The U.S is losing its cachet as a global superpower.

Iraq is more dangerous than ever before. Granted, Iraq has seen a decrease in violence but it's costing us. It's costing us time, money, men, and other resources. The only reason why Iraq was seen a decrease in violence is because of the troop surge. The extra American presence has deterred terrorists from carrying out their crimes in such places as Anbar and Najaf. You admit that the government is inept. The government is not only inept but it is a puppet government. Without the US there, the government would just fall apart. Not that it isn't falling apart now. We've been so patient with Iraq that it's not even funny. Iraq was supposed to have had their first assembly meeting on March 16, 2006. If I'm not mistaken, their constitution called for them to elect a president and a cabinet 15 days later. Did this happen? NO. Their government is faulty at best. Another example of the failure of the government is that the Iraqi Front Accord recently withdrew from the government. Furthermore, the Islamic Virtue Party withdrew back in 2006? Is this your idea of a successful government? Parties withdrawing all over the place? It's funny how you bring up that Iraq set up a democracy faster than Japan. This is baseless. Japan didn't have as many problems setting up a new government like the Iraqis have. No one was threatening to withdraw from the government. According to Encyclopaedia Brittanica, the Japanese Socialist Party and the Japanese Communist Party were the first to reestablish themselves after the war. The Liberal Party and Japan Progressive Party came back stronger than ever. Unlike Iraq, politicians in these parties worked across party lines and joined together to benefit Japan. Even as Japan was establishing their transition government, they tried to reimburse the survivors of the war. One can hardly imagine Iraq doing that... They didn't find WMDs. They found WMDs in the 1990s but they didn't find them after they overthrew Saddam Hussein. It was faulty intelligence. Honorable President George W. Bush himself stated that: he was fully understood that the intelligence was wrong, and [he was] just as disappointed as everybody else" when U.S. troops failed to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Furthermore, General Tommy Franks stated that: trailers were "impractical" for biological weapons production and were "almost certainly intended" for manufacturing hydrogen for weather balloons. America had no moral obligation to Iraq.If you haven't noticed, we just made life worse for the Iraqis. Quality of life has actually gone down. Life expectancy has gone down. Oh, yeah. That's a lot better! Iraq was not a threat.They may have been funding Palestinian terrorism but Palestinian terrorism isn't going to hurt us anytime soon.That's a lot lower on the threat list. Going into Iraq alone has cost us.There is no doubt about that our reputation is tarnished. Going into Iraq with 700K wouldn't have helped us. Iraq isn't a traditional war.It's guerilla warfare.Guerilla warfare cost us in Vietnam and will cost us in Iraq. U.S troops aren't used to fighting guerilla warfare.The environment in Iraq is very different too.No matter how many desert simulations we put the troops through, it still won't properly simulate Iraq.Iraq is just a lose-lose proposition. The EU is a mediator.The EU doesn't need a mighty military. It is hardly involved in the quagmire that we're involved in now in Iraq. If it did need a military, it has several European countries militaries' to choose from. Globalchange.com claims that: "The most likely scenario for the future of the EU over the next decade and a half will be slow but steady progress towards integration. Furthermore, most experts don't see the EU collasping by 2020. The experts who foresee EU collasping by 2020 are like Nostradamus. Nostradamus made predictions but did all of them come true. Most experts on the EU fall in line with Jozef Batora. Batora is a Research Fellow, Institute for European Integration Research (EIF). He believes that the EU will continue to prosper. He said: "three scenarios of a future EU seem plausible: a) a regional trade organization; b) a value community; c) a post-national community of civic rights." Also, he states that: "The first scenario is likely to materialize if successive waves of EU-enlargement will not be followed up by comprehensive reforms of the EU systems of governance. The second scenario is quite plausible if the existing tensions with the Islamic religious communities inside and outside the EU increase and the notion of the Christian values as the core foundation of the EU gains greater legitimacy. Finally, the third scenario is likely to come about as a result of increased politicization of the EU, improved governance and democratic quality of the decision-making and a central focus on constitutional patriotism as the basis of European citizen allegiance." The EU will not fade away anytime soon. Other experts continue the EU will keep on growing. Ivan Neurman is a research fellow at the University of Oslo. He believes the EU will eventually absorb Turkey. How can something waning in power absorb another country? Michal Vasceka is the Director of the Center for the Research of Ethnicity and Culture, Slovakia. According to her, the EU will be more cohesive after it comes under Chinese or Islamic threat. The EU is coming under both threats right now! As one of my best friends at West Point has stated: "China has so much leverage in America that if it pulled the imaginary rug from beneath our feet our economy would faceplant, and militarily, Russia is revamping its army and in a decade or so may will probably have a fighter (Su47) which can outflank even our legendary F-22 Raptor (half a billion a piece may I add)." Our trade deficit with China is about $200 billion dollars a year. Our government's US-CHina commission released a report in 2004 about the negative effects of the trade deficit. This is what they had to say: "A new study has found that the United States' growing trade deficit with China has had an increasingly negative impact on the U.S. economy, causing job losses that reach into the most technologically advanced industries in the manufacturing sector and affect every state, according to a January 11 press release by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission." The report also states: "The EPI study found that 1.5 million jobs were lost to lower-wage Chinese competition in the 14-year period between 1989 and 2003. During that time, the U.S. trade deficit with China rose twenty-fold, from $6.2 billion to $124 billion. It is expected to increase another 20 percent in 2004, to $150 billion. The study noted that the pace of job loss has more than doubled since China entered the World Trade Organization in 2001, and that China's exports to the United States of sophisticated electronics and communications equipment requiring skilled labor are growing much more quickly than its exports of low-value, labor-intensive products."You say the Chinese population is graying too quickly? There has been a population boom in the countryside due to the loosening of the one-child law.Furthermore, the countryside is so destitute and poor that all the able-bodied men and women are leaving for the cities. China also levies a tax on wages though that go to support gov't programs such as a pension fund.At this time, China's most important asset is its youth. You can't deny that China has gotten better despite its inequalities. In conclusion, the future of the U.S isn't as rosy as you might think it will be. Our government is in TRILLIONS of dollars of debt that we will be paying off. Trade deficit & national debt are ballooning. Wages are not keeping up with inflation. Job growth is not meeting population growth. Social Security is failing us. Rising gas prices are squeezing our wallets. We might even get to the point where we neglect our infrastructure.