Originally Posted by politicophile

There is a very, very, very fine line between "supporting" the troops by calling for their withdrawal and hoping that the military action itself fails. After all, the most obvious circumstance in which the administration would decide to pull out the troops is if the situation on the ground becomes unwinnable.

By this, I am not implying that everyone who wants us to cut and run from Iraq wants to see the U.S. fail, although I am definitely saying that some people who hold that view would like nothing better than for the insurgency to strengthen and begin to kill more of our soldiers.

Additionally, even those who fall into the former category would have their ends furthered if the insurgency were to begin winning. Provided, of course, that there were still enough soldiers alive to bring home.

My quandary is this: if you believe that the best thing to do in Iraq is to pull out all troops ASAP, how can you support the troops if the very success of those troops would prevent them from coming home?

If the options are failure and a swift withdrawal or success and a substantially later withdrawal, which option is preferable?

Alternatively, is success compatible with immediate withdrawal? How?