Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Torin
Not going to comment on the recent string of posts, but to answer the original question... I would vote Kerry because he's got the best chance of getting Bush out of office, and a vote for anyone else might as well be a vote for Bush in my opinion.
I don't necessarily think taking Saddam out of power was a bad idea, but Bush went about it in the absolutely wrong way, and the results have been tragic, and continue to get more tragic every day. 4 more soldiers were killed today, and I honestly doubt the killing will ever stop.
I'm definitely no humanist, and I would say I am insensitive.. but I think we should have left Saddam in power until the world was willing to unite to take him out of power, rather than the U.S. playing the role of Global Police Force. I'd rather the Iraqis kill each other than kill our soldiers. And force feeding them democracy has only made the situation there worse. Yeah, let's give them another reason to want to kill us, great idea.
|
Every death is a tragedy, but from a professional standpoint, these casualty levels are tactically and operationally insignificant. Strategically they are significant because this whole shooting match will won or loss based on the will of people back home...think about that... The people who suicide bomb our troops; want you to react the way you are reacting right now.
Don't think for a minute that things are as bad as the news makes them out to be. Keep this in perspective and look at WW2, Korea and Vietnam US losses. Look at the overall trend.
World War 2 1940-1945 291,557
Korean War 1950-1953 33,686
Vietnam War 1964-1975 47,410
Gulf War 1990-1991 148
OIF 2003- SEP 14 2004 768 *note that 25% of deaths reported by the news are NON-Combat deaths
The fact is that Afghanistan had national elections...was it force feed? If so, they seem to have liked it. Iraq will turn out the same way.