After Four Years, Iraq Withdrawal Elusive

[deadparrot]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Words like "victory" and "mission accomplished" aren't heard much anymore as the United States enters its fourth year of war in Iraq.

The slogans now are "political process" and handing over "battle space" to Iraq's new army so that the Iraqis themselves can carry the fight to the insurgents and build their promised democracy.

All those plans are now under review in light of another ominous phrase — "civil war" — that has crept into the debate since the wave of sectarian violence set off by a Feb. 22 bombing at a Shiite Muslim mosque in Samarra.

The shift from the upbeat slogans of 2003 represents an acknowledgment by the U.S. command that the war against an insurgency dominated by Iraq's Sunni Arab minority cannot be won by U.S. arms alone.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060311/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_the_road_ahead_1

[libodem]

1. Remember the pre-war promises

that we'd be there 6 weeks tops.

[NanceGreggs]

4. Not to mention ...

... "This war will pay for itself. Casualties will be minimal. Sweets and flowers, greeted as liberators ..."

Good God, it's amazing how prescient this Administration was, isn't it?

[RDU Socialist]

2. was this written a year into the future?

it's only been three years of foreign policy idiocy perpetrated in Iraq by the Bush Administration.

[NanceGreggs]

3. Upcoming 3rd anniversary ...

... marks the end of the third year. We are now entering into the fourth year there ...

[RDU Socialist]

6. It says "after four years"

the title of this piece is still incorrect.

[LynnTheDem]

5. "It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."

"It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."
– Donald Rumsfeld, 3/7/03
http://www.usatoday.com/educate/war28-article.htm

"I believe demolishing Hussein's military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk."
-Vice President Dick Cheney
http://www.newyorker.com/printables/talk/030414ta_talk_hertzberg

And more...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=5149150

[0007]

7. bbtft