First, the conditions the poll was conducted under are comical. Of course every sailor, Marine, airmen, and solider wants to leave. No one wants to die there.
Personally, I have my own qualms with how the war is being handled (too PC, too sensitive, not aggressive enough, too much media attention and clearance, the ROE are all out of whack, commanders focusing on political matters instead of military ones, etc.) You won't find a single troop in any war, ever who believed that the conflict they were engaged in was being executed to perfection. However, this doesn't mean that we are against the war.
We know better than anyone the type of people that we are fighting and thus, we know the consequences of surrender better than anyone (especially you). We are fighting radical terrorists who don't care about civilian casualties (on either end) and are only concerned with attaining their martyrdom.
It's wildly narrow-minded of you to take this "poll" force-fed to you by one of your far-left propaganda websites (yes, I am intentionally using language that you liberals use to describe Conservatives and gov't) and look at it as gospel. What ever happened to your liberal doctrines of "question everything" and all that other nonsense that you guys spew to make yourselves feel sophisitcated?
Again, any examples of progress?
We have installed a new, democratic government. There have been elections. The number of attacks per day are down. We have turned over 3 provinces to the Iraqi Police Force which continues to make progress each day. The port of Umm Qsar has reopened.
Most importantly, we have al Qaeda on the run. Bin Laden's truce offer, Zarqawi's death, the deaths of dozens of high ranking al Qaeda terrorists:
Iraqi newspaper al-Sabah that Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, has ordered a withdrawal to Diyala province, north and east of Baghdad (the same province where Zarqawi got intimate with some F-16 delivered ordnance).
Masri's evacuation order said that remaining in Baghdad is a no-win situation for al-Qaeda because the Fallujah campaign demonstrated that Americans have learned how to prevail in urban warfare in such an environment. The intelligence officer was quoted as saying "In more than 10 years of reading al-Qaeda intercepts, I've never seen [pessimistic] language like this.”
Al-Qaeda's leaving Baghdad will give the Iraqi government (with American help) a chance to assert control in contested neighborhoods, which will make it difficult for al-Qaeda to re-build its terrorist cells in Baghdad. And because the media focuses on Baghdad more than anywhere else al-Qaeda will be retreating from center stage.
Furthermore, the radical cleric al-Sadr, whose Iranian-funded militia, the Mahdi army, is responsible for the assaults on Sunnis, is cooling his rhetoric and lowering his profile following Bush’s intended plans to raise troop levels. Mahdi army militia members have stopped wearing their black uniforms, hidden their weapons and abandoned their checkpoints in an apparent effort to lower their profile in Baghdad in advance of the arrival of U.S. reinforcements, further exemplifying the positive results the surge is already producing.
Iraq's economy is surging (2006 Iraq index)
-- Per Capita GDP (USD) for 2005 is forecast to increase from the previous year to $1,051. In 2002 it was $802.
Increases in GDP for the next five years: 16.8, 13.6, 12.5, 7.8, and 7.2.
-- Actionable tips from Iraqis have increased every month this year. In January, 4,025 tips were received; February, 4,235; and March, 4,578.
-- On an index of political freedom for countries in the Middle East, Iraq now ranks fourth, just below Israel, Lebanon, and Morocco.
-- Crude oil production reached 2.14 million barrels a day (MBD) in April of this year. It had dropped to 0.3 MBD in May of 2003.
-- Revenues from oil export have only slightly increased from pre-war levels of $0.2 billion, to $0.62 billion in April.
-- Electrical output is almost at the pre-war level of 3,958 megawatts. April's production was 3,600 megawatts. In May of 2003, production was only 500 megawatts. The goal is to reach 6,000 megawatts, and was originally expected to be met in 2004.
-- The unemployment rate in June of 2003 was 50-60%, and in April of this year it had dropped to 25-40%.
-- The number of U.S. military wounded has declined significantly from a high of 1,397 in November 2004 to 430 in April of this year.
-- Iraqi military casualties were 201 in April of 2006, after peaking at 304 in July of 2005.
-- As of December 2005, countries other than the U.S., plus the World Bank and IMF, have pledged almost $14 billion in reconstruction aid to Iraq.
-- Significant progress has also been made towards the rule of law. In May 2003 there were no trained judges, but as of October 2005 there were 351.
-- As of January 2006, 64% of Iraqis polled said that the country was headed in the right direction.
-- Also as of January 2006, 77% said that removing Saddam Hussein was the right thing to do.
-- In May of 2003, Iraqi Security Forces were estimated at between 7,000-9,000. They numbered 250,500 in March of this year.
-- The breakdown of foreign terrorists by country of origin is interesting. The largest number come from Algeria, at 20%. The next two countries are Syria and Yemen, at 18% and 17%, respectively.
-- The number of foreign terrorists fighting in Iraq was estimated at between 300 and 500 in January 2004. That number increased in April of this year, to between 700 and 2,000.
-- From May 2003 and April 2006, between 1,000 and 3,000 anti-Iraqi forces have been killed each month.
-- There is plenty to pleased about here, and much progress for the mainstream media and the left to ignore.
...I've got plenty more.
I will have more patience once I stop hearing about people dying and once we stop spending billions a day on something that is completely pointless.
It's not going to happen. You can't fight a war for free. Wars cost money, both in blood and capital. Freedom isn't free.
But well stated Mark
