Cindy Sheehan throws in the towel

You don't think so? I'd say more people care about Idol and it's not even close. (I'm using "care" in the sense that one is actively interested and following it, not suggesting that people would rather see 100 soldiers die than see their favorite contestant lose).

This is a country in which most people can get downright indignant about the price of gas rising a few cents, but are totally oblivious (at best) to anything happening in Iraq right now.

I don't think the Idol comparison is a stretch at all.

 

I don't get this. There really was no cause when she started and there still isn't much of one, considering how badly things are screwed up.

Polite indignation is not a cause.

 

The reason people aren't engaged in the war in Iraq is because outside of people with loved ones who have died, nobody has been able to put it into real terms as to how it actually affects the lives of the average American citizen. We are a very self-centered nation and to most people, Iraq is a country far a way that has a few of our soldiers fighting in a war or something like that......

 

The entire case for continuing the war is based purely on emotion.

 

You are probably correct about that. In fact, the entire reason we got into this war was our heart strings were played in the aftermath of 9/11.

And it isn't just the war that got slammed down the throat of a nation that was emotional and feeling vulnerable by our politicians -- there was a whole lot of bad legislation involving privacy and infringements on our civil rights that came with it.

 

No way. Time and events changed popular opinion. No person, above all Cindy Sheehan, accomplished anything on that front.

I was against the invasion of Iraq from day one, and Sheehan was a huge turn-off even to me.

 

She lost me as well when she went to meet Hugo Chavez.
She also lost me when she kept saying we were lied to for the reasons for going to war. However, she turned around and lied and hid behind a group that purchased the property next to Bush's ranch in Crawford and totally misrepresented what the property would be used for.
How is she different from what she complained about?

 

You are right about this and I blame the president. If you are going to take an action like this one, you need everyone in the country sacrifice in some way.

Same with weaning ourself off foreign oil. We could easily take steps to do it if the president led the charge, declared it patriotic and stuff -- but of course we don't really want to do that.

 

Um, maybe because money wasn't wasted in her purchase of that land and nobody I know died in her purchase of that land. I don't know, but maybe that is the difference. Other than that though, her lying about purchasing land and Bush lying about our reason for were are exactly similar.

 

Here is my question -- What would happen if we left Iraq today. Just upped and left cold turkey. Would we then be charged with rebuilding it? And who would be left in charge of it? I wish we would have left that country yesterday (or last year or the year before to be honest) but I think it would be total chaos because I just don't think there is a credible and sensible exit strategy in place.

And until I hear or read about an exit strategy that makes sense, both for us and Iraq, I'm not quite comfortable with the idea of an actual exit.

 

Just up and leaving would leave a mess and a leadership vacuum.

Staying, however, seems to be leaving a mess and a leadership vacuum.

What potential postitive result do you see? Perhaps if the shiites kill all the sunnis things will settle down.

 

Ace -- That's what I mean --- I'm really asking for opinions on how we exit Iraq gracefully because I've been thinking about it lately and I think no matter what we do it will be a complete cluster fuck (to quote Tom Highway...).

That's one of the problems with our "instant gratification" media --- how many outlets will revisit Iraq a year after we leave to see what is actually going on there in the aftermath?