Quote:
Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
I think that firm deadlines and pre-arranged percentage troop reductions are mistaken policy.
We don't want to give the enemy hope that, if they "just hang in there" to X date, it will get easier for them.
This won't pass, though I'd be a bit more worried after the election if the Dems take back the House.
S_A_M
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I don't know. It is a bit of a double edged sword. Without a planned withdraw, the insurgents will take credit for whenever we start to pull out, and the longer we leave it as a festering quagmire, the more credible those claims will look. (Of course, they will take credit either way). And I suspect that they are already saying that things will get better if they only make it to X date.
I guess it comes down to whether we think we can make the situation better by leaving troops there. If we can't, then it makes as much sense to plan the withdrawl now as it would to plan it later. Unfortunately, whether we can help is an assessment that it is awefully hard for us to make from here in our comfortable offices (or in my case, in my uncomfortable office).