Why We Can’t Pull Out Of Iraq… Yet.
If one is looking for a reason that the United States cannot nor should not pull out of Iraq, they only need to look to neighboring Iran. After flagrantly developing nuclear weapons in full site of the world, all the international community will do is send delegations. When the president of Iran suggests that the “tumor” of Israel be wiped off the map, all they international community did was send delegations. Now, when the Iranian president suggests all Jews be expelled back to Europe, there will be the usual hang wringing, but not action.
Osama calculated, after witnessing our lack of spine in Mogadishu, that the United States has no patience for protracted conflict. The first sign of a body count, the American people will demand a pullout, the argument goes. Saddam knows this and is counting on it. He knew beforehand his army would be mopped. He counted on waiting us out, and by extension, a Kerry win. Iran and North Korea know the same thing. Even our Asian allies are coming to us with doubts we could ever real do anything should China start getting belligerent. The general consensus is that if you get in a fight with America, you’ll lose the initial battles, but all you need to do is wait until the anti-war crowd, liberal media, and liberal politicians whine enough and the tide of public opinion will shift.
If we pull out of Iraq before finishing our objectives (which have always seem perfectly clear to me), Iran could simply nuke Israel and nothing would happen. North Korea could feel comfortable crossing the DMZ and taking South Korea. China could finally take that prime-beef real estate known as Taiwan without fearing an American response. Why? Because even if the US initiates military action, all they need to do is run the clock and the Left will talk the public into giving up. The anti-war crowd will come to us with stories about how the Jews are to blame.
There comes a time to pullout. That time starts after a permanent government is in place and when they are ready to be mostly responsible for their own security. The time is coming relatively soon, and most have thought that after this next round of elections, troop reductions would begin to occur. Look for the anti-war left to start claiming credit for the execution of a plan that has been in place for years.
UPDATE:
When the head of one of the major parties gets on national television and says the most powerful, best trained, and most advanced military in the word cannot beat low-rent suicide bombers with home-made bombs that can’t seem to go off reliably, it says something. It says that if we cannot beat them in Iraq, we cannot beat them on our own soil. Howard Dean has not only said that our military is incompetent (as opposed to Kerry who says they are terrorists) but that we cannot even win the war on terror. In a nutshell, he leaves only one option left… surrender.
