It has been proposed in Congress that the US pull out of Iraq. The proposal comes in the form of a congressional resolution backed by Representatives Jones and Abercrombie. The rationale for the proposal is fairly representative of what we hear in the press as well. US presence is causing the insurgent violence and the implication that our job there is done.
The insurgents are currently focusing the majority of their efforts on Iraqi military targets and soft civilian targets. The insurgents are inciting a civil war because they are not happy with the current political process for government. They want to influence and even take over control of the governmental process through extraordinary means. Others in congress are quite correct when they say that setting a withdrawal date for the US military or the coalition forces as a whole would embolden the insurgents. It would be a clear statement to the insurgents that they are winning or have won.
Representative Walter Jones of North Carolina states that we have “given Iraqis a chance to have democracy…” More accurately, we are in the process of giving the Iraqis a chance to establish a democracy. However, if we pull our forces out before the Iraqis have had the opportunity to establish a firm government and a military capable of handling the insurgents, the job of giving Iraqis a chance to have democracy is not finished.
I have not yet seen anyone in the press make note of the fact that the focus of insurgent hostilities has shifted to Iraqi military target and softer targets. It was the Iraqi military that freed the Australian hostage. At the end of January it was the Iraqi military that protected the voting places and there were no successful attacks.
Rep. Jones asks, “do we want to be there for 20 years or 30 years?” No, Mr. Jones. We only want to be there until the Iraqis are ready to tell us we are relieved and they have the watch. Currently, the Iraqi interim government is asking us to stay. When the Iraqi government asks us to leave and we refuse, they I think Rep. Jones will have a point.
The immediate withdrawal of American forces in Iraq would almost ensure the fall of the interim government and ensuing civil war. Whatever anyone might think about how the US got into this situation in Iraq we are now responsible for what happens there. History will not only remember how this war started. It will also remember how it ends. And, in my opinion most importantly, the Iraqi people have a real chance at a democracy society where justice and liberty prevail.
Aloha