More opinion on this whole Iraq mess.

Also, this is the first time in awhile where I've seen references to us being told before the war that the occupation would last only a couple of months. I know we heard how quick and easy it was going to be over and over again, but now I have more perspective. A couple of months, even half a for occupation is preposterous if we're planning on doing a decent job (which I'm not convinced that we are). You know, after WWII, we occupied Japan for seven years, and even after '52, we still had a strong military presence over there (actually, we still have a strong presence there). I don't know how long Germany was occupied, but I'll bet it was more than 60 days.

I don't see how the Hawks could possibly pull out of Iraq before a reasonably stable government gets set up. The whole purpose, like I've said before, was to remove Saddam and install a pro-US government. If we leave too soon, there's an even greater risk of things degenerating back into dictatorship and/or theocracy. And I said "greater" risk, because even if we do put in the hours, there will always be a risk of return to the old ways. Things tend to be kind of fucked up like that in the Middle East. So, let's face it. We're going to be in Iraq for a long time. Not like we didn't know this, but I don't know if we've accepted it.