Assuming Dems Don't get a Majority in November

[Todd33]

I agree mostly with palehorse74 and I'm glad he is finally admitting things are not going great, the first step to fix things is to get people out of denial, especially those on the right.

We either have to increase troop strength and do this the way the generals wanted to back in 2003, the Powell doctrine. This would be a total lockdown and would cost much more in $$ and lives.

Another alternative which is cheaper, but riskier is to re-deploy nearby and support the Iraqi troops, but make them stand on their own. Take the training wheels off so to speak. We could also get some international and Arab troops in to help.

 

[imported_Tango]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: Tom
We may be driven out of Afghanistan in the next 6 months.

We'll continue to lose 10 or 20 Americans a day in Iraq, probably increase to as high as 50 per day.

But we'll stay there, for no particular reason. Just like Vietnam.

Who is going to "drive" us out of Afghanistan? The Taliban who get their asses kicked every time they get involved in a real fight?
Read the news stories, they all tell the same story, 100 dead Taliban fighters vs. 3-4 dead NATO soldiers, if we are driven out with that ratio then we should just give up and convert today.

Some people just never learn from history:

From Summer's "On Strategy: A Critical Analysis of the Vietnam War"

From the same article, here is an exchange between the author, whose task it was to negotiate the terms of the American withdrawal with the North Vietnamese, and a North Vietnamese colonel. Read it and weep.

"You know you never beat us on the battlefield," I said to Colonel Tu, my NVA counterpart.
"That may be so," he said, "but it is also irrelevant."