Don't think about such things. As our esteemed VP has said, "So?". Take your tax rebate check and go shopping. What better way to fund a war than to give money back to the taxpayers to pay their bills. Our grandchildren and great-grandchildren can pay for this. Fiddle-dee-dee.

We are not in an Iraqi War. We are not fighting Iraqis. We won the Iraqi War when we defeated Saddam's forces. Since then we have been a a reconstruction period, to change the tyrannical rule of a dictatorship to a democratic government. The Iraqi citizens have already accomplished a major revolution. They turned out in record numbers and actually voted for a constitution!

Some people see the cost as spending. It is an investment for the future. Like putting money away for retirement in investments, we expect to get something back. From the investments in Iraq, we will have a friendly Muslim nation instead of Saddam. When the Iraqi economy develops we will have a trading partner, with their citizens buying our products and us buying Iraqi products as we do with Japan, Germany and Italy, all former enemies. We had to invest money there too. Remember the Marshall Plan and all of those donations of food and money? We have recouped our investments in those countries.

As for Bush's plan, he is anticipating that it MAY take 5 more years for the Iraqi government to become self sustaining without our help. Could be shorter or longer. But the main point is, no matter who is president, we have signed agreements with the Iraqi government. Despite vaporous promises by the candidates, the new president will be bound to fulfill those agreements or to illegally break them. Congress has signed off on those agreements.

As for McCain's outlook, he has talked to the military and the diplomats. He agrees with the outlook.

But for future plans, we will have bases in Iraqi as we have in Japan and Germany. These bases are essential for our national defense. If we find other terrorist sites that are training and supporting war on America in those Radical Muslim territories, we can eliminate them from the Iraqi bases before they damage American property or kill our citizens.

Elida,
I too have been a Republican all of my life but have grown tired of their rhetoric. Actually I'm tired of all political rhetoric from every source. I am equally tired of unjust interference in ours lives by government at every level. I have no desire to become a Democrat, I think anarchism fits my state of mind better at this point in my life. Every politician at every level owes something to somebody and that allows too many special interests to have too much control at every level of government. It is time for a total overhaul of government. Our founding fathers envisioned a small but effective government where the people had a true voice. That vision has been lost somewhere along the way. We do need a strong defense, there is no doubt of that. I like the secure feeling of knowing that we are protected by the strongest mitiary in the history of the world. That strong military should not be misused however. And we do not need a welfare system that promotes welfare as a career objective! We also do not need socialized medicine, there are other more viable options. As for education, perhaps we could privatize schools, cut individual taxes accordingly and allow/compel parents to choose and pay for the schools they wish their kids to attend.

If you are against spending and collosal government you would be opposed to nationalized health care, with it the military would be out-spent. Be prepared, massive tax bills are barracks plan.