Less Troops, More Time

The Democratic Party's proposal on Iraq might be successful at bringing troops home without any success at really ending the war. This proposal would require that troops be sent home within 30 days, as President Bush is already working on as he attempts to reverse this year's troop build-up. The proposal also sets a goal of ending combat by December 15, 2008, making troops left behind focus only on three goals: counterterrorism, training Iraqi security forces and protecting U.S. assets, including diplomats.

There are currently 164,000 troops in Iraq and this proposal is estimated to leave as little as a few thousand to at least 70,000 troops in Iraq. However, Maj. Gen. Michael Barbero, Deputy chief of staff for operations in Iraq, states that it would be difficult to accomplish any of the three goals the military has set up without significant US military presence in Iraq.

This proposal angered anti-war groups who feel that such a proposal would only maintain the a long-term US presence in Iraq. Republicans in the Senate also oppose this because they believe it would create an "artificial timetable" on the progress already made in Iraq.

While I feel that this proposal might lessen US military presence in Iraq, I think that a withdrawal of troops should affect all of them rather than just a group of them, whatever size that group may be in number. Since this proposal only serves to withdraw some troops with the possibility of extending the amount of time that the others will remain there, then this proposal is not very helpful for all. Even though this may help decrease the number of military deaths in Iraq, I feel it's quite unfair for some troops to get to return home while others are kept away from their families.