<p>[Baghdad’s</a> Weary Start to Exhale as Security Improves - New York Times](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/world/middleeast/20surge.html?ei=5065&en=7e7d43064c067b63&ex=1196226000&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print]Baghdad’s”>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/world/middleeast/20surge.html?ei=5065&en=7e7d43064c067b63&ex=1196226000&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print)</p>
<p>Wishful thinking there, Barrons. </p>
<p>I think this will be “THE” election item.</p>
<p>If NYT is posting positive, it will not be an issue. The “ISSUE” will be which party can their voters out. We are so partisan now that I can’t see anyone being swayed left or right over IRAQ</p>
<p>Don’t we all wish Iraq was our biggest problem? I am finding that inflation is rising fast, and the value of the dollar can’t keep up with it. Our dollar has fell drastically, the canadian dollar is of equal value - this is pathetic.</p>
<p>URIA,</p>
<p>Hate to tell u but u just opened a can of worms. People have definite feelings @IRAQ, very few care @ gas prices, global economy, taxes. Makes me laugh IRAQ touches very few people in their day in day out, yet they will debate this until the cows come home. </p>
<p>It might seem like I am doing double talk according to my last post. I am not, read it, what I am saying is we are too partisan to listen to the issues. </p>
<p>Does anyone have a story that they swayed someone from another party to their own? I can’t think of anyone I know.</p>
<p>Quick annecdote…s… talks to aunt (opp. party) asked her yes/no ?'s. After he asked them he said congrats u r my party. She quickly started back peddling. Love my sis, but more proud of my s. He has made his political decision due to the platforms., Taxes, welfare, SS, etc., not being a sheep</p>
<p>I could not care less if someone disagrees with me. Not every citizen can afford to worry about Iraq. Some of us NEED to worry about gas prices because unlike many trust funds babies we start out with 0, and after college are in debt to our eye balls. Everybody is so concerned about Iraq and neglecting the other issues that our country faces. The value of the dollar keeps falling, it is at it’s lowest in HISTORY, and this simply isn’t keeping up with inflation. Some of us are independent students who will finish school in debt, is it fair for us to suffer just because IRAQ has to be the biggest issue on the liberal agenda? </p>
<p>As hard as it is to believe, this country has plenty of other issues that need to be addressed and judging candidates based on their opinions on the war in Iraq is irresponsible and dumb. I for one would prefer not to be subjected to a rude awakening when the economy plummets and I can’t find a job out of college with $40,000 of debt because folks are too busy debating Iraq.</p>
<p>I grad. with debt and it took 10 yrs to pay off. As soon as that was pd off I got my Masters so I understand the debt fear.
U R preaching to the choir, that was my pt…Iraq involves very few people and we spend too much time on it. We all should be forcing the candidates to discuss taxes, ANWAR, SS, etc. I am pretty sure we are all invested in those issues</p>
<p>
Be careful what you ask for, AM. If things continue on their current track in Iraq, Reid/Pelosi and their minions will be forced to eat a lot of crow. Of course, the beauty of their position is that good news doesn’t get reported so they can continue the sky-is-falling/we-have-lost dirge and the general public won’t be any the wiser for it.</p>
<p>Uri, we have borrowed ourselves into trillions of dollars of debt to pay for this war. You should care about the war, because you will be paying or it well into your old age. The value of the dollar has dropped because we are now the biggest debt holders on the planet…and it is because of this massive $470B war cost.</p>
<p>[National</a> Priorities Project - Cost of War](<a href=“http://www.nationalpriorities.org/Cost-of-War/Cost-of-War-3.html]National”>http://www.nationalpriorities.org/Cost-of-War/Cost-of-War-3.html)</p>
<p>Make the war your concern, if you care about your future economic security.</p>
<p>There are many other contributing factors to why the value of our dollar has dropped, it is silly to put the entire blame on the war in iraq</p>
<p>Allmusic,</p>
<p>Got your point on the cost. Here’s a solution let’s stop giving pork barrel funding for stupid studies…or why are we forgiving debts to other countries? Yes, I know it is for global reasons, but if you are that worried about the debt. Tell your congressman there is no need to study methane gas emitted from cows, ask him is it our responsibility to subsided 3rd worlds for decades with no proven results</p>
<p>Of course Iraq isn’t the only problem with the devalued dollar, but our wanton wasteful spending, along with irresponsible borrowing, have only been exacerbated by this war spending, which has drained the US budget completely.</p>
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</p>
<p>Exactly what I was referring to. It is not the war in itself, it is our methodology and the way we deal with our issues. The principles the United States were founded on seem to no longer be in practice today. What are the reasons we went to war in the first place? Simply putting an end to the war does not undo the damage what about</p>
<p>Ok then lets force our congress and senate to stop pork barrel items! We’re in the war it will take a while to get out, but we can stop pork barrel items immediately. Billions go ea yr to districts so congress people can say I did this for you. Who out there can say oh yeah I know someone who got a job because of this study?</p>
<p>Those pork barrel items are an absolute drop in the bucket in comparison to the war costs. That is disingenuous, at best, to in any way equate the two.</p>
<p>Question: Do you believe your congress person and/or Senator are rep. your true views on Iraq?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yeah, it couldn’t have anything to do with the other $8,500 billion the US government spent over the same period of time…</p>
<p>Anyone else notice that it’s almost impossible to get any of the Bushevik True Believers to define “victory” in Iraq in terms of who controls it and under what circumstances? You look underneath the momentary drop in violence and find nothing much has been changed except that ethnic cleansing of many neighborhoods has been pretty successful, thus decreasing the number of incidents, and that the smallest of all the players in Iraq–AQ in Mesopotamia as it’s now called–has been thrown for losses due to us arming Sunni former-insurgents whose conflicts with the Shiite central government have not been resolved and whom the Shiite government resists mightily in the giving of aid.</p>
<p>Other than that, hunky dory.</p>
<p>What is success to you?</p>
<p>That’s what I ask proponents to define, the “success” that we should be holding out for. Since even the raison d’etre has been a constantly shifting target, I don’t expect any less for “victory” but we aren’t given even that. </p>
<p>The goal should probably be pro-American, stable, and democratic, but I certainly don’t see how you get more than one out of three with any of the puzzle pieces (which faction(s), which leader(s) currently existing on the ground. This is why you get chirping crickets (sounds like the name of a rock band) when you pose the question.</p>