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| Yes | 57% | 1777 votes | Total: 3123 votes | |
| No | 43% | 1346 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesThis entry places no blame on any one individual; America was a victim of war fever in 2003, plain and simple. Of course no WMD's were ever found in Iraq. The intelligence community had more egg on its face than a Saturday morning Denny's special. And four thousand plus American soldiers have died there, with the count still growing.
A simple question: What in Hades name are we (still) doing there anyway? We have spent ourselves into the poorhouse to the tune of over one TRILLION dollars for the six-plus-year war with only a vague claim of helping nations gain liberty to show for it.
Sure, there are individual stories of grateful Iraqis, but the United States Armed Forces are not on this Earth to be the world's policeman. Its function is to protect America. Once it was clear there were no WMD's, we should have left and let the people there fight out the results.
Imagine how much good all of that money would have done for OUR nation, here at home. Maybe the economy's demise was partially brought on by so much waste overseas. The money didn't make it to Veterans Hospitals for improving care. It did not go to fix the I-35 Bridge in Minneapolis that fell, or Katrina recovery efforts, or to thousands of other needs here on our shores.
America is not Santa Claus, and we have to stop this nonsense of thinking we are. Our ego is writing checks our nation (and our citizens) cannot cash!
Furthermore, every time we try to take on a role for which our military was not intended, it turns into a debacle and here's the evidence:
Korea, 1950-1953
Vietnam, 1963-1973
Beirut, early 1980's
Desert Storm, 1991 (didn't complete the job)
Iraqi Freedom, 2003-?
Muqtada Al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army were holed up in and around a mosque in 2004. We knew where he was; men under his control were killing civilians as well as US military personnel. Yet we refused to bomb the mosque because it was a religious building.
Such ill-placed sensitivities are inappropriate to the battlefield. A smart combatant fights to win. Nixon was lambasted for bombing Hanoi in 1972 but only this act drove the North Vietnamese to negotiate a cease-fire. Our leaders were so worried about proving to Muslims it wasn't a religious war.
Consider: It was religion that started the conflict, but we're supposed to pretend it's anything less than a core issue? Their religious hatred started the war; it's truly a puzzle why we would avoid a legitimate and important military target because it was a religious building. What the heck is wrong with us?
American foreign policy is a joke. We are the laughing stock of the world and rightly so. This author is a patriot and loves the USA. What grieves him is the incredible naivet and God complex attitude that we continue to demonstrate on the world stage. Variations on this type of mentality have effectively doomed us to lose every war we fight. We must stop apologizing (or feeling guilty) for being a strong nation and start acting like one.
If we spent less time trying to force other nations to mimic us (or showing how great we supposedly are because we undermine our own best interests), and more time dealing very firmly but fairly with all, this nonsense would stop.
So, America should unquestionably withdraw its troops; if the Iraqis are not ready to help themselves after all of the blood we've offered on the table of peace then they never will be able to.
And the next time a similar situation comes up, let's stay out of it unless they shoot first.
Learn more about this author, Cameron Foster.
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No
When deciding the question of whether the US should pull out troops regardless of whether Iraq is ready to defend its people is the most important issue facing the United States, and will decide the fate of this great country for many years to come. Looking at this question a few main issues must be addressed. First we must look at the strategies the terrorists use in attempting to defeat our nation. Secondly we need to use a historical perspective and look at what happened when the United States pulled out troops in Somalia,and Vietnam.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq has no possible chance against the United States military. We have most powerful military this world has ever seen. Our enemies have been forced to adapt in the face of such awesome power and has found the soft underbelly or the American tiger.
Al Qaeda is using the same strategy used by our enemies in the past which is turning public opinion on the home-front. The terrorists have televisions and know they make the news. Al Qaeda has began a war of body-counts. The insurgents have been successful because they don't have to win, they only have to keep us from winning. The Insurgents achieve this goal by staging mass casualties from IEDs on innocent civilians and military personnel. This causes morale back home to suffer. Morale is the lifeblood of any army.
Our threats to pull out are directly affecting the war. Iraqis who would otherwise rise up against terrorists are afraid to take up arms because they are not sure how long the United States will have the will to fight.
The United States left Somalia after 17 of our Rangers were killed. Even though in the same operation, these same Rangers destroyed over 1,000 soldiers of Farih Adid's milita army. the operation was actually considered a success and another offensive was being planned to mop up what was left of Adid forces thus ending the conflict, but the crashing of two blackhawk helicopters and the death of 17 soldiers overshadowed the success of the operation and cause public outcry back home. President Clinton pulled the troops out of Somalia and the instability of the country has continued ever since. Osama Bin Laden used this example of American weakness when he issued his holy war against the United States.
Vietnam is still a hot-button issue in the minds of Americans today no doubt. Whether we war was right or wrong is still up to discussion. but leaving Vietnam needs to be discussed because the consequences are still being felt today. Vietnam was the first show of the United States weaknesses. The U.S. pulled out of Vietnam in 1973 after semi-successfully training south Vietnam to fight the North Vietnamese. The south Vietnamese actually repulsed a major NVA invasion. That action showed the effectiveness of the Souths fighting ability. Yet in 1975 the war became so unpopular that congress voted to stop funding South Vietnam which resulted in the its demise. The United States pull-out of Vietnam regardless of the consequences showed to the rest of the world that the U.S. was not an effective ally, and more importantly showed our enemies that they merely needed to inflict casualties and public opinion would fall.
Al Qaeda feeds off of weakness. If the terrorists smell weakness in its enemies they will attack them. The only way to defeat this enemy is strength and the show of strength. If the U.S. pulls out of Iraq the worst possible consequence is that it will show to our enemies that the United States is no longer able to fight in a prolonged war of attrition. If Al Qaeda sees that the great American tiger no longer has any teeth what will stop them from attacking us again?
Learn more about this author, Jeffery Powell.
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