Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Analysis: Do you think President Bush's new plan for Iraq will be successful?

7 comments:

tonileep said...

I slightly agree with President Bush's new plan for Iraq. I do not agree with him wanting to increase the amount of troops in Iraq. This puts him in direct confrontation with the Democratic leaders in Congress because they believe that the United States should move instead toward a phase of withdrawal from American troops in Iraq. Also, another part of his plan is that he wants the Iraqi leadership to make the political process more appealing to Sunnis by formulating a plan to distribute oil revenues and easing government policies toward people who were formerly members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party. I think that the Iraqi government should spend $10 billion of it's own money for reconstruction and that the Iraqi government should take over security in its provinces by November. It will be interesting to see how his plan will turn out.

tonileep said...
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BrandonSh said...

I don't feel that Bush's plan will be successful for two main reasons. First is the cost. The new plan calls for 20,000 more troops in Iraq, more training for Iraqi soldiers, and $10 billion dollars for the rebuilding of Iraq. All of this will add billions of extra dollars onto the war, and although the $10 billion is said to be the Iraqi governments own money, something tells me we're going to get an I.O.U.

Next, nearly the entire Congress is disagreeing with the White House. For the first time in years we are seeing Republicans go against their party to oppose Bush's actions. Congress is paying for this disaster so I'm sure there will be some kind of legislation to cut funding. Everybody is fed up with the administration.

I'd also like to mention an article I read that scared me. Bush is reportedly saying "I've made my decision, we're going forward." and Cheney is saying things to the effect of, it doesn't matter what Congress thinks, the President has to make these decisions. They've also pointed out that while they aren't planning to invade Iran, it is not out of the question. (Somebody tell the House and Senate who has the power to declare war. I think they forgot.)

tonileep said...

I agree with Kim. I think that people aren't very supportive of President Bush and anything he does people will not agree with. People have lost confidence in him and believe his terms of in office haven't been very successful. People will blame him for anything that happens with his new plan for Iraq. I agree with Kim when she states that we need to find everything wrong with every situation and consider it a failure. I do believe that we should allow Iraq to govern themselves.

Dain said...

I do not believe that president bush's plan will be a success. first, even with the surge there are not enough troops to maintain control of the entire country. second, fighting an insurgency takes time and the public no longer has the will to continue the war.

Megan B said...

I believe that the President’s new Iraq plan will be as successful as it can be. I judge that the plan will be fairly successful in quelling violence and controlling the spread of militias and death squads, in areas vital to the new government. There is no clear definition of what success in Iraq means it will be hard to tell if that goal has been achieved. The plan is focused on one area of Iraqi security, in Baghdad and Anbar, with a stable Baghdad the Iraqi government will be able to start building bridges among different sects, and thus attempt to effectively govern all of its people. With anti-war opinions running high, the media here will report on what the majority of people want to hear, thus if progress is being made it will be down played. With the media’s counter productive reporting, there will be more who think that we are just further committing our nation to the path of American failed policy in Iraq. I think any true victories in Iraq could not be considered an American victory, only an Iraqi victory.

KerryW said...

I do agree with President Bush's new plan for Iraq. If additional forces are needed to keep Iraq safe, than use them. As long as there is progress in Iraq, then I am ok with President Bush's plan. Sometimes you gotta have a little faith in people no matter their screw ups in the past. I know President Bush isn't everybody's favorite person right now but he's trying. In his speech he even said that there hasn't been success in Iraq in the past but his plan now will work because he figured out what was wrong before. Yes this could possibly be just another failed venture for Bush but he's trying. I'm going to hope that his plan works rather than sit around talking about and anticipating that Bush will fail miserably at the expense of our troops.
(No, I am not freakishly naive, I just try really hard to see the good in things. So sue me.)