We know there is a huge debate, and of course the President insists that we stay the course, but do you think it is time to leave? What do you think it will mean to the Iraqis and to the fight against terrorism, if we pull our troops out and come home? No matter what, our troops need our support, but do you think that we are doing well or do you think we have accomplished our mission by taking out Saddam and now its time to come home?

I am sure this is going to be a big battle in the upcoming elections, and of course the Democrats are proposing that we get out of Iraq as fast as possible, but I wonder what the impact of that would truly be. We were, and still are, supposed to be there until Iraq becomes a state that can operate under its own power and as a democracy, however with all of the insurgents that are becoming increasingly difficult it seems an endless battle and meanwhile the bloodshed continues. Of course we need to think of what is the best course of action for both our troops as well as the citizens of Iraq.

Now, two United States Senators are pushing the debate even further when Senator Joseph Biden made the announcement that the reality of seeing a government in Iraq wouldn’t happen during this lifetime. The fact is that the unrest is growing at an unprecedented rate in Iraq, and civilians are fleeing in huge numbers, roughly 100,000 people a month are leaving.

In addition, United States Senator Lindsey Graham just returned from Iraq and he states that after coming home from Air Force Reserve duty, that he believes the troops are making a difference and it is just a matter of time before the Iraqi government begins to take shape and Iraq will function as a state. The debate is based on whether or not we should keep our troops in place until we see Iraq operate with full autonomy.

Now with the upcoming elections, the debate is even greater. If we wait until Iraq is established, and keep just enough troops back to help train the Iraqi soldiers many people wonder just how long that will take.

Meanwhile there is an issue that is being overlooked, and that is the toll that the war is taking on our soldiers. Our troops are coming home wounded, battered, and scarred. How will this war affect the future of American citizens?

However, amidst all of the controversy, one thing is certain. Many people have compared the Iraq War with Vietnam, and they are definitely not the same. Vietnam had initiated a draft and the amount of American lives lost was immense. Iraq is not seeing the death toll that Vietnam saw and that is one good point regarding the war. However, no one wants to see our troops hurt, injured, or suffering and one can only stop and wonder how this war will effect our troops thirty or forty years from now. Today, we still have numerous Vietnam veterans who are continually suffering from the horrors they experienced in Vietnam, hopefully we won’t see that in the coming years with the veterans of the Iraq war.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 2nd, 2007 at 9:29 pm and is filed under Frequent Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.