Should the US pull out its troops regardless of whether Iraq is ready to defend its people?

No

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by Joe Blaikie

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The United States should not pull out of Iraq until it is a stable, self-sustaining nation. To do so would bring further destabilization to the region, embolden our enemies and render the sacrifices of those in our military meaningless. This is still a war that can be won and it is a war that must be won for the sake of the future of America and all freedom-loving nations of the world.

The first result of an American pullout would be a declaration of victory by Osama Bin Laden and an instant recruiting tool for Al-Qaida. The world would be treated to a video-taped message in which the fugitive mass-murderer proclaims the weakness of America and praises the bravery and perseverance of all the noble martyrs who drove out the infidels. The rock-throwing, flag-burning masses in Islamic nations will take to the streets to celebrate the American defeat. The America-hating media (sadly many of them American themselves) will display the images with an inner glee so great it will be almost impossible for them to hide it. Those in our country who in their inexplicably suicidal national self-loathing have been longing for the humiliation of another Vietnam will have their Vietnam.

Most think that our soldiers will be happy to come home. Many no doubt will at first. But once these images sink in, they more than any of the rest of us will feel the sting of humiliation. The greatest military force on Earth will be portrayed as having lost to a severely outmatched but far more determined foe. This will be a far more stinging defeat than Vietnam. In Vietnam an American force fortified by large numbers of inexperienced draftees lost to a well-trained, highly organized enemy, leaving only after an appalling number of casualties made further combat untenable. In Iraq, a professional, highly trained volunteer American force will have been defeated by relatively small bands of terrorists and insurgents after suffering fewer casualties per year than traffic fatalities in America. I do not mean to diminish the American lives that have been lost. But our national reaction has been appallingly weak-kneed. We could never have won World War II with such a mindset. If we pull out of Iraq, one would have legitimate cause to believe that America lacks the stomach to win any future prolonged engagement.

But there is more at stake than America's ego. The precipitous absence of American troops will create a deadly power-vacuum in Iraq. The various Shiite and Sunni militias will wage a war far bloodier than what was seen during the days of the American presence. Terrorist groups will take advantage of the chaos to carve out save havens for themselves. Iran will seek to make Iraq a proxy state, much the same way Syria held sway over Lebanon for so many years. The conflict between Turkey and the Kurdish north of Iraq will escalate in the absence of American influence.

We will go from a situation that by most accounts has improved since the "surge", to one of complete chaos. We will go from a steadily dropping death rate to an explosion of violence and death. We will go from a situation where a major oil producing country is drawing closer to returning to full production and thereby providing an opportunity to increase global supply and reduce prices, to one where the oil industry is completely destroyed or taken over by Iran. It may sound superficial to bring oil into the equation, but last time I checked, oil was pretty important to the global economy.

There are few places in the world where our military would be more appropriately put to use than Iraq. The greatest threat to America is the spread of radical Islamic terrorism. The American presence in Iraq is working to build a modern, freedom-loving nation to serve as a beacon for a region that is for the most part darkened by poverty and violent, exploitative theology. Some would say we should focus on Afghanistan. Indeed we should, but not at the expense of losing Iraq. We still have troops deployed in Germany, Japan, North Korea, Cuba and Bosnia. We have maintained a troop presence after every war we fought since World War II (with the exception of Vietnam). Why are we so rabidly determined to squander our gains in Iraq by pulling out far earlier than we have in the wake of any other previous engagement?

It takes time to thoroughly defeat an insurgency. It takes time to completely transform a government. It will take time in this case in particular because we fought such a politically correct war that we did not sufficiently crush our enemies at the onset. But sadly, we have become an absurdly impatient society. One can only hope our leaders can find the fortitude to choose victory over defeat.

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