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To Jim,

You are right about the need for an intelligence exam before voting. “Scared” reminds me of an uneducated, “Deliverance” kind of guy. America, we are going to point this out one more time, OBAMA IS A CHRISTAIN! Not a Muslim. I would rather have Obama, who has an education he actually earned, as President, then Bush who had a C average, and only because of who his father was. Chances are Bush has an IQ of around 100. “Scared” seems to forget 911 happened on his watch, so tell me again how he has kept us safe?

why is it that every time the Iraq war is brought up, the only thing the GOP bloggers have to hang there hat on is the surge????? we shouldn't have been there to begin with...... and the surge??? that was only done when the Forest Gump administration realized that hey, all those higher up Military personal were right about needing more troops to begin with......

Look, for all of the folks that are praising Bush and McCain and this war...please answer this question. Are you in the military, is your spouse in the military or is your child over there? If not, then please be quiet. I am an Air Force wife who's husband will be leaving for 365 days. He is leaving me and our three children. He could of opted to retire like a lot of people do when given deployment notices (I don't blame them). But he is going and this is his second time. He is going because we have a mortgage to pay in this slumping housing market. Like Obama has said...enough is enough!!!! So unless you are in my shoes or our dear friends who lost their 19 year old son....shut up please. Bring our troops home. They are not wanted there. We will finally have a President who is intelligent and will listen to other leaders and work along with other countries to end this unfounded war.

this sounds like the intelligent way to go, bless our troops and bless our new president and vice president.

Brigades are leaving because the Surge was able to quale violence in area's long enough for political and economic stability can return and the Iraqi forces could be brought up to speed. As for everyone who thinks the war is illegal you need to review the Constution. The legislative branch voted to go in to Iraqi. And from the begining Bush has said once the situation on the ground is stable we will be coming home. It just took longer then what people thought it would. As of right now 12 of 18 provinces are under Iraqi control.

As for Indepentant and proud "I didn't vote for Obama" he was refering to the entire economic mess and Afganistan not just Iraq. Everyone needs to stop taking people of of context.

To "Scared4ourCountry":
Congratulations! That is the dumbest post I have ever read. As to Bush-Gore remember that Gore won the popular vote. That means more people in the US wanted Gore than Bush. It was about Florida and the discraceful opinion of the Suprme Court.
"Hell I feel more threatened now with Obama and his Muslim terrorist beliefs. We no longer are fighting this war abroad. We are now fighting this war at home and Obama is the enemy." Can you believe that quote!! His "Muslim terrorist beliefes." Where in the hell did that come from? "Obama is the enemy" – we really need an intelligence exam before people like you should be allowed to vote. I feel very sorry for you.

Umm.... I hate to break it to everyone back home, but it will take at least two years to pack up this roadshow out here.

Unless you have seen how big the US "footprint " is on the ground out here then you may not understand what I mean.

Google Earth Iraq and you may gain an appreciation.

This is a shout out for Bryan, who feels the surge was a "resounding success". I never cease to be amazed at how many Americans give little or no thought when their party puts out a statement that is actually ludicrious.

The surge only seems like a resounding success when compared to the unbelievably inept method of waging this ill conceived war. It's virtually impossible to grade the surge in the same context that the Bush Administration sold their vision of the length, ease and expense of this war. Here is a comparison that could help him put it in perspective.

Imagine you are the owner of a professional football team that has won a string of Superbowls and is widely considered the best (most powerful) team in the history of the sport. You decide to play a Semi-Pro team from say, England, who has not been able to make payroll for 10 years and only has aging, almost worthless facilities and equipment and players no one has ever heard of. You tell the press you're going to score 100 points in the first quarter. Instead, at the end of 4 quarters, you're tied 0-0 and go into overtime. After 5 overtimes, you kick a fieldgoal and win the game.

Would you be telling the press after the game your team just won a great victory and has proven once again they are the best team to ever play the game, or are you firing everyone in the front office above janitor as well as the entire coaching staff and the General Manager?

THE ANTI-OBAMA POSTS ARE HILARIOUS!!!

THE GOP IS IN TATTERS AND ITS MEMBERS ARE FREAKING OUT BECAUSE WE FINALLY HAVE A SMART PRESIDENT AGAIN!!!!!

For those of you who mentioned that Obama voted against the war in Iraq in the first place, get real and stop giving this guy all the credit. Despite popular imagination, he's neither infallible or omnipotent (he wasn't in the US senate that far back guys). Also, if you who think the war in Iraq is somehow going to end shortly after his taking office (or likely within his presidency at all for that matter), you've got another thing coming. For example, in the issues section of the official Obama/Biden campaign website he outlines his strategy of giving the military commanders the new mission of "successfully ending the war." That means stabilizing the region enough in the long term for our troops to leave them as a stable, peaceful nation, which happens to be the current strategy (and will probably take years), but don't give the Republicans any credit for that, it might offend your political sensibilities. The surge was a resounding success, the more soldiers we have available on the ground, the safer Iraq becomes. By minimizing troop levels in Iraq as many of you want, we would allow insurgents to regain their strength and make the theater far more dangerous to the poor guys who drew the short straw and had to stay behind. If Obama turns out to be half as good a leader as everyone seems to expect, you might be surprised at how little changes in Iraq in the near future.

Jillian, Me
Speaking of Idiot, the worst President in History on paper and personally is your boy Jimmy Carter. He left this country with 10.5% unemployment. Hello! Where was the left back then. The Left have been so bitter since Gore lost the election in 2000 that they have had a witch hunt for Bush. It was never about Florida, TENNESSEE stupid, Gore could not win his home state.The left media keeps spinning that this is the worst economy in 70 years, since the Great Depression, Blah, Blah, Blah. Nothing and I mean not even close to nothing compares to ther Carter Administration. Economy and Foreign Policy. Remember a little thing called the Iran Hostage Crisis. Carter was the absolutely sorriest example for a leader. It took Reagan about 30 minutes in office before they released the Americans. We have not had another attack on this country since 9/11. Bush kept us safe. Hell I feel more threatened now with Obama and his Muslim terrorist beliefs. We no longer are fighting this war abroad. We are now fighting this war at home and Obama is the enemy.

People are going to very surpised when Obama keeps the war in Iraq going and going and going. Wait and see.

annie – never again a dem
"Remember he voted against the surge!" And temember he voted against the war in Iraq ( a war that had nothing to do with 9/11 but sold that way for obvious reasons).

Think about that, seriously...think about it.

God bless America, I hope we will have more good news coming for the next 4 years

All of this is moot come Dec 31 when the UN Charter allowing us to be there ends. I can't believe any person in America would want our troops in Iraq under command of the Iraqi gov't. which is what it will take in order for Bush to get an extension.

Obama will be th ebiggets mistake in the Wh next to Jimmy Carter who also screwed up the military like Bill Clinton and Johnson did.

we need to get out and tay out, we have no business there,, we cant fix everyones problems,, we have enough of our own,,,, the troops will come home,, thank god,, and thank god our foriegn friends are workin with us,,,,,, lets hope they continue to,,,,, god bless america

It is important to note that the overall number of deployed troops will stay about the same as the effort in Afghanistan will ramp up next Summer under current military planning.

E November 5th, 2008 7:55 pm ET

The military has to do this…..we can just have all troops leave at once?! What signal would that leave?
--------------------
Let's see:
No WMD's, Saddam Hussein is dead, the country itself wants us ou, the world wants us out, lets not forget, "The surge worked, we won", and Osama Bin Laden is roaming free and having a grand ole time somewhere else where we seemed to have just up and cowardly retreated most of our troops from.

So what signal would it leave? Perhaps that we're going to finally go back after the REAL man who blew up our buildings! Perhaps that we aren't an imperialistic country that wages illegal wars. Perhaps that we are no longer fighting a war, but spending money on policing a foreign country when our own nation could be using that money to better police itself. Perhaps that we don't care if we walk in and blow you up, if you deserve it, we'll do it and YOU can rebuild your country when we're done dropping it to the ground.

So why don't you tell us all...what will staying there do for us? I mean, it's done so much so far right? We, uhhh, well, didn't do anything other then shoot at invisible WMD's and invade a sovereign nation and watch Bin Laden films that he's been sending us from his vacations around the hills of a nation we seem to have LEFT!

Duhhh!

To Annie never again a dem:

With your attitude, I'm glad you are not a dem anymore. Makes the dems purer.

Yes, it is time to get out of that war... there is NO win or lose there...just endless war! We, the People, are sick of seeing our young men and women (not to mention the Iraqis who have died as well) die needlessly, and our tax money being wasted on what was an absurd reason for going to war!

Bin Laden is still out there, and Bush and McCain are still wanting to keep fighting. The only thing that is making Bush start to recall troops is the very obvious reason that AMERICANS are sick and tired of HIS war!

I personally don't care when, where or how troops began to withdrawal, just cut through the explanations and bring our troops home(period).

The military has to do this.....we can just have all troops leave at once?! What signal would that leave?

As long as the Iraq government can keep our forces there to do the work, thats less of their moneys they have to spend on payroll for their forces. It's time to let them manage their own security. If they fail, after all the training and "helping" our soldiers have done, if their police and military aren't ready by now they never will be.. Some times you just have to let them learn how to paddle the canoe on their own.

BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW......

Obama can take credit for the fact that he wanted to bring the soldiers out and now they're bringing the soldiers out. The Bush Administration went back on their word to use the surge levels "briefly". That didn't happen. They were supposed to reduce the troop size months ago. More lies from Bush. So now they're doing what Obama was saying, which was to reduce the troops.

Bush is an idiot and so is anyone who thinks Bush knows what he's doing. He doesn't, and that's why he will be the worst of the worst presidents. No one disputes that.

To 'annie – never again a dem'

Obama never said he had anything to do with us winning in Iraq. As a matter of fact he argued that you can not win a war we had no business starting in the first place. He voted against the surge in Iraq because intelligence stated otherwise....that we needed our military resources freed up.

First the war in Iraq was because of WMD. Since there was no WMD then to oust Suddam Hussein. Then it was due to all the sectarian violence. Then we were there because of the Shiites and Sunnis conflict.

We caused all of this. So, are we now winning a war with, ourselves? Let the Iraqi government take care of themselves!

We shouldn't have needed a surge because, like Obama insisted, we should have never been there in the 1st place!

~Lawrence in Denver

Good news!

Sorry but obaama had nothing to do with us winning in Iraq. Remember he voted against the surge! I keep forgetting, it is obama and he will take credit for anything GOOD and lie about anything BAD.

I think this is great news. This war was one that never should have come, and now we can see the end.

Please! Pull out of Iraq as soon as possible!
We're there illegally, and the longer we stay the more lives we endanger! Not only American lives!!

Sounds like a plan! Slow and steady exit.

I knew this was coming....He couldn't promise everything but yet he still did and you all believed him and now as I told everyone that I knew he would say this so he can get back again in four years and here it is:

"Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there," Obama said in Grant Park

When all is said and done, please allow these men and women to come home with their dignity and self respect intact.

Hopefully this will help Obama's Iraq strategy.

And for 'Truth Hurts' – you ever have anything positive to say about Barack Obama. You are so negative and refuse to give him a chance. You question what he is doing about the economy and state Obama is no where to be found. News flash, Obama is the president-elect and can not start his duties until 01.02.2009.

How about you sit down, shut up, and listen.

~Lawrence in Denver

Good

Good, keep em coming.