start, that statement has nothing whatsoever to do with the man's service or courage.

Does anyone have any leads on Kulmbacher Uralt? I just about lived on that stuff my first tour there.

That must be the "before" shot, huh? Your "after" doesn't look a thing like that, you svelte sexy creature, you.

Never f***ing happen. I can just see first client of the day: Super Woman

88 yards, much of it in the 4th quarter as San Diego opens up their run defense to close down any hope of a Buffalo comeback from the 2 TD deficit.

Mail resumes.