When Should We Leave Iraq?

The movement to declare the Iraqi War as unjustified, bring the troops home before another American is killed or another Iraqi is humiliated or tortured is appearing to gain steam. At least in the eyes of the media. I have noticed that the Media has had a field day as new icons for this movement have come to the fore front.

In a story from Yahoo News on September 23, entitled, Human Rights group alleges Iraq prisoner abuse, the author describes how 3 un-named soldiers have come forward and declared that in the Army's elite 82nd Airborne Division, abuse was a regular course of action.

The abuse was meted out as part of military intelligence interrogations or merely to "relieve stress" of troops, the report said.

"Everyone in camp knew if you wanted to work out your frustration you show up at the PUC (persons under control) tent. In a way it was sport," a sergeant is quoted as saying.

"One day (a sergeant) shows up and tells a PUC to grab a pole. He told him to bend over and broke the guys leg with a mini Louisville Slugger, a metal bat," he said...

"The accounts here suggest that the mistreatment of prisoners by the US military is even more widespread than has been acknowledged to date, including among troops belonging to some of the best trained, most decorated and highly respected units in the US Army," the report said.

Also Cindy Sheehan and her entourage marched on Washington demanding "Peace now" in an article in the Washinton Post:

Anti-War Demonstrators March on Washington

By JENNIFER C. KERR
The Associated Press
Saturday, September 24, 2005; 10:25 PM

Other notable quotes included:

"President Bush needs to admit he made a mistake in the war and bring the troops home, and let's move on," Rutherford said. His wife, Judy, 58, called the removal of Saddam Hussein "a noble mission" but said U.S. troops should have left when claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction proved unfounded...

"We found that there were none and yet we still stay there and innocent people are dying daily," she said...

"Bush Lied, Thousands Died," said one sign. "End the Occupation," said another...

Folk singer Joan Baez marched with the protesters and later serenaded them at a concert at the foot of the Washington Monument. An icon of the 1960s Vietnam War protests, she said Iraq is already a mess and the troops need to come home immediately. "There is chaos. There's bloodshed. There's carnage."

In the British paper, The Independent, there was a story entitled:

Soldier's chilling testimony fuels demonstrations against Iraq war
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 24 September 2005

The story details and embellishes reports from Hart Viges relating to mass killings and slaughter by US Troops in Iraq.

"I don't know how many innocents I killed with my mortar rounds," Mr Viges, who served with the 82nd Airborne Division, said during a presentation this week at American University in Washington. "In Baghdad, I had days that I don't want to remember. I try to forget," he added...

The rare insight into the chaos of the combat ­ including an order to open fire on all taxis in the city of Samawa because it was believed Iraqi forces were using them for transport...

Actually, those are the only notable quotes from Mr. Viges. The balance of the article is the authors thoughts, updates on casualties in Iraq and some quotes from Kathy Kelly, a veteran campaigner with the group Voices in the Wilderness, declaring that Mr. Viges' testimony will greatly benefit her cause.

So, according to these reports, the country has galvanized behind the anti-war movement and the conscientious objectors and our boys are ready to come home? A grieving mother, a conscientious objector and a few un-named soldiers are not policy makers for the country. I don't want us to have to be there, but even if as a country, we chose now to leave Iraq, there are some harsh realities to face.

At this point, it really matter's little if the Administration lied about the weaponss of mass destrutcion or whether the Iraqi intelligence communtity duped us into believing they had WMD to prevent our aggression. The facts are that we are there and Saddam and his WMD are not.

What happens if we pull all of our troops home tomorrow or next week? There is no stable government, no constitution, no established laws, little working infastructure and what is there is being destroyed by the insurgents nearly as fast as we can repair it. There is great tension between the competing Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites over religion, security and soverenty. The insurgents under the leadership of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, have vowed to remove all the infidels from the land and have declared war on the Shiite majority. They also have targeted any Iraqi that has worked for, cooperated with or smile favorably on an outsider. We are loosing a handful of troops each month while the Iraqis are loosing hundreds.

And what about the thousands of Iraqis that have been killed, maimed or lost loved ones because of the insurgents? The peace activists would have you believe that we are responsible for their sorrows because our presence is prolonging the insurgency. But they are actually being killed because they have dared to stand up and challenge the age-old totalitarian rule of dictators, oligarchs and theocracs that has dominated the region for millennia. If we left, their lives would not be spared, but would be annialilated immediately because they pose a threat to the controlists.

If we pulled out before there is a stable government, the country would plunge into civil war. It would likely become divided into three or more unstable ethnic regions with insurgents and terrorists continuing to decimate the population in an effort by each group to gain a majority by eliminating the opposition. I fear that the bloodbath would be remincent of Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge or more recently, Yugoslovia as it divided into Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia where millions of people were brutilized, raped and massacred; men, women and children. Political and ethnic cleansing would be the order of the day.

But is that our problem? Is it okay for 100,000 or 500,000 Iraqis to be butchered as long as no more American soldiers loose their life? Which course is the most humane and moral? If we are to think globally and act locally with the enviroment, shouldn't we be doing the same politically? Where does our responsibility for freedom end? At our borders, with our allies, with our family?

Pulling the troops out of Iraq too soon would be selfish and much more self-serving than anything the administration is being accused of doing. It would create more instability in the region. It would demoralize those groups around the world that are hoping that someday their country will allow them the basic freedoms of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Where the rule of dictators will be replaced by the rule of Law and their children will have hope for a productive future without fear.