The Iraq war has been a controversial topic ever since it began. Everyone in politics has contributed their opinion to the mash of ideas surrounding the faults, strategy and outcome of the war. Many lay blame on President Bush for starting the war and getting us into this mess to begin with and many continue to blame him for the demise of the whole situation. There also have been many ideas from politicians of where to go from here. These politicians include the 2008 presidential candidates, one of whom will eventually be making the decision to either pullout or continue the war. Barack Obama took a stand and said that the Iraq war “should never have been authorized and never have been waged.” Hillary Clinton said that if President Bush won’t end the war, “I will.”
These confident predictions seem to simplify the immense problem at hand. Although the idea of ending the war is a good one, it’s not as easy as Hilary Clinton makes it sound. As most of us know, we are in a big hole in Iraq. The country is in ruins from war, the Iraqis are trying to create a new government but are finding obstacles in every direction and insurgents still run the streets. This is a big problem. This is a big problem that can’t have been created by one person and will not go away when one new person steps into office. We can all predict that there will be months and months of debate on this topic but I don’t think anyone can really say what will happen in the future. It is true we need to bring our troops home but what will happen to the state of the new Iraq government. We want the new government in Iraq to be successful but can we continue to leave our troops there? Is it worth it? Is there an answer to the Iraq question?
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4 comments:
My father said that the Vietnam war would not have such a negative image if the objective of the war was to save as much human life as possible. Instead the families at home saw the gutwrenching images of homes being burned and people crying in confused grief.
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ says that 72,596 to 79187 documented civilians have died since the beginning of the war.
But Michal J. Totten makes a good point. It was such an oppressive government before. Artists and writers have stated how the culture seemed to have died under Saddam Hussein. To spread democracy to such a place seems to be the right idealogical choice. But the way the US has handled it, not cooperation well with other countries, seems destructive for Iraq and well as our relationship with the rest of the world.
I don't see a resolution to the political problems in Iraq happening any time soon. The whole Middle East has tons of problems because of religious issues. Not to mention that the boundaries of the countries there were purposefully made by the British to cause tension.
I agree with Kelsey. Not only is the reasoning behind our reason to be in Iraq in question, but also the logic in staying in Iraq. If it's statistics, 3,843 have died in Iraq according to globalsecurity.org. But relating to what Cynthia said, in comparing it to the Vietnam war, there were 47,378 casualties then. It is impossible to predict what the future has told us. But if history is good for anything, it well remind us that one day's decision cannot adequately undo or compensate for the work of years past. Both democratic candidates will find that if elected, hard work lies ahead.
I agree with Justin. There were already many problems before we started sending troops into Iraq and despite our efforts, new issues continue to stem out all the time. I haven't been an avid follower of all the news regarding this topic, but if it isn't our main goal already, we should be solely focusing on adequately equipping the Iraqi government to handle their problems.
Once this is done, pulling out will make much more sense.
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