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It would be irresponsible and even criminal for the United States to remove her armed forces from Iraq before that country regains the ability to defend itself. There are several reasons why I feel this is so.

First, the armed forces of the United States are the reason that Iraq lost its ability to defend itself. From a purely moral standpoint, we have a responsibility to our collective conscience to restore that ability, else we are responsible for their destruction should some other outside force lay them low.

Second, by leaving our troops in place we help create infrastructure and a stable economy. If you look at our enemies in World War II (Germany and Japan), they are now economic powerhouses. Yet it required no less than ten years of active military occupation to achieve this! Why should we give up now in Iraq after far less than that and lose a potential economic ally?

Third, it makes good tactical sense to do so. As of right now there are roughly 150,000 American servicemen within striking distance of two of the nastiest hotbeds of terrorist activity, namely Syria and Iran. Iraq gives us a base whereby we can launch attacks if necessary against these hostile nations, much as we used Japan as a springboard against North Korean and "Chi-Com" aggression and West Germany as a line of defense against the USSR and Warsaw Pact.

Fourth and most importantly, our national security depends upon sanitizing and stabilizing Iraq! If we leave now, Iraq will fall prey very shortly thereafter to the predations of Iran, Syria, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, and other militant Islamic extremists who will use Iraq as a springboard to threaten American interests both at home and abroad. Add to this the very real propaganda victory we would give to the terrorists that "The Great Satan is weak and defeated!". If we lose in Iraq by giving it back to the terrorists, how long until we're conducting anti-IED patrols in American cities? How long until our children ride in armored school buses? How long until our mothers, wives, daughters can recognize the sound of a mortar and are never far from their gas mask? Ask Israel.

Simply put, anyone who advocates "pulling out" of Iraq before they can stand on their own two feet is not only condemning the fledgling Iraqi democracy to death, but our own country as well.

Learn more about this author, Hess Sherrod.
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