Stay the Course!

Now that the Democrat Party in America has secured control of Congress, it has quickly begun to indicate that it wants to quickly start withdrawing American troops from Iraq.

Having originally supported the war, I now see it as a total disaster. I don’t think the general fall-back argument for the war, that the oppressive and brutal nature of Saddam’s regime justified the invasion, holds water since so many people have been killed and injured since he was toppled, that one could easily argue that there would have been less death and upheaval if Saddam had been left in power. Yes, the main culprits for the horrendous level of killings in Iraq are the Iraqis themselves, terrorists, insurgents and Shi‘a militias, but that doesn’t alter the fact that tens of thousands of people have been killed since the U.S. led invasion who wouldn’t have died otherwise. Someone once asked Mao what he thought the consequences of the French Revolution were and he said “it’s too early to tell”. Well, I hope that’s the deal with Iraq and maybe some day soon the carnage will stop and a stable democracy will emerge but that’s not the way it’s looking at the moment.

Having said all that, and perhaps in light of it, I think that the suggestion that America now desert Iraq is repugnant. Having got Iraq into this mess it would be the height of cowardliness and irresponsibility to leave now. If the U.S. pulls out now then tens of thousands of people will die in a terrible civil war and the international Jihadists, their supporters and sympathisers will gain the biggest PR coup since Judah the Maccabee got a half price deal on 10,000 inflatable toy hammers with the words Greeks Go Home printed on them.

Furthermore, the Iraqi government has repeatedly stressed that they want the U.S. troops to stay and until that changes the U.S. has a responsibility to stay and do as much as it can to stop the country going up in smoke any more than it already is. For the U.S. to run away now with its tail in between its legs is the least sensible thing to do at this stage.

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats, who won control of the U.S. Congress, said on Sunday they will push to begin withdrawing American troops from Iraq in the next few months but the White House cautioned against fixing timetables."