According to a report I just viewed on CNN, presidential candiate John McCain excepts those who were against the surge to “admit they were wrong” and to furthermore admit that the surge was a success.
Well Mr. McCain if I judge by your criteria then yes the surge worked, there has undoubtedly been less violence in Iraq since the surge began and for that I think everyone can be grateful. However if you judge by the criteria that the GAO used when preparing a report on the surge fo the congress then the surge has been unsuccessful. The report stated that the surge
“has not met most legislative, security, and economic benchmarks specified under Public Law 110-28 and have only successfully met three of the eighteen benchmarks (16.67%). ” [wikipedia.org]
You see Mr. McCain if we can not get the Iraqi government to do their job we have two choices as I see it, stay forever or get out. Staying forever is not an option so unless you can get the Iraqi government to do their job then we need to get the hell out.
We went to war on a lie about WMD, and too many Americans have died for that lie, it is time we look inward to repair the problems in this country rather than continue to look outward to put a band aid on Iraq.
According to the National Priorities Project the people in the city of Long Beach, CA (the closest city to me in their study) have contributed 617.8 million dollars and counting to the war, that money if used in the city could provide
253,724 People with Health Care OR
1,100,761 Homes with Renewable Electricity OR
11,494 Public Safety Officers OR
9,212 Music and Arts Teachers OR
94,871 Scholarships for University Students OR
47 New Elementary Schools OR
1,849 Affordable Housing Units OR
230,435 Children with Health Care OR
73,316 Head Start Places for Children OR
9,320 Elementary School Teachers OR
8,258 Port Container Inspectors
You see Senator we have spent too much of our treasure ($484,872,244,405) Iraq and even worse we have lost just under 4,000 of our soldiers, not counting the ones who were wounded so severely they could not return to the forces.
The war was wrong but we can’t undo it, however we can end it.
Contrary to what you think Sir, we can not keep the surge up forever.