I must agree that there is a sense of guilt and dishonor in giving up after having faught so long and having lost so many to the cause.  I was a soldier there for a year and a civilian contractor for two.  My old college room mate (great guy) died in a roadside bomb outside of Baghdad.  I have personally experienced several attacks while in combat.  This piece of our history has become a large part of my life, and now, as a veteran with my perspective, I feel betrayed, tricked, and used by the Big Chief.  I don't blame our government but I blame its leader, the chief executive calling the shots.  Weapons of mass destruction?  Where are they? - THAT WAS THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE.  How do you explain that there are only a few brigades in Afghanistan and so much more in Iraq.  The target was Osama Bin Ladin in responce to 9/11, but our aim is at a different set of objectives now.  What more do we need from Iraq?  Peace and prosperity?  Is that what we're waiting for?  When a soldier dies in Iraq or Afghanistan what is he dying for?  Is he dying for the search for WMD?  Is he dying for the search for Bin Ladin?  Is he dying for democracy in Iraq?  Our economy is now justifiably threatened by the cost of this war.  Our reason's for dying aren't clear.  Pulling out wouldn't be a dishonor to the fallen troops, it would be an apology to them and an honor to those who are still alive.  "No country has benefited from a protracted war."  - Sun Tzu