Question of the Week: Should the U.S. stay the course in Iraq or pull out?

By DUANE NOLLEN
The Oskaloosa Herald

OSKALOOSA March 24, 2008 10:46 am

— A little more than half of those who answered this past week’s Question of the Week: Should they throw the book at Eliot Spitzer? said YES.
Eighteen — 51.43 percent — answered YES while 7 — 20.00 percent said NO and 10 — 28.57 percent — replied DON’T CARE.
The Question of the Week poll is not scientific and only reflects the opinions of those Internet users who have chosen to participate. The Question of the Week is just another way the Herald’s readers can voice their opinions about issues that affect them.
This week’s Question of the Week deals with the Iraq War.
This past week marked the fifth anniversary of the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom to liberate Iraq from the rule of despot Saddam Hussein.
Currently, there are about 158,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Although the U.S. and its coalition allies toppled Saddam’s regime in about three weeks of combat, the coalition has battled an insurgency ever since.
Since the fall of Saddam’s regime, the war in Iraq has been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. Saddam went into hiding, but was later caught, tried and executed for his crimes against his people. The country teetered on the brink of civil war as Sunnis and Shiites launched attacks at one another. The recent troop surge has brought a large measure of stability to the Baghdad region, but Iraq’s political leadership is still learning to work together. Although the insurgents have been operating in the Sunni region of Iraq, since the troop surge more and more Sunnis are turning against the insurgents.
During the course of the war, the U.S. has suffered about 4,000 troops killed in action.
In the U.S. while Republican presidential candidate John McCain favors staying the course in Iraq, Democratic presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton want to begin troop withdrawals.
At the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the war, what should the U.S. do?
What do you think?
This week’s Question of the Week: Should the U.S. stay the course in Iraq or pull out? Your options: STAY THE COURSE or PULL OUT.
People can vote on The Herald’s Web site, oskaloosa.com, from Monday through noon on Friday. Then, votes will be tallied and published the following Monday.