The Associated Press
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Posted 33 weeks 6 days ago
Is a withdrawal from Iraq even possible?
Republican presidential candidate John McCain accused his Democratic rivals on Monday of making "reckless" promises they cannot keep by pledging speedy U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq. Although Barack Obama has made such a withdrawal one of the centerpieces of his campaign, some advisers have suggested he might take a different tack if elected. Is a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq possible, or would the consequences be too awful?
Thoughts
Japan and Germany aren't Iraq.
Submitted on April 15th, 2008 by KnightmareThose are two of the most homogeneous national groups in the world. Regionally, Iraq is much more like the Balkans, where (I might add) a successful long-term multinational peacekeeping effort is in place.
The ethnic cleansing that has taken place during our occupation of Iraq has only primed the situation to erupt into civil war. Arguably, a security arrangement needs to be made; but it should be truly multinational, not a sham UK-US coalition.
The last word will come from Iraqis-- unless of course we want to resort to Saddam's Iron Fist methods of keeping the peace. In which case we may be there for 100 years...
Of course you can win an occupation
Submitted on April 7th, 2008 by BenJapan. Germany. What's the difference between those two occupations and the U.S. occupation of Iraq? We imposed constitutions on Japan and Germany. "The solution for the 'Iraq Problem' must come from the Iraqi people, not the barrel of a US gun." Well, that wasn't really true in Germany or Japan. In Iraq? Somebody -- well, lots of somebodies -- actually believed that the Iraqis could draft a constitution that would form a government that would act in U.S. interests. The history of the past three years belies that idea.
Everybody seems to think that some grand neoconservative design was behind U.S. policy in Iraq. That's silly. There was no design at all.
You can't win an occupation.
Submitted on April 7th, 2008 by KnightmareWe went to war against Saddam Hussein. We won. We occupied Iraq. There's still fighting. Soldiers and civilians are dying.
So... when does it end?
When we withdraw. Only then can the endgame begin.
Occupying Iraq delays the day of reckoning. Iraqis will settle their differences, be it with words, votes, or guns.
Iraq was a place of revolutions and coups before Saddam, and may become so again. Regardless, the solution for the 'Iraq Problem' must come from the Iraqi people, not the barrel of a US gun.