21,500 Moms/Dads/Brothers/Sisters/Sons/Daughters

Bush is talking about a "surge" in troops in Iraq. 21,500.

I live in a neighborhood in northern VA that has a large number of military folks. On my little court alone, we've already had two neighbors head out to Iraq and now we have another being called up. This one has two little kids (~ 2 and 5 years old.) I know that they knew they might be called up when they signed up for the military. And they haven't complained. I guess I'm complaining. This seems like an incredible waste. It seems that the rules have changed. By all accounts, we aren't giving our troops adequate armour, we aren't winning, and we don't have a clear exit strategy after all this time. As a neighbor said, "We leave now, Iraq is in civil war. We leave in two years, Iraq is in civil war." The US created this mess by sheer stubbornness. Let's not NOT learn from our mistakes.