http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/nation/15409890.htm

'SALT LAKE CITY - Casting the war in Iraq as a life-or-death struggle for the entire civilized world, President Bush said Thursday that a quick withdrawal would trigger more terrorist attacks in America.

"If we give up the fight in the streets of Baghdad, we will face the terrorists in the streets of our own cities," he told military veterans at an American Legion convention. "The security of the civilized world depends on victory in the war on terror, and that depends on victory in Iraq."

In the first in a series of congressional election-year speeches defending his Iraq policy, Bush said the stakes were too high to consider any option but total victory. While he acknowledged that many of his critics are patriotic, he suggested that they're hopelessly naive. '

Thousands of young american citizens have died for this diplomatic experiment. There were no WMDs, no ties to 9/11. Just more killing. While it does give me pause to think about what happens next for Iraqi citizens when US forces leave, I believe the senseless deaths of people on both sides destroys any progress we might be trying to make. Militant, radical groups I believe are what pose a threat to US cities. That possibility is nothing new and we have specialists for that - the CIA and special forces. 135,000 troops overrunning an entire nation that just happens to be a major source of oil does not seem just.