What's the problem with "cut and run?"

Senate rejects call on Iraq troop pullout.

"Withdrawal is not an option. Surrender is not a solution," declared Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, who characterized Democrats as defeatists wanting to abandon Iraq before the mission is complete.


This situation is only going to worsen, in my opinion. It's been 39 months of hell, blood, bombs, and bodies. Pulling out is not "surrender" and the mission will never be "complete." I'll just go on record right now with that firmly-held belief.

It reminds me of a big mistake I made a few years ago in the stock market. I invested in the new Stratosphere Hotel & Casino -- one of the worst financial decisions I've ever made. The stock started to tumble. Refusing to believe I'd made a horrendous investment I decided to pour additional money into the stock. It kept dropping.

My rationale was this: I purchased stock at $15 per share. It was down to $5. So I figured if I bought 500 more shares at $5 it would lower my average cost per share closer to $7, and when it returned to $12 or $15 I'd really rake it in.

The stock continued the tumble down to $1.00 and even lower. I continually pumped more dough into this until at some point I was sitting on 18,000 shares. And I was naive enough to believe it would make me rich when the stock started to soar. With each $1.00 increase, I'd be making $18,000.

Needless to say, I'm not rich. I eventually sold all my shares for something absurd, like 15 cents per share. I HAD to "cut and run" because there was nothing left to hang on to. And I'm STILL claiming a tax deduction on my losses, 7 or 8 years after the fact.

There’s a great post over at MediaMatters.

Summary: As Senate Democrats debate two proposals regarding U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, news outlets have gone out of their way to frame the Democratic differences over how soon to redeploy forces as politically favorable for the Republicans while not reporting that the Democrats' position is shared by a majority of Americans, that the war supported by Republicans is deeply unpopular with the American public, and that the GOP's alternative plan appears to involve remaining in Iraq indefinitely.