Endgame in Iraq

[Valandil]

Not to invite negative comments about America's foreign policy in general, but hopefully just to spark some conversation and insights.

In general, I've been very supportive of our adminstration's war on terror. I've felt good about our actions in Iraq... even if it ends up that the country had no advanced WMD program, it's not like the Bush admin set out to fool everyone, IMO... EVERYONE thought Iraq had them. And I feel real good about us removing the Hussein family from power.

However, I'm getting more unsettled about how things are currently going there. It appears to have been a major mistake to have shut down the one newspaper. It sure clouds our intentions... I would think we'd be all in favor of a free press. And if they thought whatever the paper published was inciting trouble, look how much trouble they got after they shut it down.

I really think the Bush administration should replace the general who ordered the paper's shut down and allow the paper to publish again. There'll probably still be a lot of mess to clean up... but at least it gets us back on the right footing.

What do the rest of you think the US should do now... given how things stand, in order to best extricate ourselves from Iraq, and still be able to leave a relatively peaceful, stable country behind us?