by Patricia Thornton

Created on: March 14, 2009

Let's be realistic for one second, the "war" in Iraq is over. This is now an occupation. Just because we have troops in a given country does not necessarily mean that we are at war with that country. With that said, although I do believe that we need to have fewer troops in Iraq, I don't believe we should completely withdraw from the country. We have embassies and military bases all over the world. Most people think that having thousands of troops in a foreign country is a new idea. This is mainly because Iraq has been given the most attention. However, consider the fact that there are 1.2 million troops that are overseas right now. Roughly two hundred thousand of those troops are in Iraq. That leaves the rest of the world with ONE MILLION troops. Why aren't people complaining about where those troops are stationed? The fact is, the United States has strategic alliances all over the world and it is necessary to have a presence. This presence is not always aggressive. U.S. troops can provide aid to countries that need protection and other forms of assistance. Moreover, the United States is the greatest contributor to the United Nations. Peace keeping missions and other humanitarian aid missions that require troop presence involve numerous American soldiers. They let's go into a little more detail about Iraq.

I'm sure we can all agree that we were deceived into believing that there was an imminent threat in Iraq. There were no weapons of mass destruction found. So are we to abandon a country that we mutilated because of this fact? We destroyed most of their infrastructure and implemented a new political system that they are not coping with very well. Iraq doesn't have a sustainable military; they would crumble from the first attack. And lets face it, the Middle East isn't the most stable region in the world. Furthermore, have you seen a video of the new Iraq legislature? Their form of a "political debate" is politicians screaming and making noises and ambushing podiums in an attempt to not let the opposition voice their opinion. It is madness. It is madness that we created by invading Iraq. It is madness that we should remedy. Iraq needs a military that is strong enough to protect its borders and a political system that enables all opinions to be heard without childish obstacles being placed in the way.

I strongly believe that invading Iraq was a mistake. I was against this war from the outset. However, to leave now would only add insult to injury. Not only are we going to destroy the country's infrastructure and reshape their political system into one that is completely foreign to their understanding, we are also going to just abandon them. We need a certain level of troops to train their military, protect the political advisors that will aid their government in their growth, and after that we need the military to preserve a strategic alliance with Iraq.

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