“the reality of his troop withdrawal is not feasible in the least bit.”— me

I meant not feasible in the sense that it would be detrimental to pull out of Iraq when we have just started to succeed and make a turn-around.

as for the “success” of the surge, actually there are three other major factors that have reduced the violence in iraq:

the Anbar awakening (which started about 8 months before the surge was announced

As for the Anbar Awakening being one of the leading causes in the success in Iraq, Sheik Abdul Sattar Al-Rishawi who led the Anbar Salvation Front, was a friend, ally, and supporter of the U.S. presence in Iraq. The Anbar Awakening also had the help of United States Marine Corps. We
helped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“moqtada al-sadr’s decision to call a year-long cease fire”

Yes the cease fire can be credited for a reduction of violence but so can the surge!!

And this last one gave me a laugh—

“the ethnic cleansing of baghdad was completed last fall”

Okay Barack. HAHA the ethnic cleansing was violence my friend.

i believe the reason why obama’s “quick” withdrawal plan will take 16 months is to avoid leaving behind any equipment or ammunition. no one is proposing a rush out of iraq without taking our stuff with us. it’s a straw man to suggest otherwise.

…and more importantly, the progress in securing and stabilizing Iraq achieved so far.

the problem is that the presence of u.s. troops itself is a destabilizing influence. the support for the insurgency in iraq is mostly based on the fact that iraqis don’t want to be occupied. if american troops go away, or even just start leaving, that will remove a lot of the reasons for the violence that is so destabilizing there. and the flip side of that is that we cannot stabilize iraq without leaving.

The question of feasibility is the condition on the ground - as to whether or not the country would plunge into chaos with a power vacuum as a result of our departure. While we’ve made great strides and the general sentiment is we wish to turn over Iraq to the Iraqis as soon as possible, it would be a logistical and strategic nightmare to exit Iraq through, as you put it, a simple order. Polls show the general public is against continued occupation of Iraq, but additionally that the public trusts John McCain on issues of national security, specifically Iraq policy over Obama.

The surge has worked, and its success is due, in part, to changes in conditions on the ground. However, the main reasoning is the change of strategy that is often overlooked. The surge was not simply just throwing more troops into harms way with hopes that more = better. The soldiers began working more closely with Iraqi forces and locals and through the foresight of General Petraus, has achieved success. It is be asinine to suggest that if Obama’s planned withdrawal in March had gone through, or if we continued at old strategy that Iraq would be in the condition of relative stability that it is today.

of course it’s feasible. the president just has to order the military to start withdrawing. there’s nothing impossible or impractical about it. you’re just taking a decision you don’t like and labeling it “not feasible”.

actually the american presence in iraq is currently untenable. the american public is overwhelmingly against staying there as is the iraqi public. both iraq and the u.s. have elections coming up where the withdrawal of u.s. forces is the #1 issue, which is why iraqi prime minister maliki endorsed obama’s timetable last week. his part will lose big unless he tells the iraqi people he working to get rid of foreign troops.

as for the “success” of the surge, actually there are three other major factors that have reduced the violence in iraq: (a) the anbar awakening (which started about 8 months before the surge was announced), (b) moqtada al-sadr’s decision to call a year-long cease fire, and (c) the ethnic cleansing of baghdad was completed last fall. none of those things have much to do with the surge, but the mccain campaign is betting that the american people don’t pay enough attention to iraq to notice.