An exit strategy is a means of escaping a very difficult situation. An army without an exit strategy is presumed to be in a quagmire. A quagmire (from quake + mire) is, literally, shaky, miry ground; as a political term used to describe a foreign military campaign in which there is either no foreseeable possibility of victory or the objectives are unclearly defined, and at the same time no clear exit strategy has been formulated in...

At worst, an exit strategy will save face; at best, an exit strategy will peg a withdrawal to the achievement of an objective worth the cost of continued involvement. An exit strategy is understood to minimize in either case what military jargon calls blood and treasure (lives and matériel). Jargon redirects here. ...

The term was used technically in internal Pentagon critiques of the Vietnam War (cf. President Richard Nixon's promise of peace with honor), but remained obscure until the Battle of Mogadishu, Somalia when the U.S. military involvement in that U.N. peacekeeping operation cost the lives of U.S. troops without a clear objective. Republican critics of President Bill Clinton derided him for having no exit strategy, although he had inherited an active military operation from his predecessor, President George H. W. Bush. The criticism was revived later against the U.S. involvement in the Yugoslav wars, including peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Kosovo and the Kosovo war against Serbia. In geometry, a pentagon is any five-sided polygon. ... The Vietnam War was a war fought roughly from 1957 to 1975 after the North Vietnamese government secretly agreed to begin involvement in South Vietnam. ... Order: 37th President Vice President: Spiro Agnew (1969–1973), Gerald R. Ford (1973–1974) Term of office: January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974 Preceded by: Lyndon B. Johnson Succeeded by: Gerald R. Ford Date of birth: January 9, 1913 Place of birth: Yorba Linda, California Date of death: April 22... Mike Durants helicopter -Super 64- heading out over Mogadishu on October 3, 1993. ... Peacekeeping, as defined by the United Nations, is a way to help countries torn by conflict create conditions for sustainable peace. ... Republican as a term used generally to describe a number of different organisations, principles or political movements, and/or the persons supporting these. ... Order: 42nd President Vice President: Al Gore Term of office: January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001 Preceded by: George H. W. Bush Succeeded by: George W. Bush Date of birth: August 19, 1946 Place of birth: Hope, Arkansas First Lady: Hillary Rodham Clinton Political party: Democratic William Jefferson Clinton (born... Order: 41st President Vice President: J. Danforth Quayle Term of office: January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993 Preceded by: Ronald Reagan Succeeded by: Bill Clinton Date of birth: June 12, 1924 Place of birth: Milton, Massachusetts First Lady: Barbara Pierce Bush Political party: Republican George Herbert Walker Bush (born June... The Yugoslav wars were a series of violent conflicts in the territory of the former Yugoslavia that took place between 1991-2001. ... Bosnia and Herzegovina (officially Bosna i Hercegovina, shortened to BiH, also in English variously written Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Bosnia-Hercegovina) is a mountainous country in the western Balkans. ... Kosovo (disambiguation). ... The term Kosovo War or Kosovo Conflict is often used to describe two sequential and at times parallel armed conflicts (a civil war followed by an international war) in the southern Serbian province called Kosovo (officially Kosovo and Metohia), part of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. ...

The term has been adopted by critics of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and especially Iraq. President George W. Bush was said to have no exit strategy to remove troops from Iraq, and critics worried about the number of Coalition soldiers and Iraqi civilians who would suffer injury or death as a result. Order: 43rd President Vice President: Dick Cheney Term of office: January 20, 2001 – Present Preceded by: Bill Clinton Succeeded by: Incumbent Date of birth: July 6, 1946 Place of birth: New Haven, Connecticut First Lady: Laura Welch Bush Political party: Republican George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the... Coalition of the willing is a phrase which has been used since the 1980s to refer to groups of nations acting collectively and often militarily outside of United Nations auspices. ... A civilian is a person who is not a member of a military. ...

Today, exit strategy is also used by financial investors and parachuters. Investment is a term with several closely related meanings in finance and economics. ... The Apollo 15 capsule landed safely despite a parachute failure. ...

External links

1993 White House press briefing (http://www.clintonfoundation.org/legacy/092893-press-briefing-by-dee-dee-myers.htm) - quoting Brent Scowcroft on exit strategy Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft (born 19 March 1925), USAF (Ret. ...