RSSShould the US withdraw from Iraq?
Aug 11
This is a tough question and I don’t think there’s a perfect answer. So far I’ve figured that it would be very destabalizing to leave right now therefore not worth it. It’s a hard line to walk because if the occupation* goes on indeinitely that obviously is bad as well.
I read an interesting article today called What’s wrong with cutting and running? written by the former head of the NSA under Reagan. While I don’t think I agree with the eventual conclusion, all of his points are totally valid. I like seeing a real discussion of the question “Would things actually be worse if they left?” He takes all of the potential problems being cited for not pulling out and examines each in detail. Good read.
*I’m sure someone will comment that “it’s not an occupation because the government hasn’t kicked them out.” It’s still an occupation while the following are true: a) the majority of the population doesn’t want them there, b) the US forces are holding the population under martial law, and c) the US forces are free to do whatever they want. Go look up the definition of the word.
Aug 12, 2005 @ 16:50:11
Democracy, humanitarianism, social equality. These things are not naturally occuring in that region of the world. The only democracy in Iraq in the last thousand years was Saddam’s regime! Left on their own, there is no reason to think that the persistently downtrodden and impoverished arabs would pull together and create anything remotely like America. Iran’s near-theocracy is probably the closest thing to a real government that is likely to emerge, even with the US holding the pen. Even without insurgents, isn’t Iraq more likely to follow Afghanistan’s return to rule-by-warlord?
We have witnessed wars recently that should never have been started. That much is fact. But couldn’t that be said for any war? I don’t hope for any positive outcome for Bush, because he doesn’t deserve one. But I do hope that the people on the ground in Iraq are successful in their task. On a long enough timescale, with unlimited money, resources, people, etc… I think that a self-sustaining Iraq would eventually form.
And then we leave. What little news we got from Iraq stops entirely. People move on, forget. That’s when the Iraqis have to stand up on their own. And then they’ll elect a dictator in the model of Hussain, or worse, a kleptocrat like Milosovich or Bush, who exist only to divide and loot the state they were elected to lead.
And around and around we go…
Aug 12, 2005 @ 16:55:17
One example that’s interesting is that Iran had a democracy before the US assisted in it’s overthrow, which resulted in the current government. I don’t know too many details like how long it was there and how successful it was, but I do remember hearing that at the time it was revolutionary for the middle east.