If you became president tomorrow.....

[quaoar]

What would you do about Iraq?

Would you withdraw immediately? Gradually?

Would you try to persuade other countries to step in?

What if you knew that withdrawing American troops would lead to a bloody civil war?

It seems to me that what I would want to do (withdraw) is complicated by the facts on the ground. I would not want withdrawal to cause the deaths of tens of thousands more Iraqis then have already died.

On the other hand, I would find it very hard to ask a single American soldier to risk his/her life for this "cause."

[Sequoia]

1. That didn't seem to bother us when we finally pulled out of Vietnam

and all the chopper swirling around and picking up the last batch of people. Then ole Pol Pot did his dirty deed a year later in 1975 over in Cambodia with Vietnam as their enemy while we directly/indirectly supported him.

[Wilms]

2. If I became president tomorrow, I'd be shot dead by sundown. n/t

[quaoar]

3. LOL

Me too, most likely

[dhinojosa]

4. My answers

1. I would have them in for one year, to train the police force the right way. I would ask for money to rebuild their police force. But all troops would move out in one year

2. One year

3. Yes, we need all the help we can get

4. Well, so be it.

[quaoar]

5. I would agree with that

except that we trained the South Vietnamese Army for more than 10 years to take over the fighting.

Which goes to show that sometimes there is just no saving a bad situation.

[dhinojosa]

16. Whatever they make of that one year is up to them (totally agree)

if they fail it is their fault.

[maxsolomon]

6. i'm crazy

1. apologize to the arab world, get out in 3 months.
2. gradually. immediatley from the cities.
3. hand it over to a coalition of non-involved muslim countries: egypt, moroccans, & indonesia.
4. don't care. it will anyway.

raise gas tax, put it all into bullet trains & electric trolleys. 40 billion a year for renewable energy research & implementation. sign kyoto. revoke corporate personhood.

prepare for impeachment/assasination.

[quaoar]

7. I would withdraw to the Kurdish north for sure

[flaminbats]

8. eliminating Saddam was never a blessing

First I would repeal the taxcuts. Then send the U.N. a formal apology, and offer to lead an international peacekeeping force until Iraqi elections could be safely monitored by the U.N..

If the U.N. then tells us tough luck, Plan 2 kicks in. We ask Turkey if they want the Kurdish territory in Iraq, if not then we give the Kurds independence. This leaves less land to patrol, and a stable political group to form a democracy.

[solinvictus]

9. Gradual withdrawal...

A timetable of about a year. I'd honestly appeal to other Arab nations to assist in peacekeeping and training to take the sting out of "occupation". Additionally, I'd put Iraqis back to work rebuilding Iraq. If people have paying jobs, they are less likely to be shooting at our troops. Let them have jobs, make some cash, and spend it building their lives again. They can do it cheaper than Halliburton. I imagine that's a sore spot with them as well: get fired from your job as an engineer/construction worker/truck driver/whatever only to see foreigners take those jobs while your family begs for bread. It'd make me plant roadside bombs and take sniper shots at an occupier.

Edit: I'd arm the hell out of the Kurds to get some payback on the Turks. The Turks deserve it for their genocide against Kurds, Greeks, and Armenians in the region.

[Inland]

10. Not the issue. The issue is whether you trust BUSH to do the job.

I thought Kerry might be able to bring something good out of a prolonged occupation. Maybe I could.

But Bush can't. He is an incompetent, a liar, and could care less about Iraq beyond its oil. He's a fuckup.

When you are trying to figure out how to score that last second basket to win the game, you can diagram the play. But it isn't the play. It's who takes the shot. As long as Bush takes the shot, you are going to lose.

[flaminbats]

11. thanks to Bush, Iraq is now vulnerable to invasion

Iran and Syria shall become likely invaders of a "democratic Iraq", the moment we withdraw. Turkey would then occupy the north for "defensive purposes."

Bush has only sealed the fate of that once independent nation.

[mikelewis]

12. I'd bomb those son of a bitches until they gave up Bin Laden and

showed me where they hid all those WMD's. I'd order another major terrorist attack on America, probably chemical and use this to suspend the other two branches of government. I'd then have every hot bitch I ever met or seen arrested and dragged to my rape rooms. I would rule the world with an iron fist and force obediance to me and only me!!!!!

That's why I don't run, I'm too easily corrupted.

[Silverhair]

13. We broke it. We need to fix it.

Now that we have made this mess, we need to help them set up a reasonably stable gov't that has a decent chance of surviving and running the country. And it needs to be some sort of democracy.

Once it is up and running on its own - WE LEAVE. COMPLETELY. NO BASES.

[flaminbats]

15. not everything we break can be fixed..

if I dropped a glass over the hardwood floor, I wouldn't want to drink out of it again, even if the tiny broken fragments could be glued back together!

We broke it, now we should CLEAN UP the damage before leaving, but only if paid for!

[zann725]

14. I'd pull 'em out IMMEDIATELY. And imprison those who lied to us

to get the war started in the first place.