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public debate is fine. But roachboy, dc and rekna, the premise all of you are starting from is that Iraq is irretrievably lost. If it is, we should defund the exercise and bring the troops home, right now, and not waste one more life or one more dollar. If it's not, we have to figure out the best way to succeed - we know that the current troop level and deployment wasn't as effective as we'd like. If the core of your argument is that the only way to succeed is by going hat in hand to the mad mullahs of Tehran, well...... let's just say you have greater confidence in their good faith than I do. And it still doesn't explain why (other than for political benefits for the Democratic party) a nonbinding resolution disapproving of the strategy that the armed forces are already committed to using makes a lick of sense.
I maintain that our mistake was in not following the Powell Doctrine from Day One. Specifically, we should never ever go to war unless we are prepared to absolutely overwhelm the other side in short order, and also have a plan for getting out. Rumsfeld's mistake was in running the Pentagon like a corporation, using the fewest resources/troops possible to do the job. Big mistake. And if w'ere not prepared when we go into a war to go in with maximum force we shouldn't go in at all. The current situation is not tolerable.
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