G'day Wide Awake Phoenix, Thank you for your question. Yes, the battle against Al-Qaeda and militant Islamists is key to the security of the United States and the western world. John McCain knows it as does Osama Bin-Laden. We have made strong progress in Iraq over the past 18 months. We must stay the course until the job against militant Islamism is won. Regards

I have no idea what is going on in Iraq, and what purpose this "illegal" war is serving, and don`t even think the leaders of the nation do either.

Yes, and I second the opinion of Keithold. He put it quite succinctly, for there is much truth that if back off in Iraq, we will be fighting immigration, ourselves, and the muslims from the homefront.

no

No. We're creating two, maybe three militant terrorists for every one we kill. We chose to fight an 'enemy' with no army, no central location, no clear agenda. It's a lot like the war on drugs. If Iraq invaded another country we could have gone in, helped push them back over the line and supervised a peace treaty (not that I'm saying it's the US's place to do so.) But this is an amorphous group whose only real focus is their hate of American policy...which we've shoved down their throats in their own back yard. What I believe we're doing is creating generations of revenge-minded people who will gladly give their lives to ensure America pays for its perceived transgressions.

Regardless of the legality of starting the war, we're there now, and we have to stay and finish the job. If we don't, we'd better get used to seeing daily car bombs on the streets of America. Just an FYI: McCain not only talks the talk, but he walks the walk. Unlike a lot of war critics, one of his sons has done a tour in Iraq. (Source: http://www.snopes.com/politics/mccain/mccainsons.asp)

I believe it is. It is keeping the Islamic militants busy and keeping the focus on trained military personnel instead of innocent citizens in the West. I don't have a problem with being there, but I wish we would not play politics with it. That was the mistake in the first three years. It doesn't take much to piss off Extremist Muslims: draw pictures of Muhammad, educate women or have a porcelain pig on your desk. Our being in Iraq doesn't excite them more than anything else in the last 500 years.

Yes, I think it is. The problem with exporting your culture is that everyone ends up competing for the same resources. To keep the U.S. powerful economically and militarily, we need to control a large source of oil. The war isn't about democracy, Hussein, Al Qaeda, or terrorism. It's about seizing oil interests so we can control the international flow of the supply. Taking Iran's oil would help greatly in achieving this. I don't think it's essential in the way Bush, Cheney, and McCain are selling it. They're full of shit. But I do think we are dependent on the resource and that taking someone else's resources is a standard colonial, hegemonic move. It's history repeating itself, as any Native American could remind us. Of course, seizing their oil would make a lot more sense if we sold it to ourselves at less than $138 a barrel. Seizing the country for its resources and then screwing over the homeland isn't helpful. Nor is it patriotic. Troop presence isn't necessary though. The key is instilling a favorable government. Obama could withdraw the troops, establish a good relationship with Iraq's provisional government, repair the division with Iran, and put us in a spot where we have more access to oil. Fighting a war in one country that supplies us and threatening another is just plain stupid.

No. Time to pull out and re-asses. ------ Maybe let the Shiites and Sunnis fight it out.

more lies awesome....

No. McBush is senile and ready for a nursing home. He is trying to sell the impossible, Bush dumb foreign policies. My 2 cents.