Do you think that 2008 could be a year of change for the war in Iraq?

Do you think that a political "surge" following the military surge will be able to pull off legislation and agreements strong enough to allow Iraq to make political headway?

I really feel that if the current situation on the ground continues to improve as it has the last few months; we could be looking at a substantial draw-down in 2008 as well as some major progress from the Iraqi people and government.

Will 2008 be the turning point for Iraq and our roll in it?

I hopeit will be the the year of change, but I doubt it. It's only a matter of time before things start going south again.

The Iraqis will likely not take this opportunity to improve the political situation on the ground.

We should not have been there in the first place.

You know what? I 100% agree with you on both points. We should not have started this war in this particular country...and the political side of the GoI is slow to join the fight.

On the first point; we are here and we did start this war, so let's at least make a concerted effort to leave Iraq better than we found it.

Also, based on past trends and the current situation I would say that we are at a point now with the highest possible probability to succeed (at least in certain aspects of success) in Iraq. Even if it is just to stabilize the country enough to draw down to a force of less than 75,000 (hopefully less) by 2009 sometime, and allow the GoI to build, work, and come to terms with the realities of Democracy.

I'm not holding my breath, but 2008 could usher in a year of relative calm in Iraq...enough so to sway the public opinion back home to at least allow us to finish some of our primary missions over here: anti-terrorism, training Iraqi forces, and rebuilding/humanitarian missions.

You are exactly correct Lars. From the sounds of it, you want peace, & for the war in iraq( and any other wars in the world for that matter), to end, Correct?
If so, then we need to speak out for each other & let it be known that we DID start the war in Iraq, & that there were no WMD, as George put it...
Am i sspeaking out too much? could someone please reply to this, & tell me if i am( i am new here)
If i am not speaking too much about the war(this is a political website after all), then I would like to continue speaking about what i believe in. +, it woul be nice to hear from some other people who share my views about this subject.

Thanks!!!

I posted a response to something similar to this discussion in one of your other threads…but I’ll just say 3 things:

1. The reason we started this war in Iraq or the war on terror are not what we should be discussing, but instead we should be talking about how to fix the world situation. Let the historians talk about the ‘should-haves’ later.
2. This war and any other war/conflict in the world can only be won by having a strong policy against terrorism, genocide, and extremism. Only once we are rid of these ideologies and tragedies will we be able to stop fighting.
3. I would love to have each and every member of our military (including myself and all my buddies here) to leave tomorrow. But that is living in a dream world. If you; or anyone else, think that leaving Iraq tomorrow would make Americans, the military, or the world a better place, then you are sorely mistaken. I understand that it may look like a lost cause, or that pulling out would somehow save the planet (or our Nation). But sadly, that is just not the case.

What happens when another terrorist attack happens in the US? What do we do when a dictator slaughters hundreds of thousands of his own people? Where do we put our loyalties when an extremist based group attacks one of our allies in Europe or Asia? Do we just sit back and tell the rest of the world that they’ll simply have to deal with it? Do we allow our economy to completely and utterly collapse because we’ve allowed our allies and trading partners to be attacked, harassed, and taken over by dictators, extremists, and militants?

I would love to never have to see another bombing, or attack, war or conflict. I would love to stay home and raise a family. But it isn’t what WE want that makes these things work. It is all those extreme ideologies and power-hungry dictators who; out of hatred and greed, attack the innocent and kill the peaceful.

What if we pull every single troop out of every single foreign nation? Bring them all back to the US…and we’re still attacked? What’s the solution then?

I would hate to become an isolationist nation, and then wake up one day to find out a terrorist had exploded a bomb in my children’s school…because he thinks Americans are the unfaithful taint on the world. Then I find out that this terrorist could have been stopped had we acted somewhere overseas in a far away location, instead of waiting for him to bring the fight to us. I would much rather fight our battles today in order to secure the peace of tomorrow.

Make no mistake; there will never be world peace. As long as there are different lands, languages, education systems, religions, cultures, and races…there will always be hatred, jealousy, and greed.

Terrorists/extremists use death and destruction to find political appeasement in order to improve their control over a population.

Democratic peoples use politics to decide if death and destruction is warranted in order to uphold peace and the rule of law.

We aren’t perfect, but we are damn sure better than the extremists who bomb schools, churches, mosques, and synagogues.

I'm not trying to scare you, or "beat you up" on this site. I’m just sharing my humble insight into the world that we live in. The world from the point of view of the 3rd-world nations I've been to is different that that of a person basing their opinions off of CNN, Fox News, and Time Magazine. Not that one is better than the other...just different points of view.