Our troops have earned more time”

“Our troops have earned more time”

The invasion of Iraq may be one of the worst foreign-policy mistakes in the history of our nation. As tragic and costly as that mistake has been, a precipitous or premature withdrawal of our forces now has the potential to turn the initial errors into an even greater problem just as success looks possible.
As a Democrat who voted against the war from the outset and who has been frankly critical of the administration and the post-invasion strategy, I am convinced by the evidence that the situation has at long last begun to change substantially for the better. I believe Iraq could have a positive future. Our diplomatic and military leaders in Iraq, their current strategy, and most importantly, our troops and the Iraqi people themselves, deserve our continued support and more time to succeed.
I understand the desire of many of our citizens and my colleagues in Congress to bring the troops home as soon as possible. The costs have been horrific for our soldiers, their families, the Iraqi people and the economy. If we keep our troops on the ground we will lose more lives, continue to spend billions each week, and, given the history and complex interests of the region, there is no certainty that our efforts will succeed in the long run. We must be absolutely honest about these costs and risks and I am both profoundly saddened and angry that we are where we are.
Knowing all this, how can someone who opposed the war now call for continuing the new directions that have been taken in Iraq? The answer is that the people, strategies and facts on the ground have changed for the better and those changes justify changing our position on what should be done.

Hope he is friends with Joe Lieberman, because no doubt he is going to get attacked by the netroots for taking this stand and he will need a friend. What he has said here is strong and good logic, it is the same idea that I have been trying to put out there. The war was a mistake, we just marched into the country with little understanding of the country or what we would face. That does not mean that we can march right out.

Let me take you back in time, to another country we invested in. It was a country at war with an enemy, and we invested a large amount of arms and money to help this country defeat this shared enemy. When the enemy was defeated we left, without looking back or thinking about the fate of that country. The country fell into chaos and out of the spotlight. Through a civil war and extreme repression it got little notice on the world stage. In fact, it wasn't until an operative that had been a part of the first war, bombed an American city on 9/11 with airplanes that people noticed Afghanistan again.