Does that get us "victory"?

The emperor has already won. The emperor made the initial illegal attack on Iraq under the guise of eliminating Saddam Hussein's terrifying WMDs and removing him from power such that he couldn't develop new and improved WMDs or use the ones that he purportedly had. Well. The results are in. No WMDs and Saddam Hussein is dead. Seems to me that the objectives of this illegitimate war have been attained.

Does it transform Iraq into a "free nation that can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself"?

Could somebody tell me what the hell that has to do with sequestering WMDs and removing Saddam Hussein? But let's skip that question. Let's look at the statement.

1. Iraq will not be free as long as there are 160,000 plus heavily armed American troops in their country.

2. Iraq is governing itself. That governance may not be to the liking of the emperor but, just as cooperation isn't a whole bunch of people doing what I say, governance isn't running the show the way the emperor wants it run.

3. Sustainment is a much squidgier issue. But one thing we know for sure. Sustainment is made much more difficult if half your population is in refugee status and most of the country's best and brightest are included in that number. That portion of the population has clearly voted with their feet and they're not likely to come back as long as we're there.

4. Defend against whom? Iran? Syria? Turkey? Iran might have a bone to pick with Iraq since Iraq started the Iran-Iraq war but Iran doesn't have a history (as we do) of attacking their neighbors. Syria has enough problems of their own since their only foreign exchange are the victims of our extreme rendition program. We won't sell 'em anything else. Turkey may want to kick some Kurdish ass over the Kurdish insurgency in their country but they're not going to want any more Kurds than they already have. So who?

This is all so stupid. What the emperor did in attacking Iraq was dumber than dirt but it's long past time when the Iraqis should have been left alone to sort things out themselves.

As I read these responses I don't hear anyone advocating a Summit of Syria, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, The US, Big Oil and others.

Over and over experts keep saying the solution is not military but political. But for now, the Iraqi government and the armed forces are impotent.

All we hear is Military, Armed forces, support the troops. The old if you are a hammer everything looks like a nail.

So get those with a true vested interest of peace in the region, to sit down and create a plan of dynamic participation for resolving what is to come. Then everyone just might avoid the complete collapse and bloodbath that many believe will follow a US military withdrawal.

If a Leader were to call this Summit to order, and organize regional babysitters to complement the current military solution? It just might bring relief to our troops and a less bloody path toward stabilizing Iraq.

It would be antithetical for W to work this way - but with an election around the corner, candidates should clandestinely move on this the way Reagan moved on the hostages in '79. Sweep. First order of business in office. A truly different approach.

American's support their troops and want to "win" - but could really care less about the suffering of Iraqi people. And we will never leave Iraq entirely. Its another Germany, Japan or Korea. We have built the infrastructure and we ain't leaving!

This is an invasion and occupation. If we hope to make any changes in our involvement in Iraq we must stop using the word "war". Congress never declared war on Iraq.

The word "war" somehow makes this whole horrorshow legitimate.

Look, Senate Democrats need 67 votes (enough to override a presidential veto) to change Iraq. There aren't 67 Democrats in the Senate, so you do the math.

And George Bush needs 51 to keep funding his "War President" fantasies. He never seems to have trouble getting those. The Dems do have a theoretical, at least, majority and they control the schedule. Nothing gets on the floor that the Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader aren't willing to see there. I would imagine that if the "emergency" funds didn't get appropriated, that would effect a change.

So, let's all stop tooting that "Poor us, we don't have a veto-proof majority" horn. The tune has gotten old.

Welcome to Eternal War. It's the never-ending War on Terra which will be continued as long as there is an American populace who won't demand change and form a viable third party.

If Senator Clinton wins the election in 2008, nothing will change. She won't admit her vote to empower Bush was wrong because she's in favor of the occupation herself. She's just another pawn of the Pro-Israel lobby for whom our troops are suffering and dying.

To paraphrase Orwell, as long as there's an abundance of cheap beer, pornography and a lottery, the citizenry will remain cowed and subservient to whatever regime reigns in Washington no matter what they do.

What used to be the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave is now the Land of the Overweight and the Home of the Poor who fight instead of Them. Face facts, most Americans will buy into anything they're sold through TV as long as they don't have to think or do anything difficult.

As Homer Simpson once told Bart, "If it's hard, it's just not worth it". That apparently includes the defense of our country's value from a group of politicos who would make a banana republic dictatorship look like Jeffersonian democracy.

I wonder what new piece of shit, non-binding 'goal' will be spun out this week once it becomes clear that the 'benchmarks' for the last piece of shit, non-binding 'goal' are found to have utterly failed.

A war, started illegally on a pack of lies, first over the threat of WMD's (doesn't that notion sound, to use the shameful former Attorney General Gonzales word "quaint") is now in it's fourth year with no end in sight. NO END..... hmmm... Is it possible that was the idea all along?

The perpetrators of these crimes against the peace, crimes against humanity and war crimes are easy to spot, and should be prosecuted. However, the accessories to the crime, CNN, CBS, NBC, FOX, NYTIMES etc. should also be put on notice, for they continue to publish and broadcast the lies of the war criminals without the benefit of analysis or fact checking. And really, while we are rounding up the co-conspirators, let's include the entire house of representatives that were recently elected to end the war. Hand this over to the United Nations. Let's take our licks and move on.

If we spent half as much money as has been spent on this war developing alternative energy sources and ways to cut consumption, we wouldn't need the middle east oil. My goodness, there is a car in Germany that goes 135 miles and hour and gets over 100 mpg. Where is that car here?

I'm so sick of it all. I've thrown shoe after shoe at the television, every time that sorry-assed alcoholic excuse for a president opens his stupid lying mouth. Now I'm out of shoes... I yell at the TV endlessly, and now my voice is hoarse. Worse yet, I voted, and the party that promised to end the war is no different then the rubberstamp criminals they are replacing... ok... there is a small difference...they grumble a lot whilst stamping their approval for continuing our illegal war.

And when the American empire falls, will the finger be pointed at the Republican junta? Doubtful. But fall it will, for we are driving ourselves over a cliff of no return.

I guess, in the end, the Republican's succeeded in their primary objective... to have less government. Thanks Repubs, I didn't realize that your party was actually the party of anarchy. I hope Fred Thompson and his teenaged wife become the Republican nominee for president and first lady, as I do truly enjoy farce.

I'll watch the Senate hearings today, and see what kind of report the scripted General Petraeus will give. I miss General Peter Pace. He really had much more of the sycophantic brown nosing face then Petraeus. Oh well, garbage in, garbage out.