DARRELL ANKARLO ADVOCATING PULLING THE TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ????

Darrell Ankarlo, Dallas KLIF radio station conservative talk show host and rah-rah Iraq War enthusiast, surprised me this morning by inviting Bob Ray Sanders, columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, to be on the show and discuss this column on why we need a swift withdrawal of our troops in Iraq. Seems Darrell, whose son is a Marine stationed in Iraq (but who is currently home on leave), is having second thoughts about our ability to "kick butts and get the job done." He still thinks it's a "righteous war" and we went into it for good reasons, but his enthusiasm is waning in light of the increased insurgent attacks and the probability of Iraq being on the verge of an all-out civil war. And, he said, Bob Ray's Sunday column started him thinking:

Although I was adamantly against the United States going to war in Iraq, I have been one of those who has said that now that we're there, we must stay and finish the job.

I can no longer say that in good conscience.

It is time for this administration to commit to a plan for withdrawal from Iraq, and that exit strategy should have a completion date of months, not years.

The growing cost of the war, in human as well as economic terms, simply is not worth it, and polls show that more and more Americans are coming to believe that.
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American generals in Iraq and in Washington are now admitting that we really can't expect a reduction in U.S. military strength there any time soon, and that the current level of 138,000 troops may have to be in place for years to come.

Our forces, no matter how mighty, can't protect the people of Iraq because they are unable to secure Iraq's porous borders, control its continued ethnic strife or rely on that country's inadequate police and military forces.

I know the president has said it is better to fight America's enemies on foreign soil rather than give them the opportunity to wage their war here.

But as it stands now, with tens of thousands of troops in that hostile land, we are simply giving outside terrorists and native insurgents more American targets to attack.

Believe me, I've considered the question of what would happen to Iraq and its people if Americans were simply to leave. No doubt it would quickly plummet into a bloody civil war.

That is not the only question we Americans should be asking. What happens to this country, and particularly those deployed troops, if we continue to stay in a land where people are not only willing to die, but are expecting to die as long as they kill someone else in the process?

The administration does not like the comparison of Vietnam to the Iraq fiasco, but I can't think of a better analogy.
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Just as in the war in Southeast Asia, we have hardheaded leaders who, rather than admit a mistake and withdraw, continue to "stay the course" in which Americans and innocent civilians continue to die.

This country needs to set a timetable -- 12 months at the most -- in which it will leave Iraq.

In that time, with the help of "the willing" nations, the United States should continue its efforts to train as many Iraqi police and military personnel as possible, help build as much infrastructure as it can and assist the country's new government and financial institutions in becoming more stable.

This is a mess we made, and it is one we can't undo.

We can do what is right, though, for those American troops who are still there. We can start bringing them home.

Of course, by the time Darrell had received a few calls totally disagreeing with him and affirming the old "stay the course" b.s., he started backtracking. One woman, who insisted we should just nuke the entire Muslim world (really), got Darrell to laughing -- laughing, mind you, and almost agreeing, though not explicitly. Laughing about murdering one billion people.