[GAsux]

How would one propose a timetable exactly? Once one has created an unpleasant situation, one sometimes no longer has the ability to control how long it will last.

What at this point would be a viable exit strategy? If the U.S. pulls out before some semblance of peace is established, the long terms effects would be devestating. Al Qaeda learned some valuable lessons from the past, namely Beruit and Somalia.

If you kill enough Americans and wait for public opinion to turn, you can win. You don't have to win on the battlefield, you have to win on the television sets and radios across America. What a tremmendous symbolic victory it would be for Al Qaeda if the U.S. were to withdraw prematurely.

It's really lose-lose at this point. Pull out and face certain long term conseqeunces, or stay the course and continue fighting an unwinnable battle. Asking for a timetable is horribly unrealistic and self serving in my opinion.