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The United States has a moral obligation to provide the support for the people of Iraq to govern themselves. This support is contingent on clear communication to the government of Iraq of the terms of the support and by the managing of the process through clearly defined mutually agreed upon benchmarks of progress.
Iraq has not experienced any sustained peace for at least 1500 years and has been in an area of turmoil since 5000B.C. Therefore, if the goal is a secured peace, the United States will never leave Iraq based on the country's history and the history of the region. The people of Iraq have the moral responsibility to govern themselves and to improve their economy, security and lives.

The reason that we are debating this question today, is the total failure of the Bush Administration to properly communicate and establish the necessary framework for success in Iraq. President George Bush stood under a "Mission Accomplished" banner on May 1, 2003 on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and declared "an end to all combat operations in Iraq". The entire administration's communication strategy since that day would suggest an open ended commitment to staying in Iraq without establishing any real measurement process of determining success there. This lack of focus and communication was a major reason that the Iraqi lawmakers were recently pushing for their own two month summer vacation.
Finally, on January 10, 2007, under growing pressure from Congress and the American public, President George Bush provided benchmarks to measure success for stabilizing Iraq. This was during a change in strategy which resulted in sending more troops to Iraq.
The eighteen benchmarks were comprised of six initiatives:
Let the Iraqi's lead
Help Iraqi's protect the population
Isolate extremists
Create space for political progress
Diversify political and economic efforts
Take a regional approach to the strategy.
The eighteen specific benchmarks were included in the following categories:
Meeting economic criteria and the status of Kirkuk
Holding Provincial elections
Passage of oil revenue sharing law
Reversal of de-Bathification laws
Amending the Constitution of Iraq
Spending of Reconstruction funds
In a report released on July 12, 2007, that reviewed progress since January on the eighteen benchmarks, the Administration stated that " the Iraqi government has not met any of the eighteen goals for political, economic or military reform." It credited the Iraqi government with satisfactory progress on eight benchmarks, unsatisfactory progress on eight benchmarks and mixed results on the other two benchmarks.
The report was issued on the fifth year of a war that has taken the lives of three thousand troops and is costing the United States ten billion dollars a month. The report is not a great review on 2007 benchmark progress in Iraq but it at least shows for the first time that this administration has begun to coherently manage the process of winning the peace. It just comes four years to late.
In conclusion, the United States does not have a moral obligation to stay in Iraq until the peace is secured. However, the United States does have a moral obligation to support the Iraqi's effort to provide their own security and political and economic initiatives. This moral obligation is not open ended and the Iraqi government has a responsibility to attain mutually agreed upon benchmarks of progress. Finally, The blatant mismanagement of this whole process during the last four years by the Bush Administration can only be described in three words; "Shock and Awe".

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