Honestly, I have mixed reactions, but hearing the many intelligent points you're going to offer below will help me to make a decision, and influence my vote. - Jeremiah Owyang

Well, since the Iraqi government appears eager to attempt to handle control of their own country, I say we allow them to do that and get forces out as soon as possible. - Nathaniel Payne

finish the job and keep a small base there, ie(Germany, Korea, Japan) - Caleb Easterwood

I'm from the midwest. It's been time to leave for a while now. McCain talks about not leaving before we've won. We left Nam & didn't win. We went to Iraq under false pretenses. There were no WMD's or serious Al Queda threat. It's been a cluster **** ever since. They want us out & it's time to go. - W!cKeD's L!fE

Mission accomplished. - orionstarr

I think its time to go home. What really did it for me was hearing the Prime Minister of Iraq this week. He's saying he wants the U.S. to leave. Why are we still debating this issue? They don't want us there. If we stay we're officially denying Iraq of its sovereign right to self determination. The majority of the American people want to end the war too. Let's get out. - Bukola

What frustrates me is what's missing in the public dialog. Few candidates--except perhaps Cynthia McKinney, Ralph Nader, and Ron Paul--are able to ask whether it is an ethical position to "finish the job." The American government/military is an invader in Iraq, and we Americans need to take the perspective suggested by Noam Chomsky several months ago: What did we say about the Soviet invaders in Afghanistan? Shouldn't we be held to the same standard? As an American, I don't want any invaders to succeed. - Paul Allison, NYC teacher

We can't stay there forever and we shouldn't even if we could. However, we can't just say, 'Welp, it's be fun! Good luck!' and then leave suddenly. It will have to be gradual but it needs to happen eventually. The Democratic candidates irritate me to no end when they act like they're just going to be able to have the troops pack up and leave overnight. Caleb's right, too, we may pull out most of our forces but we'll still have troops there for the next decade. - Akiva Moskovitz

Has anyone ever properly defined "finish the job"? Or "victory" for that matter? Wars can be won - occupations can not. Proof is in history. - Zoli Erdos

I am from NYC. I believe that it is in our and the Iraqis' best interest to leave in the near future. Our presence there drives insurgent activity and anti American sentiment - it fuels non religious nationalist insurgents and helps Al Qaeda recruit more converts. We created an independent, sovereign government and they want us to leave. McCain himself said that when they want us to leave, we will. Will he keep this very important promise with the world watching? - mike

Finish -- but that depends on what degree. Leave when the Iraqi government can sustain stability without losing too much control. Toronto here. - Shey

oh well you asked..heres the darn primer on the issue.. http://rusiresources.com/missile... - Peter Dawson

Agreed, Zoli, we need to define what the "job" is before we can have a prayer at finishing said job. I'm in San Francisco, though I do travel to London frequently - Prolific Programmer

Thank you Paul for such a well laid out argument. Keeping troops there for another decade would appear to be occupation. It seems to me that it is easy to make a semantic change and "Invaders" are "Liberators". Same thing with Rebels or Freedom fighters. Sure, it will take some time to pull out, but it can be done over a relatively short amount of time and there's no need to be there suffering attrition for another decade. IMHO - W!cKeD's L!fE

Noam Chomsky on Iraq: http://www.democracynow.org/2008... - Paul Allison, NYC teacher

I think we need to gradually draw down our forces and leave only enough troops to ensure that the Iraqi government can control any anti-government forces. Don't forget that there are more than just US forces in Iraq. There are still British, Australian, and Dutch forces. Maybe a NATO or UN contingent can possibly take over peacekeeping tasks in the future for as long as they are needed. That said, it is all contingent on whether or not the legitimate Iraqi government wants any future assistance. - Michael Tefft

The administration said they began the surge so that we could secure the country so we could bring our boys home. After our fine men and women accomplished that mission with flying colors, as usual the mission changed. Now, we're told we have to continue the surge so things don't get bad again. Talk about a perpetual motion machine. But the true judges on whether we should get out are the Iraqi government and their people. If they want us out, we should leave. - Chris Reed

I forgot to mention that I am from Virginia. - Michael Tefft

We should take our troops home and leave our money. If Iraq enhances it's infrastructure through legitimate means (i.e. not drug / guns sales) it will mean real jobs for real people... - gregory

I'll echo the same. Define what 'the job' is and then finish that before you leave. Then everyone -- Americans, Iraqis and the RoW -- will know what to expect and when. Then move resources to Afghanistan and do the exact same thing. - Ryanish

Recently, someone in a FriendFeed post brought up the phenomenon of typing out a comment and then censoring yourself and deleting it. I've done that about 10 times with this thread. Time to walk away. - Akiva Moskovitz

Why do we need to even wait for a signal from the Iraqis? Has history ever know an occupied people who didn't want the occupiers out? - Paul Allison, NYC teacher

It is long past time to leave this war that is only costing us money we don't have and risking the lives of soldiers who are trying so hard to do a job that, in this case, is poorly defined. This war is costly in lives, international relations and money - ending it can only benefit us. - Leslie Poston

I think that there is nothing to accomplish by remaining. They should leave before more soldiers are killed and more money is wasted (money that can be spend more constructively on the US economy). I am from Ireland. - Mark

The problem is that the folks who have been writing the definition for the past 8 years have freely rewritten it as needed. Revisionist politics at it's best. The rhetoric has changed as quickly as Bush needed a new scare tactic or talking point. We are way past the point of coming up with definitions at this stage in the game. We should have been focusing on Afghanistan & Pakistan this entire time. IMO it has never truly been about the terrorists. If it were we'd have Osama BL. Listen to the Iraqis. - W!cKeD's L!fE

Iran has nuclear power, Isreal has nuclear power , Saudi is inbetween. Iraq was pwned by by the Us on WMD. US needs to control this theater or else .. they will not have Saudi oil. Between Isreal and Iran if a flare up takes place, US is FUBAR'ed even more. Firstly the whole WMD was a lie and Bush used it just to bloster fear in the country. Thats what you all get for electing Bush in the whitehouse ! so whats the count as of today ?? 4835 Dead Amercians - most of them as young as 18-22yrs old ? and whats the cost to the citizens ..hmmmm like $2.6 B per week ? The REAL question is who actually pwnd the americans on this chess board game ?? US cant get out, you cant stay kinda syndrome.. US is bleeding. Misinformation is an art f war, US get suckered into it .. but by whom ?? - Peter Dawson

peter - haliburton and their ilk. :-0 - W!cKeD's L!fE

BENCHMARK (I'll be doing this over the next few hours to summarize what I'm hearing) This is primarily swaying towards the following: 1) define what 'exit' means. 2) Leave now - Jeremiah Owyang

Kirkland WA. McCain needs to define what the job is and how we know when we've finished. If the goal is to secure a U.S. military presence to ensure access to oil, then meeting the goal is just a ticket to stay. Hence the McCain 50 or a 100 or a 1000 years. - Michael Markman

Gainesville, FL: Without really dropping a vote in either "bucket", I believe that staying or leaving is all about what's happening on the ground. When, based upon what's happening on the ground, we or Iraq believe our help is no longer needed then we should exit in the safest manner possible. That should drive our troop actions, not election sound bites. The candidate that comes closest to that reasoned approach on this and other topics will likely get my vote. - Dan Rua

Dallas, TX - As we did not have accurate information, I do not believe we should have ever entered. That said, I agree with the NY Times & others define what success means to McCain. Finally, as we have so many critical problems within our country spending billions in Iraq appears unwarranted to me. We are the USA, not the world police force. As a super power, certainly we have a measure of responsiblity to help others, but not to such tremendous cost in lives and money for our own citizens. - Ruth Ferguson