Nov 13 2008
Quick withdrawal or extended stay?
U.S. troops in Iraq are quietly moving farther and farther away from the country’s population centers. It’s all by design and part of a preliminary security pact we signed with the Iraqi government concerning the future U.S. military presence.
When President Bush ordered the so-called “surge” in 2007, the plan called for U.S. troops to work along side Iraqi forces on the streets and in communities they were responsible to protect. Today, in accordance with a plan engineered by General David Patraeus, our troops are preparing to be out of all Iraqi cities by June of 2009. The risk remains that if the Iraqis aren’t ready to assume the security role our combined troops have performed to date, secular violence may break out again.
If that happens, will then-President Barack Obama ignore the set-back and proceed to remove troops from Iraq, or will he recognize that we must stay awhile longer?
When he takes office in January, Obama will be under tremendous pressure from the left to get out of Iraq as quickly as possible. The anti-war movement will want him to pay no attention to what happens if we just step away. They will insist that there’s nothing more we can do. They will not oppose placing more resources in Afghanistan, but they will not accept a longer occupation of Iraq.
What will Obama do?
Whether or not it accepts the reasons why the United States got into Iraq, the world will not accept our leaving that country in a festering mess that threatens the future stability of the Middle east region.
As much as Obama wants out, and as hard as his cronies pressure him to cut the cord, we have created irreversible obligations in Iraq, and even the anti-war president may not be able to duck them.
(4 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
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We could turn over the buildings and load our troops into vehicles and drive to neighboring countries to wait for sea or air transport. This could be done in a matter of days. This country is and will continue to be a mess whether we are there or not. This country has sucked our economy down the drain and with oil profits coming from the wells at this time Iraq has not returned the favor. We dont owe them anything. If Dick Cheney and his private army want to continue over there they can negotiate with the Iraq government.