Troops

I'm in a little bit of a political mood.

Many people like to suggest that we need to have an "end date" for our troops in Iraq. Setting any discussion of whether or not we should be in Iraq in the first place aside, if anyone thinks that there will be a complete US withdrawl of troops anytime soon, they're kidding themselves. As far as I can tell, the only major conflict of the last 60 years where we didn't leave troops behind was the Vietnam War. Germany, Japan, Korea, all have US troops still stationed there. Granted, in the case of the former Axis powers the roles of the troops have changed, but still, we have maintained our positions. We also still maintain a base in Cuba, although we just recently left the Phillipines. Let's face it, while the troop presence in Iraq may be reduced, some of our men are out there for the long haul. To expect we'll be completely gone in a year or even five years so seems unrealistic and unfair to public expectations, soldiers and Iraqis.