Getting out of Iraq?

Yep, it’s time for me to get back on my soapbox about Iraq. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I think it was a mistake to go into Iraq. It’s not that I believe taking Saddam out was a mistake; I think we did the right thing there. It’s got very little to do with the whole WMD issue; The fact is, Saddam did everything he could to keep us guessing. While there is reasonable doubt as to whether or not he had a lot of weapons of mass destruction, there should no question that he came across as a despot who possessed chemical and/or nuclear weapons. Saddam Hussein not only presented an image of someone who had WMDs, he also proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that he was capable of using such weapons – against his own countrymen! No, I don’t have a philosophical problem with going into Iraq in and of itself. I think the problem was mainly a matter of timing.

There was never any doubt in my mind that President Bush was using pretenses for going into Iraq. I’ve always been firmly convinced that his reason for going into Iraq was either for personal reasons, or to send a message to the world that we’re not going to tolerate terrorism. Good message, but bad execution. We were already committed in Afghanistan. By going into Iraq, we opened a two-front war, and we proved to the world community that we’re nation-builders. Fighting a two-front war has proven itself a strategic mistake time and again. Forces are spread too thin, and the military is less capable of achieving its objectives. I’m not against nation-building per se, but I am against the idea of forcing our ideology onto sovereign entities.

That said though, we made the decision to go into Iraq. We were told that it would be tough. We were told that it would be expensive. We were told that it would cost human lives. We chose to go anyway. Lo and behold, a couple of years later, we’re acting surprised as we discover that the war in Iraq is difficult, expensive and costing human lives. Well, I hate to tell you this folks, but that’s what happens in war. What you’re experiencing is the logical, forewarned consequence of a choice you made when you authorized the President to declare war against Iraq. So let’s see here, it’s getting a little tough and you want to bail now? What the hell are you thinking? Do you want to make a bad situation worse?

If we leave Iraq, what kind of message are we sending to our enemies – all of our enemies – current, former and future – all enemies – what kind of signal are we sending them? Oh, America’s tough, but only at first. If you can last more than two rounds in the ring with ‘em, you’ll be able to outlast ‘em. They’ll throw in the towel after that. Is that what we want? Because if we leave Iraq now, that’s what we’ll get.

How about the “timetable” idea? Bad. It’s more of the same “get out of Iraq,” just taking a bit longer, and having a slightly tougher face. The only difference is that we’ll show that we’re lasting three rounds instead of two, that we’re telling our enemy our exit plan, and that we’re letting the enemy know how long they need to wait. Again, bad idea.

What I recommend instead is that President Bush tells our country what his end objective is, and gives America quantifiable milestones that must be reached on the way to that objective. This way we know what to expect, and the enemy understands that we’re not leaving a job unfinished. This way we understand that the Bush administration has a coherent plan for winning the war, and the enemy knows that they can’t just wait us out. And no, saying “We want a stable Iraq” is not a sufficient answer. That’s good for the end goal, but we need to see milestones, so we know that the President knows what he’s seeking… so we know what the President’s seeking… and so we know that the military knows what their objective is.

The partisans in Washington have both got it wrong. The “trust us” right has squandered away that trust based on the political missteps of the last year. The “get out now” left is trying to pander to us, in order to get themselves back into power. The real answer is in the middle… we made a bad choice by going into Iraq when we did. Now, we’ve got two options… see things through and minimize the repercussions of our initial bad decision, or turn tail and go home, making a bad decision worse. That’s not my answer. My answer is to achieve the victory we set out to achieve, but make sure that everyone understands and agrees on what “victory” is. Going in when we did was a bad decision. Let’s not compound things by leaving now.