Iraqi Failure

Good essay. I agree fully.

I suspect your next-to-last para had my positions in mind, based on our past discussions?

You are correct sir! I have heard those sentiments from others, but yours have been the best articulated and have stuck in my head; as a matter of fact, I started writing this after one of our exchanges because I realized I needed space to fully express my feelings on the issue. You know how it is, sometimes the debates we have give rise to some of our best work. In this case, you were my muse ;)

It is true that failure is not an option. It is standard in the original Dem package.

And we have lost credibility with our Viet Nam sellout by the Dems.
American Forces NEVER lost a battle in 'Nam. They got their butts kicked a couple of times but NEVER lost. Until the AmComs forced defeat on them. And us. And RVN.

Credibility was lost because we did not keep our promise to help RVN with aid.

It would be the same on the playground bully. The friend fights the bully and pretty much kicks his derrier and then tells his little friend to take up for himself, that he will be helped and supported with everything he needs. Then, when the bully returns, the big friend leaves his little friend to the beatings and torments of the bully.
Now no one else on the playground believes the big guy. No one trusts the big guy. Iraq can NOT form a government capable of self rule because the Iraqis are afraid as soon as they do the big guy will leave and leave them to the machinations of the neighborhood bullies. So Iraqis keep their distance from the big guy whom, they fear, may soon leave the neighborhood and they will be faced with the bully.....

That is the best analogy yet of the situation, and that is what I fear is happening in Iraq with their government. They are afraid of us leaving them alone, due to our own internal politics and the quest for the White House by so many. If they cannot trust us to stick with them, they are going to keep their factional, sectarian ties because they need to feel safe--and they think that keeping good relations with Iran or Syria, or whomever is going to allow them to be somewhat safe. You will seek allies where you can find them, and if we abandon the Iraqis they will find those allies within their sectarian groups.

I am flattered, indeed.

You're right, some of my best pieces also arose from the ashes of some other discussion.

Not having been too heavy on Bible studies in the past, the references to what is taking place on the world stage sent me to reading Revelations. Scary. But when you make comparasoms to current events even scarier.
So after we pull out of Iraq and all the Iraqis who stood up to the terroristic element are rounded up and slaughtered, probably in ways so tortourous and hideous the liberal world will refuse to believe it happened...after that and our next city goes down to a dirty bomb or a suitcase nuke, NONE of the "freeworld" will be on our side. We will stand alone for awhile but the traitorous element among us will sell us out. They will send all the alphabet agencies out for our weapons and means of self defense in an attempt to show the forces of evil that we are peaceful and mean them no harm. Many of us will die. At the hands of fellow Americans we will die before surrendering our weapons. Those others will die a many times more terrible death at the hands of the anti-Christ and his minions of evil. With the rest of Europe about 40% in the hands of the anti-Christ already, when America is conquered there will truly be a thousand year reign of terror. A reading of what these forces have done in the past will graphically illustrate what awaits those who succumb. Your children will be slaves in a harem. Your wife will be stolen and you, if you are allowed to live, will be either a slave or left in the street to starve.
Part Deuce Coming Up

Corporal punishment will not be 30 days in the jail. Rather it will be dismemberment, blinding or maybe deafness or removal of the nose.... Capital punishment will be so horrible and painful it will make drawing and quartering a walk in the park. It will be dealt out not only to those guilty of sins against the future rulers, it will also be dealt out to family and friends, after all it is a deterrent... All of these things can and will be visited upon you and your family for any reason or no reason. It will be a thousand years of hell under the anti-Christ. If you let it happen you will deserve it.

I couldn't have said it any better myself. We are fighting for our reputation in the world. If the world's only superpower is sent home packing by a bunch of zealots pining for a return to the seventh century, we will indeed be seen as nothing more than a paper tiger, treacherous as a friend and impotent as an enemy.

I beleieve that we are closer to the end than the beginning, but I have never seen the world of Islam as the anti-Christ of the Bible. I think that the coming world religion will be one that is ecumenical, feel good religion, that will seduce many to join it; it will not be spread by the sword but by sweet sounding words. That is why you see so many religions and religious folks extolling the advantages of every religion in the world, from Hinduism, to Buddhism, to Shintoism, to Druidic practices as having positive effects---everything but Biblical Christianity. Don't read The Revelation of John on its own, because it is necessary to understand the entirety of the Bible to make any sense of what is being taught and revealed in the Revelation. Even the Gospels are not "stand alone" as they constantly reference the words of the prophets to explain the messages contained there, so the Revelation is not going to be any different.