I heard 5 or 6 differing opinions on the Iraq War today - some saying we're crazy to stay, others saying we'd be crazy to leave now, still others saying we'd be crazy to leave in the next decade. Personally, I think if we can't help Iraq we should leave, but if we can we owe it to the Iraqis to help them get their country back on its feet, even if that means considerable sacrifice for us. It's not their fault we plunged their country into chaos.
Trouble is, it's hard to tell whether there is any chance of success in Iraq. There are as many opinions as there are experts, and many of those with the most expertise admit they just don't know if we can win. I certainly don't claim to know, either, but I do think that any progress would be slow and hard, and I don't think our country has the patience for that. I know most of Congress doesn't.
That last point is actually what prompted me to write this post. I find it ironic that many politicians insist they want to get our troops out of unnecessary danger, and yet the soldiers I know and most of the ones I've heard from on the radio want the military to stay in Iraq and try to finish what they started. Granted, I haven't taken a survey of every soldier in Iraq to find out if the majority feel that way, but if they do, is it paradoxical that Congress wants to withdraw them in the name of supporting our troops? If the legislators' main concern is for our troops' lives, but soldiers themselves want to risk their lives for this mission, should we let them do so even if we worry their sacrifice may be in vain?
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3 comments:
here's my two cents, the media reports the war completely different than how it is, and the public has absolutely no knowledge of what is really going on.
my husband was a marine (he's been out about 2 years) but he went to iraq and was part of operation iraqi freedom. he was in an intelligence center during 9/11 (from the little that he could actually tell me was that he dealt with the intelligence as it was coming in). so he knows a LOT more than civilians. he dealt with intelligence and had a top-secret clearance.
we've talked about it, and he says it would be a million times worse if we pull out than if we had never gone. now that we've started it we need to ride it out and finish. us pulling out would basically tell the terrorists that they have won, and they would redouble their efforts because they would now know that what they are doing is working.
the public doesn't know anything, and the politicians are just trying to do what their constituants (spelling?) tell them -- hey they want to be re-elected.
i trust our military and trust that they know what they are doing. that is their job, i dont expect them to come and tell me how to be a mom or how to cut a pattern -- so we should not bet telling them how to do their jobs either. we could never understand.
[steps off soap-box]
I seriously worry about the message we'll be sending terrorists if we pull out. After 9/11 we talked big about American resolve, but if we leave Iraq now we're showing them that if they keep chipping away at us we'll give up.
I think Americans might be more willing to sacrifice in Iraq if we had a clear idea of our goals there, and hope that we can achieve them.
I've heard a different side to a story about Iraq and how the war was started. From a professor that works at BYU. I don't claim that he is right or wrong, only what he made some sense and my view on the war became sickening.
I also worked at a call center and was asking questions about the war if we should pull the troops out now or not. I had many say they wanted them pulled out. But, the ones with any real knowledge about the war said they'd like them pulled out, but the date not to be told because the Iraqis would in my words set traps.
I can also understand that finishing what we have started is important, otherwise I feel all those lives that have been lost to this war would be wasted.
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